Originally Posted by
VaughnT
Hell no!
Every single job I've ever been fired from.... I wouldn't have been fired from if I had union representation. I know for a fact that my life would have been a lot better as an employee if I had had a union to protect me from imbecile bosses. I live in a right-to-work state, so when I was canned.... there was nothing I could do about it even though I was working 100% within the rules.
That said, unions are an absolute disaster that will ruin your life, too. Look at how much money they require from you on a monthly basis. If they guarantee you that much back in some kind of insurance plan.... you might as well cut out the middle man and just get your own insurance plan that doesn't come with all the union hooks. If they can't guarantee you all that extra work in writing, in a hard contract that your independent lawyer agrees is good for you, what's the point of having a union card?
And what's going to happen to you when you don't play ball with what the union tells you to do? Remember, once you sign on.... they own your *** in a hundred ways.
If you take your monthly dues and put them into a good stock portfolio that you control, what some call day-trading, you can make a small fortune in no time flat. To give you an example, my father decided to try his hand at it about a year ago. A 2k investment to start, with him tinkering around every couple of days, and he's already up 5k in earnings. He's crying because he didn't do this 10 or 20 years ago. I'm crying because he didn't do it 10 or 20 years ago.
It's not hard to do, and it's no riskier than letting some broker do it for you. The difference is that you buy the stocks you want, and you sell them when you want. There's no harm going to come to you, for example, if you buy some Apple stock because you know it's not going to crash any time in your lifetime, but it will split and grow several times before you're ready to cash out.
Remember unions are communist inventions meant to destroy, not create. When you hear about "The Rust Belt", those states along the Great Lakes that used to be bastions of industrial manufacturing and shipping, remember that it was the Unions who created the Rust Belt. It was only a bastion of industrial manufacturing until the unions got their feet in the door, and then it was all downhill after that. Sure, it might have taken time because they couldn't do things in big bold steps, but they did it nonetheless. Unions are the reason why it's so hard to manufacture anything in the US anymore. Unions are the reason construction drags out for decades. Look at how fast the Empire State Building went up, and compare it to how slowly the World Trade towers were replaced. The "Big Dig" took ages not because it was tough, but because the unions are happy to drag out the work so their guys can get paid. Those Sand Hogs don't come cheap!
Unions might have served a good purpose back in the day, but everything they fought for at the time is now codified into local, state and federal law. There's no need for some permanent union and all the overhead they need. Remember, while you're struggling to make ends meet, that Union Boss is living quite nicely in the mansion on the hill. It's in the union's best interest to make sure there's always a grievance, always a divide, and they will always work to make sure it exists because that's their bread and butter. They're no different than the feminists always coming up with yet another horror story that happens to make them seem relevant.
Unions don't benefit by making your life awesome. They benefit by making you just a hair better in the smallest way.... while magnifying all the bad that could might maybe possibly come if you don't support them. Unions destroy, they don't build. Every time someone tells you otherwise, just look at The Rust Belt for an example of what the unions did. All of that was union. All of it was destroyed only after it became union. The pro-union folks can tell you all they want, but the proof is everywhere you look if you want to look at it for what it really is. It's kind of funny to see how hard they work at blaming everyone else for the Rust Belt. You've got to wonder how the hugely powerful unions couldn't stop politicians from passing laws and regulations that would kill the very industry they were supposed to be working to benefit.
I understand the allure of the unions, especially for the common man. Every guy I know who is in a union is making great money, often two or three times what I ever earned. But that crazy wage and incredible benefit package also drives the costs of doing business up. My buddy works in the entertainment union as a show installer. He's got his name in the credits on several big movies you've watched. While it was great for him to get paid double-time after 40hrs and triple-time after 50hrs, those wages were reflected in the cost of the tickets you and I have to pay for. Ever wonder why going to a show is so expensive? It's because the ticket-buyer has to pay for all those union wages and benefits. Ever wonder why a new truck costs you 40k? It's because you're paying for those union wages and benefits somewhere along the line.
The guys in the union making $30/hr.... they love it. They don't see the larger picture, and I very much understand the sentiment that they don't really care about the larger picture because they're benefiting in the here-n-now. They've got the decent house, nice truck, good retirement plan, etc. They can't really worry about what'll happen in 20 years or 100. It's an every-man-for-himself kind of mindset that I really do get. I wish I had been a lot more cut-throat in my early years, so I can't fault them for doing what they've got to do to make their money. Still, with what I know about unions, I'd much rather be dirt poor than give them even a nickel.
You can make a small fortune all on your own if you're just wise with your money. I know it's not necessarily easy, but don't think the unions aren't offering you the easy way out. Everything they do is to make them stronger, not you. They might give you a little taste of the good life -- just a nibble -- but it will always be only enough to keep you hungering for more. When in doubt, look to the Rust Belt.
