I had a comment on my
blog “40 Years of Increased Productivity: Forty Years of Stagnant Wage Gains,
claiming unions are too powerful vs workers. I found the comment strange and
very dated. And I feel it leads the conversation away from the more basic issue
of the value of unions in terms of wages for the middle classes and the overall
distribution of income in this country.
But it did encourage me
to do a bit of research on unions. Wikipedia gives a good basic history and
data about unions. Two major union groups exist in the country today: the
AFL-CIO and the Change to Win Federation a split from the former in 2005.
Today we have about 11.4%
in labor in unions compared to 18.6% in Germany, 27.5% in Canada and 70% in
Finland. On the whole union members get paid better than non union members 10%
to 30% more. Yet unions have decreased in membership since the 1950’s. I have
also read that even with union support many corporations have lowered wages for
union workers over the years significantly.
The following charts
help understand these changes:
When I was a school
teacher I joined the teachers union, I was making a whopping $5,000 a year at
the time (the mid 60’s). As a pastor you could say I had a union in that presbyterys
(governing bodies in the church structure) had recommended minimum salaries for
congregations, but with no enforcement. And since pastor’s in mainline
congregations make a pittance in contrast to other similarly educated folk you
might wonder about the effectiveness of such a union. Some argue the AMA
(American Medical Association) is the most powerful union in the country though
it is not recognized as such.
Then let us consider CEO’s;
now there is real union power emanating from the corporation board rooms around
the country. CEO’s pay jumped 11% in 2010 to 9.3 million; now that real union
power.
We also love to jump on
auto workers and say things like they make $70/hour; that would be $150,000 a
year. CBS points out that this is not their wage salaries. Chrysler, Ford and
GM workers get $28/hr or just under $60,000 per year and we know that other foreign
owned companies make less than that about $52,000/yr.
Of course, you’re much
better off if you don’t work at all and just reap dividends from such corporations
and just pay capital gains taxes which you accountants and lawyers can find
loopholes in them, because you pay them to find them, and lobby the government
for more goodies.
For the life of me I
cannot figure why voters still support lower taxes for the rich and get all
excited about various workers wages.
Next to come will be a
piece on who is most likely to file for bankruptcy in this country.
Odd, the fellow that started the union busting
ReplyDeletemovement...
Reagan didn't bust any unions. But he did bar some unprofessional former air-traffic controllers from ever being employed in that fashion again due their very unprofessional and even risky behavior.
DeleteThis was a good thing. I had a friend at the time who really wanted an air traffic controller job. When a bunch of air traffic controllers threw away their jobs, she was able to get the job she wanted.
If people quit their jobs and engage in unprofessional behavior, it will hurt their careers. Nothing surprising about that. And PATCO itself wasn't busted: nothing then, as now, stopped people from joining this union. Except perhaps the union's own membership requirements.
"For the life of me I cannot figure why voters still support lower taxes for the rich"
ReplyDeleteI think you will find precious little support for this policy from voters. What you will find is a lot of support for tax relief for all taxpayers. Mostly middle class, but also including the small number who are rich.
"We also love to jump on auto workers and say things like they make $70/hour;"
ReplyDeleteThey did, until the recent cuts (after all, it is totally unsustainable to pay someone $70 to do a lousy job making the worst-contructed cars made in North America... hence the bankruptcy and a lot of other changes).
Distain for organized labor goes back quite a ways. In addition to US federal troops doing the dirty work for corporations near the end of the 19th century, other countries were quite active in suppressing organized labor. After the 1933 Hitler
ReplyDeleteoutlawing of all German labor unions, the leaders were
arrested and sent to prison camps, where we note their
concentration camp identification:
"Red triangle—political prisoners: liberals, communists, trade unionists, royalists, social democrats and socialists, Freemasons, anarchists."
..leaving us wondering the apparent nefarious connection
between trade unionists and royalists.
dmarks, what does your friend now say about working conditions, pay, etc.?
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen her for over 18 years.
DeleteRE: "Reagan didn't bust any unions. But he did bar some unprofessional former air-traffic controllers from ever being employed in that fashion again.." Sure sounds like
ReplyDeleteunion busting to me...unless 'unprofessional' refers to
anyone standing up for their rights.
You mean it is an outrageous thing that if people quit their jobs and harass the real workers, they might get fired and blacklisted for their unprofessional behavior?
ReplyDeleteNo "rights" are at question here. Unprofessional? "Not conforming to the standards of a profession: unprofessional behavior."
Air traffic controllers loafing about and insulting people instead of working their assigned days is rather unprofessional.
If they don't like their jobs, they should quit them.