Bottom line, unions are now no more than terrorist organizations, biting the hand that feeds them. Don't like your job? Quit. Don't like your pay? Say something - if they won't meet your needs, quit. Don't like the country you live in? Leave - don't band together and declare war on it - that's what unions do.
Oh, you say you can't leave, because you can't get a better job? That would be because your skills don't qualify you, isn't that right? And that, in turn, would be because you didn't bother to improve yourself, that is to say, you didn't improve your "job marketability", right again? And so, through some amazing mental gymnastics, you now think that someone, namely your current employer, has some obligation to pay you more? Suuuuuuure. If logic was money, you'd be in debt.
Get my point?
Time for a little story:
A few years ago I was visiting Chicago in order to show off a hardware graphics product (the HAM-E) my company produced at a trade show called an AmigaExpo. We had a show-stand along, something designed specifically so that it could be set up by one person without much strength (and no brains at all).Well, we weren't allowed to set it up. No. It had to be done by a union worker, at a billing cost of $50/hour. There went $100.00. Why $100.00? Two workers had to be detailed. Union rules, you see.
But wait, there's more. One of the lights in the display had failed - probably the filament broke during shipping. I went to replace it, but the guy on the floor (the "steward"?) stopped me, and kindly explained as how that had to be done by a union electrician. I got fairly annoyed, and told him that I thought I had the skills to screw in a light bulb (mind you, I'm the engineer who conceived the product we brought to the show, and a veteran of a number of complex electronic designs including complete computer system designs from the bus configuration, card designs, and right up to writing the system software). He in turn informed me that if this was not done by a union electrician, I would find that our company was thrown off of the show floor, and our entire trip would be wasted. "Do you want that?" he enquired.
Well, no. So I swallowed hard, and paid $75.00 for one hour's labour for a union electrician to unscrew the old bulb, and subsequently, with great skill and, I have absolutely no doubt, years of experience backing the process, screw in the new one. Certainly due to all this accumulated skill, the lamp lit and the job was done. I'm so grateful.
I've had a couple of letters from readers of this page who tried to enlighten me as to the numerous benefits of the workers union in the general case. I remain completely unconvinced. I recently expanded this little section so it would be easier for most people to see just why that is. However, feel free to continue to try. I'm always interested in more information.