Is the consensus that they had a place early on in the history of our great country but now no longer serve a real purpose especially in the global marketplace that we compete in or is there really still a need for them? Who’s a union employee? Maybe @tomhVallejo? Anybody? Bueller?
How dare you!
Unions are nothing but legalized gangs IMHO.
In fairness, I’ve been a Teamster and a member of AFSCME. But that’s because of the unAmerican, “closed shop” rules. I’ve never understood how you could be forced to be a dues paying member of any organization in this free country. Or how employers had to deal with organized labor. There is no logical reason for it.
Even the justifications - the robber barons - used for the rise of unions are greatly exaggerated. But, that’s what they continue to indoctrinate our children with in public schools today.
Do any of you remember when Lech Walesa came to the U.S.? Even he was shocked by the closed shop rules and membership requirements of unions in the U.S… I remember him saying that, in Poland, unions were open to anyone that wanted to join. Whereas in the U.S., he found out they limited their own numbers to preserve scarcity.
I use the moniker “non-union government employee” on another forum. What does that tell you?
Oh and, I don’t have PERS or a defined benefit retirement plan of any kind. Or I would be laughing at all you hard working slobs on this forum while I lazed away my retirement that you were paying for.
At my level, CFO, even in government, you won’t have union representation.
Unions are great at buying politicians not so great at creating jobs…their only stronghold left is public service unions. …time to get rid of public service unions …public employees should be denied the right to strike…it violates the safety of the public…
Sorry, Sir…my bad
Ha I thought you said unicorns
I was being a bit sarcastic you know? 
It cracks me up the how much the union management makes. They get it by convincing union members to pay dues which is really a tax. Then they turn the pension funds over to hedge fund managers with crazy fees that can’t beat the market. I wonder how big of kickbacks the union bosses get from the hedge fund managers. Union management gets rich off the backs of the working people all while telling them they’re protecting them from the evil each guy that owns the company and provides the job.
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It’s not so funny when you live it every day.
Just tell a teamster that the mob is stealing their pension funds. They’ll call you a commie and then threaten to bust your head. Ask me how I know.
A sucker is born every minute.
Of course, decent housing idea for the homeless stalled by the unions…
That’s dumb. We should help the homeless. Although I bet then every neighborhood will fight it. Nothing gets NIMBYism going like building housing for the homeless.
I guess for Chariot, love em…
Leave 'em!!!
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This isn’t surprising.
Wow, that’s a pretty poorly done article.
Well, it is an opinion piece. What exactly do you have a beef with, Mr. World Class City?
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Last I knew, contractors do get free good, use the the gym, and many of the on campus perks.
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Why would Google provide public transit for non-Google employees? Contractors can ride the buses.
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After him being wrong about #1 and #2, why on earth should the author have any credibility?
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The argument is that lower paid security and janitorial staff aren’t employees, so all employees should unionize. A vast majority of the staff is highly paid, so why should they unionize?
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He makes an attempt to paint tech companies as racist without disclosing what percent of engineering graduates are from those under represented races. Some how a union would help minorities get jobs they don’t have the academic qualifications to get?
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He argues good jobs are for the privileged few, but google employs way more technical staff than janitors.
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The guy has no clue how a free market vs. union labor works. Union labor works on seniority. Everyone starts at the bottom of the pay scale and in 5-10 years (depending on the union) you hit the top of the pay scale. Then you only get pay raises based on the union’s ability to negotiate a higher max pay. Union rules protect ineffective workers from being fired and prevent high performers from being promoted faster.
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Unions reduce or eliminate a employee’s ability to change or choose employers. If employers use different unions, then an employee would start over at the bottom of the pay scale for changing employers. Who’s going to change employers if their pay goes back to the bottom?
If employers use the same union, then workers who are out of work the longest get first “dibs” on any new job. Companies don’t get to interview. You say that you want to hire a journeyman electrician, and the union hall sends you the person out of work the longest. If you get laid off, you have to wait for all the people above you to cycle through before you get a chance to get a new job. Union employees aren’t free to quit employer A to join employer B. They are free to quit and wait their turn in line for a new job.
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