Unions

This morning I was attacked by the union. Not attacked physically, but with the hard sale. I'm not into the hard sale. As a matter of fact if you put the hard sale on me I am likely to especially not buy into your product.

While I am sure that there is a place and a purpose for unions, I am philosophically opposed to the principle of "unionism."

Here are my grievances against unions:

The Hard sale tactics to recruit members: I am so put off by this that I especially Will not join, just for that particular reason. Why can these people not respect the fact that I do not want to join!?

Contrary to free market capitalism:
I am a capitalist American. Borowitz calls us, A** holes, so sue me, I believe in the free market economy. This means if I do not like an organization, I will find a new job. If more people did this, organization that take advantage of people will have to change their ways in order to get people to work there. The very idea of a "fair" workplace is anti American. You work hard, you get compensated accordingly. You have special skills, you get compensated accordingly. As a science teacher looking for a job I often encounter the work of the union. I attempt to negotiate a salary (since I have a certificate area that is rare) and the administrators tell me it is not fair for the other teachers because they do the same amount of work. They didn't do the same amount of work in college! OK...enough of that rant, on to the next item.

Unions support agendas that I do not necessarily agree with:
If I join a union and give them my money, they can do whatever they want with it. If they support an issue that I disagree with, will they change their views to correspond with mine? Of course not. So is there an organization that can take my money and lobby the union to lobby the legislature according to my views? Again, this is America, I have a telephone and can call my congressman any time I would like. I don't need the union to make up my mind for me.

Unions inflate the price of products, services and government:
Take Detroit for example. The automakers are having a hard time financially. Why? Because labor is very expensive due to...you guessed it...Unions! A person putting lug nuts on should not be paid $35 an hour. The market just does not demand that. Perhaps I could afford to buy a new car if labor was a little cheaper. This is precisely why our manufacturing is going across the border and over seas. The people who run these companies are not bourgeoisie trying to oppress the proletariat, they are people who's families worked hard and ran their businesses shrewdly and succeeded accordingly.

Unions can not follow through on their promises:
The Lady who attacked me at the gate this morning said is was very important that I join the union because they were the only ones who could (insert whatever you want here, I have to leave this out because I can not identify where I work). In all honesty, they can petition the lege, they can threaten litigation, but all in all our legislature is commissioned with the task of doing what is best for the citizens of Texas, not the employees of Texas. The legislature is going to do what they want to do regardless of some union protesting and waving banners. Can the union do stuff. Sure they can, but they are not the only answer. They are not the only way. I am a registered voter and I vote. That should get things done.

Unions prevent talented people from making progress:
A while back, I saw the income potential of electrician work. Being educated in physics and having experience in wiring, I thought I'd look into acquiring an electrician's license. The insurance board has pushed through laws (the code) requiring a license to do electrical work for pay. You have to have a Master's electrician license to contract your own work. I have the skills to do a master electrician's job. I could easily pass the test, but to get the license I would have to work as an apprentice for 5 years, a journeyman for 5 years, then 10 years later I can finally do the job with the same skills I had 10 years ago. Why, because unions pushed for these laws to make things "fair." This is the same for any skilled trade.

I don't think unions are evil. I just think they are misguided. Unions need to reconsider what it means to be an American and the benefit of the free market economy. Furthermore, they need to consider the consequences of their actions and the toll it takes on our society.