What is your opinion on Workers Unions?

[Yeahhbro]

Do you agree or disagree with them?.

I personally disagree with them. I think they cause more than harm than what they help. One of the main reasons for the loss of jobs in North America, is Workers Unions. Unions also cause a lot of inefficiencies as well. With the development of Human Resources and Legislation, I think Unions are not necessary.

[Camilus]

My dad is in a union. My dad probably hasn't worked in months and still gets paid 100% of his salary and gets 100% of his medical benefits, which is comparable to the same medical benefits that a nurse receives (he is a high school dropout truck driver BTW). When he puts in 20 years at his company (of which, only about 13 years he will have actually worked) he will get the same medical benefits and get something like 75% of his current salary for the rest of his life.

^^^^While all of that sounds awesome for him, it's a sh*tty deal for everyone else because you pay higher prices so the company can pay him for not working, and you get sh*tty service because he can't be fired. The younger workers have to take less pay so that the company can finance the older workers' retirements.

So that being said, unions are a scam for everyone not involved and I'm against them.

[Belgie]

Unions are totally necessary.

Big business did not decide on a 5 day working week.

Big business did not decide to end child labour.

Big business did not decide to grant health care, paid vacations, and a 40 hour working week.

These things were fought for by unions, who lobbied the government.

Today, corporations still lobby the governments. They're very effective and very rich.

Unions are the only things capable of standing up for the little guy, because big business is always trying to repeal legislation it considers bad for its profit margins.

Unions do need to be monitored, like any tool, to avoid becoming corrupt and useless though.

[Yeahhbro]

Ok I like your answer. But thinking that way assumes that all businesses are bad and the only that they want is money and do not care about for the consequences. There are also different sides of businesses, there are small, medium and large. Unions kill small and medium businesses and they are often the ones that cause less harm, because they have less power. There are bad peopl I am not going to lie, but that is what the goverment and NGOs are for.

[Belgie]

What about the Free Market I keep hearing about? If a small or medium sized business can't survive, it deserves to die.

So long as massive corporations exist, and continue to lobby, unions are a necessary evil.

[Yeahhbro]

You know that the lobby because of Unions.

[Yeahhbro]

A small business and Medium diserves to die if ti cannot survive because of not doing business properly not because its getting sucked the life out of them by Unions and externalities that are not even necessary. By the way a business should have the say on wheter to provide benefits or not, that doesn't mean they shouldn't pay a living wage, minimum wages already exist. Also vacation and a 40 hour week is already established in legislation, its a law and its something that it is expected.

[thealpha]

no one hates worker-unions more than me...

in india some states have already scrapped the unions-thing...

but where I live they are the reasons for closing down a no. of industries...

they would nt go to jobs on time,they don't work even wen they go to industries& if they get caught & suspended they would ask all the workers to go on strike!

who loses? poor workers

second thing,wen its time to get an increment the owners bribe the idiot union leaders to shut their mouths & they the workers rarely get any increments.

3rd thing,they ask all workers to pay some money for the work they do in fighting wid the factory owners!

in contrast to all this,the states which hv scrapped the union-things have far more happy,satisfied& well-paid workers!

so tht's the situation in India...

[19831209stephan412]

i have to say Workers Unions means nothing in china .

they will never help anyone in china ...

[Yeahhbro]

What do you mean? Explain I would like to hear your side since you are from there.

[19831209stephan412]

the only one thing do is help the goernment

[snackeyg]

Unions used to mean something. They're crap now.