I don't dispute that there was a time and place for them, but they very quickly consolidated power to the point where they became counterproductive. During my lifetime they have been totally counterproductive and frankly, destructive (as is evidenced by the Detroit automakers having been killed by them).
When public sector unions came into existence, it put in motion a process that would eventually lead to some of the most serious problems now faced by our country, in spite of the fact that previous "liberal" presidents like FDR had flatly opposed them:
"All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations. The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly, administrative officials and employees alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures, or rules in personnel matters."
A flat out disaster for the country. Obama's corrupt involvement with the GM bankruptcy, in which he effectively held a gun to the heads of the creditors and forced them to sign away their rights under the law to the UAW, did untold damage to the nation. Not only by keeping the unions alive well past when they should have died, but by giving them a substantial amount of control of the companies so critical to the national infrastructure. He guaranteed the eventual return to Chapter 11 of the automakers with the most corrupt tactics I've seen a president use in my lifetime -- and that includes Nixon.
Free enterprise is hindered by private sector unions, the citizen taxpayers are held hostage to public sector unions, and they ALL need to go. They're harmful to the national interest IMO. |
