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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: norm chin who wrote (46531)	5/10/2001 5:30:49 PM
From: Pete Young	Respond to of 70976

OT: "What some of us fail to see is that by endorsing union, we are, in fact, supporting inequality as only a small segment (union members) of the work force benefited. On the other hand, you can count me as an ardent supporter IF all (or at least almost all) workers are unionized..." Norm, although I was once a "union man" (for a very brief time before I got my technical degree), I do agree that unions tend (now) to take advantage of the markets they can still dominate, ie; government or highly regulated markets like telecomm, airlines, power, etc, and thus benefit, as you say, a relative minority of us working folks. But the very presence of unions raise wages for everyone. I recall that one of the mines near the one I was working in was not unionized and the company kept it that way (same company, as it turned out that I worked for) by offering premiums over the wages/benefits offered at the other mines. I've since learned in the intervening decades that the unions in the area have been broken and wages are down to as low as $8/hr for a very, hard, dirty, and dangerous job. An old neighbor of mine that used to work in those mines back in the 20's and 30's (before he contracted silicosis because management was two cheap to pipe water to the drills in the stopes) told me of some of the horrors of working there before the unions. That company officials were more concerned about the loss of a mule than a man, that in order to make a days wages you might be down there for a day or two until you got your "round"...for one day's wages ($5, if I remember correctly), in heat that could reach 110 due to the lack of ventilation. That workers were often so broken by the time they reached their 30's that they couldn't work anymore...and there weren't any pensions...or social security. That management (even earlier in the mining history) would get government to bring in troops (Idaho national guard) that shot striking miners to keep unions out. (around 1900 I believe) To me, it looks like we are repeating a history that people would rather forget when they refer to the "good ole days". And that history shows that when people are pushed to the wall, they respond by supporting warlike, authoritarian and confisticatory governments--which aren't particularly nice to investors. Be careful about what you wish for...you just might get it.