I don't hate all unions...just unions that misuse their power to harm its own members, the company that pays them and disturbs the national economy. Our country doesn't need something like this, when the economy is already on shaky ground. GM doesn't need this either, when it is barely hanging on. The workers certainly don't need this. They can very easily see themselves in the same position the workers at the Oklahoma City plant are in...out of a job.
I don't hate unions, I don't even think they are that corrupt. I just question their value, and question if they don't hurt members, companies, and the various local economies where they are influential by delaying in some cases, and accelerating in others the inevitable...which is typically the demise of a corporation that simply cannot compete.
I used to have this kind of thinking. However, after working for a variety of companies with a variety of management styles and philosophies, as well as earning a Masters degree in Management, I have now come to the conclusion that there is a place in the world of work where unions are valuable and who actually do serve some very good purposes. I could probably talk about this for hours, but basically it boils down to this:
1. Some managements earn the opportunity to have a union in their shops. There are some truly evil and/or incompetent managements out there who certainly deserve the union and the adversarial relationship that it brings. I have witnessed some very evil actions and understand why employees may want to organize.
Companies can either choose to consider employees as costly expenses to reduce or eliminate as much as possible, or they can choose to view employees as a valuable resource to develop and cherish. Guess which attitude gets a union?
2. Unions often put in a structure and order to the workplace that the management has not done. I supervised union employees at one location that had just formed a union, and I often helped my employes fill out grievances and signed them too because as a member of management (a first-line supervisor), my team and I were not given the structure under which we operated and we did not know the rules or expectations. The management refused to commit to a set of rules, and they would haphazardly apply the rules based on who was under the desk that week (no one ever crawled under my desk, though
.) The union performed a valuable service in that instance by providing rules and structure where management refused or was unwilling to do so.
3. Now I work in career education and I see all sorts of training programs, schools, courses, etc. Aside from the military, which probably has the best, most efficient vocational training in the world, the unions are also very good at providing very high quality training and developing a very skilled, even profesisonal workforce. The trades training programs in St. Louis and Kansas City are among some of the best in the state of Missouri for developing highly skilled workers who do excellent quality of work for what the industry needs.
