On Mon, Oct 22, 2001 at 08:44:09AM -0700, Tim May wrote:
"Sure, unions are good" is not at all obvious to me. Why do you claim this?
Most labor unions are simply rent-seeking clubs designed to cement the status quo. Teacher's unions in the U.S. are a prime example: once the union got powerful enough, it fought for a tenure-type system which made it nearly impossible to remove those who taught poorly and to reward those who taught especially well.
I've never belonged to a labor union of any kind, and they are essentially absent from the chip and computer industries.
From what I have seen, labor unions are a collectivist evil.
Same here. The union management quickly becomes yet another set of bosses. You'd have to be an idiot to voluntarily request that you have TWO sets of bosses instead of one. Bert Hopwoods "Whatever Happened to the British Motorcycle Industry" documents a great example of the idiocy of unions. The British ruled the motorcycle industry in the 50s and 60s, but all British bike makers went bust by 1977. While he attributes most of the blame to management (which he was part of), the unions come in for their share, mostly for the stupid strikes that killed off Triumph/BSA in the mid 70s... "hey, sales are down and there's a world-wide recession, so let's go on strike to preserve our jobs!". Idiots. Eric