It's a serious question. Organized labor's recent and repeated attempts to ram through a "worker privacy" bill are but another example of that interest group insisting on legislation when there is a lot more at stake than they publicly acknowledge.
Labor unions claim it's all about workers rights, but they never quite explain how every other state gets along fine without such a law or that the legislation allows workers the right to refrain from attending company-organized meetings if they have the "reasonable belief" topics such as religion or politics will be discussed. Raise your hand if don't think "reasonable belief" isn't a definition just dying to be loosely construed.
Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon and Washington Roundtable Chairman Steve Mullin John Stanton touched on the importance of working with Boeing in a recent, joint op-ed for the Everett Herald:
"Location is a choice." That was the message Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Scott Carson delivered to hundreds of business and community leaders during a luncheon last November. In that address, Carson made clear that our state cannot take its largest employer for granted.This is no stunt. It's reality. The competition to land the next line of Boeing planes, and to continue being home to a major portion of Boeing's workforce, is real. Kansas, South Carolina and Alabama are already building aerospace worker training facilities in hopes of luring the aerospace giant.
Meaning, the Legislature can't afford to roll the dice by implementing organized labor's grandiose wish list, even as Boeing is clearly saying things aren't dandy here in the Evergreen State (discussed in the past at SP here and here).
This is not exactly an unimportant issue with the state's unemployment rate still rising, and the localized unemployment rate around Boeing's commercial airlines hub in Snohomish County soaring.
Labor leaders can talk all they want about worker "rights." What this issue is really about now is Olympia sending a message to Boeing that the state is actually interested in continuing to be a welcome place for tens of thousands of Boeing jobs, "not another dime from labor" or not.
UPDATE: attribution to John Stanton fixed. Mind thinking faster than typing fingers originally supplanted WA Roundtable President Steve Mullin instead.
Posted by Eric Earling at March 18, 2009 05:40 PM | Email ThisI expect Boeing to go to a right to work state. Several are gearing up to welcome Boeing now.
Posted by: Bwana on March 18, 2009 07:46 PMIt's a world where the employer is an evil overlord bent on dominating the world and the union is the only defense against the destruction of the little guy. Meanwhile, I have bills to pay and my manager is a really nice guy. My employer bends over backward to give me opportunities and encourages me take more responsibility. Not to mention, they reward me when I do. It's a symbiotic relationship, not a parasitic one.
Does the union representation mean better negotiating? Bullshit, they're a bunch of doormats. What a bunch of losers.
It wouldn't be hard to choose between my employer and a union.
Posted by: M_Magee on March 18, 2009 11:21 PMMeanwhile, on the "location is a choice" theme, note how more and more of the Boeing design can be outsourced and built outside the US. Why pay the high cost of union workers, when you can find "right to work" and "open shop" countries all around you, with citizens who are more than happy to work at a reasonable wage.
The unions are just one of the many self destructive forces that have created the spoiled, procrastinating, credit obsessed, Progressive culture of the US.
Posted by: Jeff B. on March 18, 2009 11:23 PMI broke with the union in 2001 over IAM's increasingly radical and leftist political stances. I did so by sending a point-blank letter to union leadership that (I was told) ended up on Union President Buffenbarger's desk that same day. I never received a response from him regarding my grievances with the union, although I asked for one.
My position today is that unions:
1. Have outlived their usefulness, as federal and state labor laws now provide what unions initially fought for.
2. Have bankrupted the American auto industry with strikes/threats that caused weak-willed executives to grant benefits and concessions that destroyed those companies' ability to compete with non-union manufacturers.
3. Are nothing other than communist/socialist fronts for government takeover of private corporations.
4. Will give Boeing no choice but to move industrial operations to right-to-work states.
5. Will increase their political influence as Democrats "re-pay" union leadership for huge campaign donations and union members for agressive "doorbelling".
6. Will gain increasing power in the public employee sector, as corrupt politicians like Christine Gregoire trade patronage for campaign donations.
7. Become increasingly violent if their demands are not met. Obama has a tiger by the tail and he's either to stupid to know it or he's complicit with organized labors' intentions...which include virtual overthrow of the U.S. government and replacement with communist plutocracy.
Final Note: Union members may not need to march the streets for communism, however, as 51% of Americans willingly voted for such on November 4, 2008.
Posted by: Saltherring on March 19, 2009 07:01 AM
However, I have even less faith in the good will of unions toward union workers, as I have seen even more mistreatment by unions than I have by employers.
Whether the wolf beats the mountain lion, or the lion beats the wolf- it matters little to the deer which one eats him.
That said- unions don't provide jobs and don't pay me the money I need to put food on the table. Businesses do. So I figure whatever we do, we don't want to chase the businesses away- cause that's even worse then being exploited.
Posted by: Cicero on March 19, 2009 09:15 AMFor those of you who dream of Washington ever being a right to work state: I wouldn't hold your breath. As long as the public schools keep cranking out kids who can't pass the basic math portion of standardized tests such as the WASL, we're going to have legions of unskilled workers who will see unions as the only means to force the economics of employment in their favor.
If there ever was a conspiracy theory, it is this: Democrats protect the teacher's union and prevent anything from ever forcing the teachers to actually do their jobs well. Thus we have generations of kids growing up without even basic skills and creating a massive undereducated and unskilled workforce that is reliant on the government to survive. Who is government is there to help them? That's right...Democrats.
People wonder why I *hate* the victimology and anti-free market ideas of liberalism. Democrats always come down in favor of legislation and abuses of governmental power that pervert our society into a Democrat voter making machine. Who cares if it destroys our position in the world. Who cares that they are accelerating the regression toward the mean. Who cares that we're creating generations of citizens who can barely eat, sleep and poop...as long as they cast their votes for Democrats. It makes me sick.
I have just as much ire aimed at Republicans who preach from the voting booth so don't think I'm a Republican either.
Posted by: blindman on March 19, 2009 09:34 AMWe need a party that:
- thinks right to work laws are reasonable (traditionally Republican/Libertarian).
- thinks that deregulating marriage is reasonable since it is a religious institution and having government manage it has resulted in unequal treatment of homosexuals (traditionally Liberal/Democrat).
- that can see our federal drug prohibitions are not only unconstitutional but the root cause of much of our violence and corruption in society.
- that would call GM's bluff and let them go bankrupt so that they can do the house cleaning they so desperately need.
- that would laugh legislation like card check out of congress.
- that would understand the constitutional limits of the federal government and would leave it to the states to experiment with social policy and new legislative ideas because the competition between the states creates an aggressive market for ideas, curbing potential government abuses and truly vetting new government policies. (Tenncare anyone? California's socialist taxation racket?)
- that fights to protect religious freedom and free speech but politely insists that legislation not be rigged in favor of one religion or the other.
- that insists that public funding for education is important but that the public school system should face competition to ensure quality. We all insist on picking the best car mechanic or airline, but when it comes to our kids, the government monopoly that consistently produces substandard results is just fine. Look at what happened to the post office when the government allowed competition in the form of UPS and FedEx...The post office got much more efficient...(my netflix turnaround time averages about 2 days!)
I'm starting to think that a central party that borrows from all of the existing parties could be a powerful player. It certainly would go a long way to moderate the wild fluctuations back and forth between one-party rule by Republicans and then one-party rule by Democrats. I would *love* to see both the Rs and the Ds have to wheel and deal with a central party to have a majority.
Posted by: blindman on March 19, 2009 09:54 AMThe Capital System allows these Companies to rise and fall on their prudent management or lack thereof and be replaced with new Companies. But, when Government takes your hard earned money and rewards failure to keep these Beasts alive....That is Socialism.