Wednesday, December 17, 2008

We're Holier Than Thou

We do not shop at:

1. WAL-MART because we consider it a traitor to the U.S. and the people of the U.S. who work for it.

2. CIRCUIT CITY - because earlier this year they fired every one of their workers in the stores and replaced them with new, cheaper labor, thus ruining the lives of many and perpetuating the concept of exploitation of workers. This is what happens and will happen more often without either unions or government rules protecting workers in this country.

6 comments:

Felix J said...

But, some could argue that the unions are a big part of the reason things are the way they are. Had union wages not increased and responsibility not decreased (it is almost impossible to fire a union laborer), Chinese/Taiwanese/Mexicanese production may not have looked so enticing. Obviously, it is a much bigger egg than this that has cracked. But, unions are certainly a bigger part of the problem than anyone seems to be admitting. I believe we need a union wildcat strike to get the Tuesday Evening Quiz back up and running.

Anonymous said...

Once the unions are gone, and we are almost there, people will have to fight each other for the poor paying jobs that are available, like the steelworkers did in the late 1900's.
I worked salary for GM for 33 years and I was greatful to the UAW even though I was never a union member. GM never gave me anything on its own.
Once the threat of unionization is gone, businesses have a free slate to treat workers any way they want.
You ain't seen nothin' yet----

Anonymous said...

from Alice:
If the CEO's hadn't been allowed to routinely rob our treasury and their own profit margins there would be enough and more for every person to live a dignified life. We talk about the various other countries suporting their car industries and then blame the unions here. Rarely do we hear that all the other countries have universal health care and the CEO's are limited to a percentage of profits. Read FREE LUNCH; NICKEL and DIMED; THEY'VE STOLEN OUR COUNTRYby Jim Hightower.

Jim Thill said...

IMO, the union debate is becoming anachronistic. It's akin to a technology that was widely applicable in the previous era, but will have no meaning in the emerging era.

Bud said...

The unions in many industries fought a mostly losing battle against cybernetics and robotics in the manufacturing plants. Union influence in America has been waning, but I think it will return unless the government steps in to protect the interests of workers more assiduously.

Felix J said...

A. I'm not sure the government has the ability to step in and protect anybody's interest (i.e, $700B Wall St. Bailout)
B. If something isn't done, there will be no workers, no companies and then no government.
C. I agree with Alice on the CEO's income packages. These guys are typically making $5-10M a year. Do you know how many people you could give $40,000 to if you divided up $10M? 250! I know, I know...this is a lot like communism. (The best part, to me, is the CEOs who get paid those astronomical amounts to run a company into failure. )