This page was last updated on March 17, 2011.
Unions are needed to help all workers; William A. Alexander; Beaver County Times; March 17, 2011.
Mr. Alexander has written at least 32 letters (See the archives for more examples.) since December 2004, and all but three (one fawning over Rep. Jason Altmire [D-PA], one critical of local funding for JROTC, and another upset about the Air Force awarding a contract to Airbus instead of Boeing) bashed Republicans for something. Another letter was entitled “Blame Republicans for today’s messes.” Despite this record, Mr. Alexander is a Democrat/leftist who wants us to believe he’s really a disenchanted Republican. In “Can’t wait for Hart to lose,” Mr. Alexander told us he was a “registered Republican.”
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Since Wisconsin’s debacle, several anti-union letters have appeared here.”
[RWC] As you read the letter, keep in mind Wisconsin was about public-sector labor unions yet Mr. Alexander writes solely about private-sector unions.
What did FDR and George Meany think of public-sector unions? FDR (patron saint of lefties) opposed public-sector labor unions. In a 1937 letter to Luther C. Steward (President of the National Federation of Federal Employees), FDR wrote, “… meticulous attention should be paid to the special relationships and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government. All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management.” Likewise, George Meany (first president of the AFL-CIO, 1955-1979) opposed collective bargaining for public sector employees. Were Messrs. Meany and Roosevelt’s “goal … to wipe out unions?”
When politicians negotiate with labor union management, they negotiate with people who will return part of what they win to the politicians via taxpayer-funded campaign contributions. It’s called a conflict of interest. There’s a reason 93% of labor union management PAC contributions to federal candidates (over $62 million) went to Democrat candidates in 2010.
“The GOP/corporations’ goal has been and is to wipe out unions, particularly since the Supreme Court ruled that donating money is a part of free speech. Huh?”
[RWC] The case to which Mr. Alexander refers (Citizens United v. FEC) was about the ability of anyone (including groups of people) to take out their own ads, commercials, etc. expressing their position regarding candidates and issues. Sounds like “part of free speech” to me. As groups of people, the ruling applies to both corporations and labor union management. Funny how Mr. Alexander failed to note that fact, isn’t it? Direct contributions to federal candidates remain illegal for corporations and labor unions.
“I was never in a union, and my father was only in one for a few years early in his working life.
“However, I do understand that were it not for unions, everyone except the owners/top managers in all corporations and businesses would be working for little money and with no benefits.”
[RWC] “Corporations and businesses?” “Corporations” ARE “businesses,” as are labor unions. Learn more about labor union myths here.
“Look at wages in the Pittsburgh area for non-union workers in the last decades. Light manufacturing job wages are near minimum wage, with many handled through day labor brokers that pay every evening.”
[RWC] Mr. Alexander didn’t cite his data sources.
“Does anyone think that unions are not responsible for child labor laws, safety laws, 40-hour weeks, minimum wage, benefits, etc., existing? Anyone believe corporate bean counters would determine to do any of these over profits?”
[RWC] Mr. Alexander forgot to mention closed-shop (mandatory union membership) laws.
Capitalist pig (or is it “corporate bean counter?”) Henry Ford instituted a 40-hour work week at non-union Ford at least 11 years before the J&L Steel Aliquippa Works unionized. Minimum wage laws simply mean fewer jobs. “Benefits” are used to hide the true cost of a job and in some cases, as with pensions, they simply allow both business and labor union management to “kick the can down the road” in the hope it will become someone else’s problem. There’s a reason kids used to be told, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today” also comes to mind. Does anyone really believe businesses, labor union management, and politicians didn’t know things like generous retirement benefits were unsustainable?
In any case, many (most?) of the things (whether good or bad) labor union management lobbied for are now codified in state and federal law. To a large degree, labor union management helped make labor unions largely irrelevant. There’s a reason only about 6.9% of private-sector employees belong to a labor union, and that includes employees forced to join a labor union by closed-shop laws.
“Read what working conditions were in the steel industry before unions. That is how all workers would be treated now, were it not for unions and left up to the GOP and corporations.”
[RWC] As I’ve written before, my grandfather worked as an unskilled laborer at the Aliquippa Works and he opposed the union.
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