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On today’s podcast, Alan Bedenko, David Anderson, and I discuss the strange and unbecoming pro-union video campaign featuring members of The Buffalo News’ writing staff.
Donn Esmonde, as usual, has Alan particularly annoyed.
The problem is they have a union. Being in a union blinds people to the realities of the real world. Because they are in a union, they believe that they deserve more than the rest of us. Being expected to do more for the same pay is a reality that all of us face daily in our jobs. Those in unions though believe they are better than that. They don’t care about the realities of their industry, all they care about is that they are in a union and they deserve more no matter what. They deserve automatic pay raises no matter whether they are good at their jobs or not. They deserve automatic pay raises no matter whether the company or industry they work in is dying or changing. It is a sad state and it is why unions are a dying breed. Unions were super important to workers in the early 1900’s because they stood for more than what they do today. Before greed and power and money corrupted them. This is a country that should still rely heavily on unions. American workers get less holidays than other countries. Less vacation time, less sick time, no paid maternity or paternity time. Temp agencies where the worker has little to no rights are flourishing because of the downfall of unions. More companies are switching people to salaried to get away with not paying overtime because of the downfall of unions. Unions were created to fight all of these types of issues. Unions were created to stop employer abuse of employees. Unions were so effective that even those not in unions would see the same benefits and all American workers were better off. Now, neither of those things are true. Most unions seem to abuse the employer, demanding anything they want no matter what. Unions also stopped helping all American workers. The rising tide no longer lifts all boats. So, in the end, all of that is why the people who work at The Buffalo News, in a dying or changing industry, think they deserve more. Think that they are better then the rest of us. Think that the job they have is more valuable and worth more then all the office workers, none of who have unions. Next time they want to complain, they should go work in a job like the rest of us have. Where getting raises is based on performance, or even if the company is making money or not. Where working 50, 60, or 70 hours a week is expected to keep your job, but you are salaried so no extra pay for all that hard work. They would go running back to The Buffalo News begging for their jobs back.