It is no secret a company must be able to compete in order to survive. If it can compete with competitors it will live to see another day. If it cannot compete for any reason, it will not survive.
It is a popular idea in circles, unions pitting employees against corporations . Employees want their cake and to eat it too. The company wants the same cake and is equally hungry.
If the company and employees come to an agreement somewhere in the middle where they each get a piece, both are satisfied and the focus can remain on staying competitive.
Unions however, make it difficult for a company to stay focused on being competitive. The Unions who are devoting so much to protecting their members are biting the hands feeding them. Biting so deep, it brings the company to their knees.
United Air, Union Reach Agreement, Associated Press, May 31, 2005; United Airlines and the machinists union came to a verbal agreement. United asked the union for the second time in 2 ½ years to take reductions in pay and benefits. The Union fought hard against this, however
“Like the machinists, the mechanics' union had authorized a strike if the vote had failed…. But the union's leadership told them a "No" vote this time could produce worse terms than the ones negotiated… but knew they ran the risk of putting United out of business with a vote rejection and strike.”
United has been on the verge of being sold in pieces to payoff the creditors for those 2 ½ years. International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers have known this all along. Yet they continued to push until the last possible minute.
The Union is doing their members a disservice. A union members believes there job is secure as long as the union has the power of forced negotiation with the airline. If my employer was going through similar financial difficulties as United, I would have been looking for a new job some time during the last 2 ½ years. When questions of solvency arise, each of the baggage handlers and customer service agents who would be effected by a company meltdown should begin looking out for their own welfare. This should mean looking for plan B, a new job. The same goes for investors in United Airlines. If I had money invested in United right now, I would get out and cut my losses. A company bordering bankruptcy has problems to deal with, but not with my money. Free markets allow freedom of choice. Take your skill and money from the risky United and into more stable Southwest (no unions).
The union membership has this false sense of security their jobs will be there tomorrow. Therefore many of them do not look for new work. If United falls, the Union can pull a Pontius Pilate and wash their hands of the cause of the bankruptcy. They can enrage their employees into believing it was wholly the industries fault and the union was just looking out for the general welfare of the worker.
New airlines without unions such as Southwest are doing well because they can make quicker decisions. Their enterprise is fluid. They can stay competitive. The old guard of airlines, United, US Air.. will go the way of the Dodo-Eastern Airlines with their top heavy organizations.
If United does fall, all those union workers may be brainwashed into anger at corporate fat cats. They must not realize poor people do not employee other people. I thank fat-cat business owners for every time they post an open position. Organized labor does not share my opinion.
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