Unions and what you haven't considered

There appears to be definitive correlation between the diminishing middle class and the reduction of labor unions.  I think I might know one of the reasons that unions seem to be out of favor with the general American public.

First you have to accept that labor unions were a vital force in helping to build the American middle class.  Outside of full employment because of WW11, labor unions created income advancement unequalled since the beginning of the industrial revolution. If you don't accept this premise than the rest of this article is going to travel about four inches over your dome.

One of the major problems with unions today is that certain organizations use the word union when in truth they aren't unions but exclusive clubs for a limited amount of people who make huge amounts of money.

The Major League Baseball Players Association should change their name to.....

"PRIVATE BASEBALL ORGANIZATION" 

There are 800 men playing Major League Baseball and the starting salary is $450,000.

The fact that every few years the MLBPA goes on strike SIMPLY BLOWS PEOPLE'S MINDS AND THEY SUB AND NOT SUBCONSCIOUSLY
HATE
UNIONS
(and especially people who belong to actual unions...which is weird because they don't like hating themselves)

The contracts are comparable to CEO contracts.  Get fired....get full pay for length of the contract.....even if you have completely sucked at your job.

Privilege is the first word that comes to mind when I think of professional athletes

Union is the last word.

AND PEOPLE ARE TURNED OFF BY THE ANOMALY OF WHY THESE ORGANIZATIONS NEED A UNION TO FIGHT THEIR BATTLES.

THE PROBLEM COMES DOWN TO THE MAN OR WOMAN, WORKING FOR WAL-MART OR SAFEWAY, WHO THINKS THE PART TIME EMPLOYEES SHOULD UNIONIZE SO THAT PERHAPS THEY CAN SECURE FULL TIME JOBS.....KNOWS THAT IT CAN'T HAPPEN.

BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE WILL STEP IN AN TAKE THAT JOB  AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC WON'T STOP SHOPPING AT WAL-MART BECAUSE THEY HATE UNIONS AND THEY HATE UNIONS BECAUSE THE ONLY TIME THEY EVER HEAR ABOUT UNIONS IS WHEN MAJOR SPORTS STARS SAY THEY ARE GOING ON STRIKE.  AND THE AMOUNT OF MONEY INVOLVED IS SO LUDICROUS THAT NOTHING MAKES SENSE AND THEREFORE IT MUST BE THE PLAYERS UNION CAUSING THIS NON-SENSICAL EVENT.

WORK WITH ME HERE......

First you need to do a little research and verify the reduction of labor unions over the last 30 years.

Then you need to tie in the inequality of income over the last 25 years.....

I understand that outsourcing both service and manufacturing jobs is a huge part of the equation but please note that many of the corporruptions that adopted their off-shore positions did so because there are no unions in Viet-Nam or Mexico....besides no minimum wage.

The profit margin increase needed to satisfy a shareholders position is also a factor.

The United States government employs 22,000,000 and that's one powerful union.  Imagine if powers that be informed all government employees that they would immediately be working 20 hours a week and that their pay would reflect the time reduction.  There would be no more health insurance for anybody working less that 40 hours and the only 40 hour employees would be upper management.......like Congressman and Senators.

The Middle Class is evaporating for many reasons and whether or not the young entrepreneurs in this country come up with ideas that aren't just app related for the smart phone and start making things again....then it's going to get much worse before it gets better.

IT WILL GET BETTER....BUT IT PROBABLY WILL TAKE A MAJOR
EPISODE
FOR THE TIDE TO TURN
AND WHEN THAT HAPPENS LABOR UNIONS MIGHT BE IMPORTANT ONCE AGAIN.

BECAUSE AFTER ALL IS SAID AND DONE......LABOR UNIONS ARE SIMPLY PEOPLE BANNING TOGETHER TO GUARANTEE A FAIR SHARE OF THE ECONOMIC PIE.

Baseball, Football, Basketball and Hockey players do not belong to a UNION.  it's an exclusive men's club that gets a whole chunk of the pie.   And by the way.....professional golfers don't count because they only get paid by performance.....and it's not a team sport and no one owns them. 

And truth be known I've never joined a union and I most likely never will unless of course I sell one of my scripts and the Screen Writers Guild forces my hand.

As an artist I've got about as much chance of joining together with other artists to form a union
as I have of a monkey flying out of my ass.

Actually I've got a better chance with the monkey dealio.

Anyway.....quit thinking of unions having anything to do with professional sports.

Unions are vital to make sure the worker gets treated fairly.

Not every owner of every business is a money hungry son of a bitch.....but when one looks at how businesses have been run since the dawn of employment....the stats don't favor the worker.

Unfortunately the dawn of employment is slave based labor,...so it's a hard trend to break....unless you are a member of one of the four major professional sports organizations.

You not only broke the slave labor enigma................you obliterated it.  But unfortuantely there are less that 5000 of you.  Like I said, it's not a union....it's a club....a very very private club.


Michael Timothy McAlevey