Will’s Thoughts – Unions Are Committing Suicide.

It breaks my heart to see trade unions committing suicide, and sadly, they don’t even realize its happening.
As a union supporter, and current member, it’s painful to watch them walking right into a trap with their eyes wide open, totally oblivious to the danger. So, just what the heck am I talking about? It’s important to look back to the roots of organized labor, when employers had virtually no accountability for employee wages, rights and safety. People worked long hours in horrible conditions, for very, very little money, where mutilation and death were acceptable ‘occupational risks’. Unions formed to protect the ‘common man’. Their noble fight, and ongoing sacrifices, have improved the living and working conditions for millions, not just for union members, but for the public at large. Yes, a few became greedy, but not many. However, now they’re all seen as the same. Today, unions stand on the brink of destruction, but are so blind to the truth, that they’re doing little to stop it.

construction union worker

Why are the unions in such danger? Well, unions were designed to benefit the poor and uneducated, but they have turned their backs on their roots. In the old days, the educated oppressed and exploited the uneducated. Then unions stepped in and used ‘training’ versus ‘education’, knowing that not everyone was good at ‘book learning’. This helped people, who had virtually no education, to become journeyman plumbers, bricklayers, steel workers, and so on. But today, unions allow vocational schools and employers to demand ever higher minimum educational levels, before even being eligible to be a student, or hired. Unions refuse to see that, with each new scholastic obstacle that they allow placed before prospective trade persons, they turn more and more people away, at a time when people need them most, and as skilled labor shortages skyrocket. Organized labor’s forgotten that there’s a huge difference between ‘knowledge’ and ‘skill’, and it’s killing them. The end result, to date, is that we now have one of the world’s most highly educated work forces, with millions of unemployed college and university graduates, whose skill levels are only slightly above being able to tie their shoe laces. That equates to a whole lot of poopers, but very few plumbers.

Yep, I reckon that it took the exploiters of man a spell to find the best way to crush unions, but they cunningly found the perfect formula. The method they selected, was to cause unions to self-destruct by simply requiring ‘minimum’ educational levels for students and employees (aka scholastic discrimination). The unions stupidly agreed. The very moment that they did, they stuck loaded revolvers into their mouths, and with each new requirement the schools and employers get away with, the triggers squeeze tighter. Instead of encouraging more trades people, by preventing scholastic discrimination by schools and employers, the unions actually work with them! Fatally, the unions refuse to acknowledge the reality that the more educated people become, the less likely that they are to chose to become a trade person. Far too often, history’s proven that those who turn from their roots, turn to face their destruction. It is still not too late to save the unions, but, their leaders ignorantly deny the danger.