I was recently sitting down with an old acquaintance, and the conversation turned to his job. He works in construction, and was frustrated with the fact that during the last economic downturn wages went down, but despite the recent uptick they hadn’t risen.
This problem of cost disease is endemic throughout the West. The volume on your soda bottle goes down, but the price remains the same. You take on more responsibilities at work, but you continue to make the same wage. New technologies lay people off, while demanding higher skill levels amongst those who remain, with no commensurate increase in pay.
I’m a strong believer in the efficiency of free markets, but that doesn’t mean I’m opposed to workers unions. Free association is a crucial element in a free society, and the decision to bargain collectively is just one of its forms. Furthermore, the union can serve a vital function in the economy.
No sane Capitalist wants to benefit from the tragedy of the commons – short term profit at the cost of destroying the industry – and unions can provide a vital signalling function, allowing owners to understand what things are like “on the ground”, alleviating the long-term costs of aggressive, exploitative policies, which can wind up destroying the labor force which their company relies upon.
There is nothing inherently wrong with unions, but it’s become a dirty word because of the dirty practices they’ve engaged in. At the turn of the last century, factory owners were hiring the Pinkerton detective agency to threaten and assault striking workers; the unions responded by getting into bed with organized crime and Democrat politicians, embracing the Marxist “gimme dat” philosophy, which is just as destructive as the “rape and pillage” philosophy of Robber Barons.
None of this indicts the principle of unionization; it is merely an indictment of corrupt practices. And in this era of increased globalization – of the new Robber Barons who live overseas, and plan to turn the entire world into a company store – a return to domestic workers rights and fair negotiations is a crucial plank in maintaining middle class independence.
Are you the right man for the job?
Complaining is one thing; anybody who’s ever worked an honest day for honest pay knows that the complaints are endless. Bonding over those complaints is half of the reason bars were invented. But to put together a workers’ union, you need to have more than just complaints.
First, you need to lead by example. It’s not enough to be an opinionated journeyman in a green hardhat; at that stage, you might as well be a Social Justice Warrior, fresh out of college, and full of ideas on how everyone else should live their lives.
If you want to make a positive difference in the world, you need to start by making a positive difference in your day-to-day life. You need to be a competent employee, with several years of experience under your belt, and a wide familiarity with the trades which are complimentary to your specialty. You need to be able to demand quality out of others, by performing quality yourself.
Second, you need to be familiar with the financials of the market in which you operate. After all, what we’re talking about is negotiating with owners who are more concerned with interest rates and government subsidies than with actually building the damned product.
The core of your complaint as a tradesman is that they’re failing to appreciate the struggles of you and your brothers on the factory floor; ergo, it’s incumbent upon you to understand the struggles that they’re dealing with up in the offices. Nothing gets built without a skilled pair of hands, but that skilled pair of hands will remain idle if somebody isn’t working with the bank to finance the whole project. You need to educate yourself about their realm of expertise if you ever want to negotiate with them like an adult.
Third, you need to do a moral inventory. Your frustrations are centered around the greed and ignorance of the owners, correct? In that case, you need to ensure that you aren’t motivated by greed in turn.
During the late Twentieth Century, Unions became greedy for power, and became just as bad as that which they opposed. They consolidated power across industries, sought the backing of government legislators, and placed unreasonable demands upon the owners, resulting in the collapse of many industries throughout North America.
Often, these Unions would prey upon the journeyman, forcing them to pay dues so that they could live like the fat cats they decried, and wound up being just as responsible for the rust belt as the globalists who want a world of serfs.
Class envy will destroy you. It is always an excuse for the spendthrift ways of the person who voices it. Whether it’s a college graduate with a useless degree, or a plumber who blows his paycheck at the bar every weekend, class envy is a sign of immaturity and irresponsibility. If you haven’t learned how to act like an adult, then you’re in no position to help your fellow worker.
Carrot or stick?
Grand action capture our imagination, and when it comes to unions there’s nothing grander than the general strike. The men are all organized, the news channels are out in full force, and the owners are sweating bullets as their assembly lines fail to turn. It’s a dramatic vision, the oppressed rising up to throw off the shackles of their oppressors… but it’s also expensive and destructive for all of those involved.
Consider the Second Amendment for a moment, and why it is that men carry a pistol on their hip. Is it to live in some sort of John Wayne fantasy world? Or is it to deter crime? You’re far better off avoiding both the mugger and the police investigation which comes from ventilating said mugger.
Your focus shouldn’t be on the fight against the bosses, so much as the solutions which help you both. A skilled tradesman, who shows up to work on time, stays sober, and does good work, is a massive carrot; depending upon the industry, they can be few and far between. Instead of focusing on the strike, what if you focused on creating a network of men you could vouch for? A loose association of professionals whose work was guaranteed?
By offering the owners a carrot, you’ve managed to get your foot in the door. Because your group is reliable, they can already start demanding higher wages than others in your industry – and because you’re earning higher wages, there will be plenty of others who’ll want to join you. Eventually, if you need to, you’ll have enough people in your association to create a meaningful strike… but if you’ve been developing good relationships with the owners, in all likelihood you won’t have to.
Command and control
The advantage to starting off small, is that you have less need for organization. But if you’re going to be successful, you need to start planning your organization from the very beginning.
Conquest’s Second Law of Politics states that “Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing.” What he means is that any organization which doesn’t explicitly know it’s own purpose, eventually devolves to the lowest common denominator. This is why online movements always fail, and if your association devolves into nothing but grumbles and complaints, all you’ll wind up doing is blacklisting yourself and your confederates.
It is crucial that you maintain clarity purpose for your organization and perspective and concern for your fellow man, neither exploiting them through punitive licensing/union fees, nor destroying the industry through excessive demands.
To do this will require education. Just as you learned about the financial difficulties the owners are forced to deal with, you’ll have to learn about organizational difficulties. The Founding Fathers of the United States were successful because they had studied many forms of government before waging their revolution. If you plan to succeed, you will likewise study the many successes and failures which exist in the pages of history.
Conclusion
Individual autonomy within hierarchy is the foundation of Western Civilization; it is what has made the West the most successful society on the planet. Even back in medieval times, a peasant might genuflect to a noble, but he wasn’t expected to kowtow while shaking in fear. And for his part, the noble treated even the meanest of peasant huts as a castle, politely requesting admittance rather than forcing his way in.
The spirit of globalism rejects this mutual respect, and the inherent dignity upon which all men have claim. Instead, it seeks to atomize the individual by inflaming zealous loyalty to monolithic groups. The solution is to reject both these extremes. Neither the extreme individualism, where each man is out for himself, nor the blind loyalty of an “us versus them” ethos. Assertiveness is the key: demand respect from others, while giving respect in return.
A new wave of organic, conscientious, and responsible unionization – or association, or network, or whatever term you wish – could play an integral role in reestablishing the American Middle Class, as well as her industrial base. Every single one of us has a role to play, and there are great opportunities out there for those who who are willing to take on the mantle of responsibility, who are willing to go out and seize opportunity, and who are willing to hold themselves to the standard that made our ancestors great.
Read More: Ignore The Unwarranted Hate Of Trade Jobs
Unions used to work in the past. They won’t work today as there are too many people willing to work for next to nothing and there is no solidarity due to different racial and cultural background between the workers.
Men need to identify the real enemy first – the corporations
Right now in America corporations are legally regarded as “persons”. Corporate persons. That means they have rights to free speech (which means they can overwhelm us with advertising – and spend huge amounts of money lobbying congress) and they have rights to ownership of property (which means they can buy up everything in sight).
Keep in mind that these corporate “persons” do not eat, sleep, or die. They do not breath or feel anything. They skip out on paying taxes. They can be in a thousand places at once. They are not drafted in time of war. They commit felonious acts against our government and are not imprisoned. If a human person commits a felony he loses the right to vote and hold office and may be put in prison. He is not, like a felonious corporation, invited to testify before congressional hearings or to advise
the White House.
They buy our politicians and they buy our elections. We vote for candidates who appeal to our social conscience. But when our elected officials walk out on the House and Senate floor, they vote the way of their corporate sponsors – the way of corporate money. Democracy in America has disappeared. This thing that started 200 years ago, down the road in Lexington, has vanished. Corporations control our political agenda. These corporations are not American citizens. They have proven they have no loyalty to this country. We should not be treating them as persons, but as foreign nations operating on our soil.
Plus, all the Asians… am I right?
The corporations maaaan.
Unions are corrupt sewers linked to organized crime, block voting and drive the cost of doing business up so much they end up cutting their members throats (when the company folds and goes to Mexico). I have no sympathy for any of them– especially the public unions which should be illegal.
Ask the UAW about GM stiffing the tax payers our of $9 billion instead of filing bankruptcy (and renegociating their contracts), but they don’t want to hear it. The next taxpayer funded bailout will be even bigger if thats the case.
A GM bankruptcy would have caused catastrophic unemployment far beyond GM itself. And taxpayers would still have been legally obliged to bail out the pension fund. The costs of all this would make 9 billion look like peanuts.
False. You don’t seem to understand what filing for bankruptcy means. A chapter 11 gives the companyy 60 days to submit a disclosure statement and get the finances in order without 3rd parties filing claims. It also would allow a reorganization and bust any existing labor contracts.
When you guys are done sucking each others dicks in the union hall, you might one to latch on to the fact that your plant will be in Monterray in less than 10 years.
First, it’s spelled Monterrey. Second, if it was that easy to shake off the UAW, the big 2.5 would have done it long ago. Third, do all acolytes of Ayn Rand have homoerotic fantasies about sucking other men’s cocks, or is it just you? Ok now, run along.
UAW and the democrat are pretty incestous bunch and every UAW member cops the same worn out lie (when they can pull a dick out of their mouth). Brush up on your spanish maricón.
Maricón? Really? You’re the one obsessed with sucking dicks, puto. You might as well just “come out” and be done with it. As for my need to brush up on a foreign language, well, I’m not a UAW member. No dog in that fight. But if you think it’s cool that American corporations can commit economic treason by offshoring, then enjoy the globalism.
You flirting with me faggot? Shouldn’t you be at a fag bar in Tampa?
Unions need to die and they are doing a great job of killing themselves, so just a matter of time.
I see you know where the best hangouts are. That says it all.
No fag. It’s where you guys get a taste of cultural exchange.
Unions are used by corporations in particular, to elevate wage costs to the point where the company relocates to another country. That’s why so many companies have bolted from the USA.
OT, but here’s an intriguing red-pill website that examines white genocide around the world; the interactive White Genocide Map is especially interesting, as is the White Genocide Quotes section –
http://whitegenocideproject.com/
The article on there about the white EU official whose 19 yo daughter was strangled, raped and drowned by an Afghan caught my eye. At the eulogy, he wanted no flowers in lieu of contributions to some pork barrel charity of his working with aid churches in bengladesh. Is that the level of total thoroughbred shitlib that whites have to be to gain membership to the EU? Total knee jerks. It used to be only old white ladies with fat inheritances that were the targeted suckers for the ‘feed the children’ teardrop ads. Now it’s every white shitlib in the EU. It’s wall to wall shitlibs interspersed with African hairdresses in there. If I walked in there, I would scream “pleeease don’t tell me this body has any power or authority”.
But they pretty much sum up a big number of the educators I had in public schools. I sat in majority white classrooms in the 80s being browbeaten by shitlib instructors to the point it was normalized. Out on the streets I don’t see them anymore. Are they all dead and gone by now? I rarely hear anyone try to lay the same white guilt trip shit on me that I heard back in 80s school. Today there’s nothing but a flood of urgent wake up call material out on the webz than ever before regarding western civilization. If I could only go back to the 80s and confront each and every one of those judas goat professors and call them out, stop them in their tracks. With me sitting there like a potted plant and taking their notes quietly, I allowed them to do their damage and then some. If I could only go back to an 80s class not with my notepad but carying a two-buh-four and set the record straight with those shitlibs. Damn it would have been such a glorious ass beating.
Fuck, Bob. I wish I never saw that stuff…
Now I feel hopeless, despite my Kratom buzz.
Read @ https://www.henrymakow.com/2017/06/Freemasons-Slaughtered-Christians-in%20World-War-One%20.html..
About white holocaust !
Bob.. Even at $5.00 an hour paid to US workers, the business would relocate to Bangladesh where the labour cost is $1.00 an hour ?? So unless you are willing to work for $1.00 an hour, then you got no chance ??
No one on the political left or right, nor Trump ever talk about jailing the business owners that hire illegal aliens. Why is that? Seems this would help the working man more than anything. Unions have no chance if business can get away with hiring illegal labor.
People want wages to rise? DEPORT THE ILLEGALS!
another benefit to deporting them: rent would go down. An estimate Ive seen claims 8% of NYC residents are in the country illegally- thats 660,000-plus outta 8.3 million living here. Rents would nosedive and this would be a good thing
And another benefit – crime would go down.
less congestion on mass transit, less cars on the road…
And less BO & bean flatulence on mass transit as well..
This is another thing people do not talk about. Rents would absolutely nose dive, especially in poor areas. Another de facto pay raise for our poorest Americans.
they would nosedive everywhere- 3 bedroom with 3 ex frat boys in a nicer neighborhood, 6 illegals sharing the same in a poorer one- rents would come dwon across the board
Deporting illegals would be a good thing on many levels but an eight percent decrease in NYC’s population wouldn’t decrease rents all that much.
Yet another thing no one talks about (except numbersUSA). Roads were not congested back in the 50’s. We had the same road system but with half the population. What a better time to be alive.
Certainly it would stymie any rent increases if nothing else.
Wages or not, do it anyway!
The robots are coming and taking jobs, meaning that deporting people won’t be a solution for long. Employers have every incentive to pay less for labor, whether it’s pushing for liberal immigration policies or investing in robot technology. Don’t be fools. An organized workforce is essential to a free and healthy society.
Boo hoo. There are many jobs that you just can’t automate because they’re too heavy on human skills, creativity and intuition. Quantum work would be the best way to describe it. If you can’t dumb it down to a simple process, you can’t automate it.
You can spend time complaining that other people are ruining things for you or you can stop whining like a little bitch and stand up on your own two feet.
how do you earn your paycheck again??
By working hard.
On reflection maybe I was a bit harsh. But I think men learn better from tough love. And if all we do is sit around complaining about other people we are not going to move ourselves forward.
As a black person I have a long list of “go to” excuses. But like my father taught me, excuses are for the weak. The strong take the hand they are dealt and play the motherfucking shit out of it.
And this is why I am putting together a new business dedicated to helping you, me and every other red piller get through those bullshit ass jobs and come out the other side better, stronger and wealthier than before.
So you can tell you boss to hand your job to a chick. You are done with working for a derisory salary and you are going to start getting what you deserve.
Nice piece. The Atlantic **just** did an article on the exact same topic, “The Conservative Case for Unions”:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/07/the-conservative-case-for-unions/528708/
“In principle, unions could offer skills training that qualifies workers for better jobs, a role that individual employers are not always eager to fill (they might be training employees to go work somewhere else). Unions could act as employment agencies, matching workers with jobs. They could offer and manage health-insurance plans and benefits programs. They could administer wage insurance, thereby helping workers through disruptive job transitions.”
The 21st century labor union needs to be defined differently. Right now, only 5% of Americans have union membership, the lowest since the early days of Samuel Gompers. Look at what happens to distribution of income without labor unions:
https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/posts/2017/06/Graph/12b1f3c38.png
The Atlantic should actually stop smoking crack some day.
Coming from the rust belt, I know why union membership is at an all time low. The low skill jobs the AFL-CIO used to represent are no longer in the US. This started shortly after Clinton signed NAFTA in 95′.
The unions can attempt to redefine themselves all they want, but they are fossils belonging to a time Jimmy Hoffa was still alive.
Yes, Mr Lincoln has been shot. I’m from the Rust Belt too, and still live here, and have all my family here.
The article stated that labor unions don’t HAVE to be fossils, if they’re redefined properly. Did you read it?
Labor unions are fossils and are in capable of “redifining”(Whatever twattle the Atlantic wants that to signify) anything in objective results for its members.
I wish your faith in God was as strong as your faith in a failed, an eternally flawed, ideology.
I’m ok with private industry unions as long as they aren’t backed by government laws forcing the business to acquiesce in any way. That way the free market allows the business to choose between firing everyone and starting their labour pool from scratch and giving in to union demands. Public unions on the other hand should be a death penalty offence as they can suck on the unlimited tax payer teat with no repercussions and their bosses don’t care because it’s not their money they are giving away.
Quote: The volume on your soda bottle goes down, but the price remains the same?
Yupp Brandy ect.. Used to be in 750 mL bottles, Today it’s in 700 mL bottles & same price ?
Beer in Aus used to be in 375mL stubbies, now it’s in 330mL stubbies same price.. Cans used to be a Imp pint 570mL, then went to 500mL & now I see it in 440mL cans ..Same price ?? Spending more, enjoying less..
I see the points Aurini is making. I’m not a fan of unions in some ways, but it is always a race to the bottom with jobs situation whether blue collar, white collar, or somewhere in between. Everyone wants something for nothing.
Unions of the past certainly became as greedy as the management they were fighting.
In order for unions to revive–a good thing–you’d need laws preventing (or heavily penalizing via draconian tariffs) corporations from relocating overseas. That way you’ve got them by the balls. Fat chance of that happening as the Demopublican ruling party is controlled by pro-corporate elites. And how do you get workers consciousness raised sufficiently to destroy all this? You’d need a European-style party of labor as a vanguard.
“In order for unions to revive–a good thing”
– No, not so good. Set wages breed laziness. Why should some lazy old guy (btw, I am “old”)
get paid a high salary just for having seniority and showing up? The teachers have a strong union. How is that working out for you? Do you like high property taxes and rents?
“you’d need laws preventing
(or heavily penalizing via draconian tariffs) corporations from
relocating overseas.”
– No you don’t. You need low taxes. Low corporate taxes, so companies will flock to come here, and low income taxes, so hard working people can keep the money they earn.
HOw to deal with lower money for the GOVT? Easy, CUT AND ELIMINATE ENTITLEMENTS for the LAZY PARASITES!!! Let the lazy starve and die, and their rotting corpses stink to high heaven!
We can also greatly cut military spending as well. Much of the military is composed of low IQ garrisoned troops in places we don’t belong, like Germany, Korea, and Okinawa. And even worse, a high percentage of those garrisoned troops are black and brown minorities with strong criminal inclinations. The capable, mostly white troops are sent to get their arms and legs blown off in Afghanistan.
For the out of harms way garrisoned troops, the military is simply another form welfare, providing, money, food, shelter and healthcare.
Also, slash the government workforce as well, starting with the IRS!
I’d include child support as well.
Yup. Forgot about how many “Shaquandas” get knocked up in the army.
And right before deployment…
Good article with a balanced perspective on the pros and cons on unions. However, I wonder if a man’s time might be better served by simply going into business for himself rather than trying to organize others.
“However, I wonder if a man’s time might be better served by simply going
into business for himself rather than trying to organize others.”
Absolutely!
Or focusing on or retraining for a job/career that earns more money. I don’t use this term often (really only when describing guys with fat, ugly wives), but the concept of unions is quite “beta”.
What about the excessive competition, or the lack of negotiation sense, that can drive the wages down? The unions can be a good mean to protect nationals against that. Westerners who aren’t too stupid or irresponsible should have a minimal possibility to be at least middle class.
Small businesses have a staggeringly high failure rate.
If only this would work… Of course if everyone would just share and share alike, be content with the bare minimum it takes so subsist and do their job, then communism would work too. No, unions don’t work the way they are portrayed any more than pure democracy works, socialism works or any other system once it reaches sufficient size to be worth exploiting.
I am in a large international union, complete with its own constitution which they routinely ignore. In the words of our Local’s president, the union is 90/10: 90% of the “representation” (i.e. protection) goes to 10% of the members. Those are the screw ups, the folks that abuse the sick leave program or show up late or argue with their supervisors. Men like me that are personable, show up on time every day, are competent and go out and do the jobs we are assigned virtually never have any problems, nor any need for “representation.” So why in hell should I pay over one hundred dollars a month to cover the asses of men and women who expect a free ride and for me to carry them?
I have a co-worker right now who drags his feet, calls in sick as soon as his sick leave balance gets high enough to avoid discipline, cherry picks the overtime he takes (typically night shift, where he can sleep and do nothing). He has a year of “seniority” over me, so he gets first pick on vacation scheduling. He is dead wood, plain and simple. Management can’t do a damned thing about him because of the union. There are two of us in the shop that understand that we have to keep the plant running or we are all out of a job. So we pick up the slack and he gets a free ride. And yes, I have been to my union leadership and complained. Their response: “It’s a management problem.” So much for the local policing itself. It doesn’t happen.
And this guy’s not the only one like that in our local. We have a bunch of them. And despite the fact that the work’s not that hard, the pay is excellent (which is why I’m there) and the benefits are great, all these people want to do is bitch and moan. People like them are scared to death of a true meritocracy I assure you. When “Right to Work” passed here last year, they were having a fit! I told them I welcomed it. If the local doesn’t do what I think is right, I can vote with my wallet now and stop paying dues. In the United States no group should be allowed to tell me I must join and pay them in order to to engage in a common occupation by right.
If you want to be in a union that’s fine. But, I would urge you to take a long hard look at what unions have done for Detroit and the Rust Belt in general. Where I have heartburn is when you tell me I have to join your group to get a job. Another of “my” union officials told me that the union got me my wage. I told him no, that the union did negotiate the hourly rate, my skill-set and experience got me the job, not the union. And furthermore, in my craft, the union was trying to coerce the company into setting up an apprenticeship for the other crafts. So if the union had their way, I would have never been hired as a journeyman in my craft to begin with.
Unionism equals socialism. Once some of the members figure out that they can screw off and make the same money as the man who works, a lot of them do it. Then guys like me that see this going on lose our incentive to bust our asses to carry dead wood. Then pretty soon productivity drops off and the work ends up contracted out or overseas. That’s the red pill truth of unions. The author of this article has a lot to learn about human nature methinks.
Unions need to address 3 things:
1) Have mechanisms to expel the deadwood and parasites. Me, I’ve got no problem with making provisions to help the obsolete retrain, or accommodate someone with genuine problems. But if they’re not giving their level best, everyone else can see them free-riding and it poisons the work environment.
2) Acknowledge merit. Similar to the above, if the only metric that matters is how long you’ve been there, it discourages people from putting in the effort.
3) Keep the union narrowly focused and spurn mission creep. Don’t let the leadership use the membership and its dues as their own personal army and warchest to fight their pet causes that have no direct relation to that particular workplace.
OP–very thoughtful. Libertarians have always been pro-union and we now have a free-lancer union with great services in the US…
Much of cost rot is really government (hidden) inflation. This 17=year war has been terrible, and the market is well-aware of the hidden cost overhang.
We need more unions with a co-op stance and no mafia/left loony connections…
Dude you are trying to fight WW2 with WW1 strategies and tactics. You are going to lose.
Ironically you hit on it:
But you got it backwards. I recently got laid off but not because of modern tech. I got laid off because big corporations are going extinct like the dinosaurs they are.
Modern tech is our savior. We can build a network of small high tech business owners and produce the things that large corps can’t produce and also the things that they already produce inefficiency. Call it guerilla business. Small groups of business men taking corps apart piece by piece.
You want freedom and control? Then forget about unions and corporations and all their issues and enter the new century.
Wow! #BlackLivesMatter #AllLivesMatter #PublicEducation #USA
#SchoolChoice for #UnderPrivileged #Neighborhoods
#Left vs #Right #Democrat #Liberal vs # #Republican #Conservative
Who loses #PoorKids #PoorNeighborhoods #Teachers
Who benefits? #Politicians #TeachersUnions
#TeachersUnions pay less & fire #better #highPerforming #GoodTeachers #RiggedUnions
Everything is a tool – like a knife – to chop food or kill someone.
Unions can help when the Corp is unfair, but if unions are unreasonable, corps die, disappear or are destroyed