Forgive me LJ, it's been 4 days since my last entry

[gina_r_snape]

Forgive me LJ, it's been 4 days since my last entry. If that sounds oddly like a confessional, maybe it's because of the news I heard this morning. Governor Cuomo is being bashed by religious leaders for living with his girlfriend out-of-wedlock. The news this morning was all about Cuomo's refusal to meet with the Bishop of NY. I am greatly

Comments

[droxy]

I think many of us studied Unions and the history of them to a certain extent in public school. I also took a class at Uni on Unitons, negotiation, and collective bargaining, because I lived in Michigan.

No one disputes aspects of what unions have brought.

The issues are alignment withthe private sector, and the "evil corporation" is the taxpapers, and unions fund political candidates who are the govt who provides the wages and benefits.

I dunno about you, but I doubt anyone works a mere 40 hours a week anymore in any job, and hasn't for the past 25 years is my anecdotal observations get any points. We are considered professionals and are expected to do what it takes.

I have worked in right to work states and not right to work states, such an establishment of a right to work states does not prevent employees from forming a Union. Texas has Union workers and this is a right to work state.

[gina_r_snape]

I feel neither unions nor corporations should be able to fund political candidates. I have major issues with campaign finance, frankly.

Nobody is saying unions are perfect. But workers do get exploited. Your field is a case in point. My bf works in the same industry and is often told he must work evenings and weekends to get projects finished. We have an overall unhealthy relationship with work/life balance in this country. Nothing that needs accomplishing other than life-saving emergencies such as fire, police and medical care should be under the kind of pressure we are under in contemporary American society in the desperate hunt for the almighty dollar. There's more to life than work. But it's very hard to change that.

[droxy]

RE work/life balance. Yes. Trust me when I say the competition is fierce.
If a group of folks tried implementing it, there are others who are opportunistic and step in, make you look bad, etc. Much of it it is people's social dynamics and not businesses as a whole. A lot of why we work a lot of OT is we are professionals, but much of it is due to the inability to adequately estimate and plan and control change. It's like getting a deluge at your shelter, you have to deal with it even though it's unplanned.

FWIW India is worse. They work 6 days a week and 12 hours a day for half the money. People wonder why our jobs are going overseas. So what is "the world" going to do about life/balance? Answer- not a damn thing.

[gina_r_snape]

India needs to work on many issues. Social work there is vastly different than here. There are people in absolute abject poverty. Did you ever see Slumdog Millionaire? The children in that film came from the slums they filmed in and only got a hand up when the world media put pressure on the director to stop exploiting them.

Countries that have stronger labor unions tend to have less overwork problem. But with a world economy the shift does seem to get worse. Even if you cannot adequately estimate time on plans, there has to come a point where people step in and say "I need sleep. I need to eat. I need to see my girlfriend. I need to pet my damn cat."

[droxy]

My point is this. Unions cannot stop layoffs. If Worker X cost 40 bucks and hour inthe US, plus the associated taxes, and workter Y in india is just as skilled and works for 15 bucks and hour, the way business work sis the folks in India are going to get the job. That's the world right now. That's what I have to compete with. It's what the United States has to compete with on a global scale. I've always said this is the grand, zero-sum race to the bottom. Some boats in the world will rise (india) and some are going to lower (USA). There is some fix for this, but no one is really going to deal with what needs fixing. That's one of many reasons why I am pessimistic about humans on a whole. How do we level the playing field across the globe to prevent job exportation? Every job exported results in less tax revenue and more pressure on the rest of the society of provide more. That's not going to work in the long run, unless we can figure out how to reduce the cost of labor- otherwise, India wins and we lose--or we let the time drag

[gina_r_snape]

No, they can't stop layoffs. But I think the point is not to see it all as a zero-sum game but rather a series of victories/defeats with the concern that if there is no organized way to negotiate collectively then it's all potentially a series of defeats.

I don't believe in the concept of the market correcting itself. There are too many variables and we don't live in the mythical free market that forms the basis of economic theory. Nor would I want to. This is, obviously, a deeply fundamental difference between us.

Icon WIN, btw.

[fidelioscabinet]

Tennesse certainly has unions. My workplace is not unionized because I am an employee of the state government, and we do not get that privilege. Where I live, both the police and the fire department are unionized, because the city allows municipal workers to form unions. State workers do not.

While there are classes of workers who can be required to work without compensation for overtime, this doesn't include all workers.