| Nothing the unions do surprises me. Yes, they were necessary, but many years ago, I dealt with them when I was representing management. Let me tell you...in one case, we plead poverty, meaning that the employer couldn't afford any kind of a raise or increase in benefits. We had to open the company's books to the union. Its CPAs and attorneys agreed that the officers were receiveing fair, not extravagant salaries, and that the company was just barely breaking even. However, because they were just voted in, they had to take a stand. They went out on strike, the factory closed its doors, and 250 people were out of work. Of course the employer was blamed. Then, there was the time that we negotiated a very good contract on behalf of the emplopyer, and after it was in place a couple months, the employer wanted to increase the vacation pay (high absentee rate at the company, which didn't want to move, but give back to the community in a changing neighborhood - 2% of yearly earnings for a vacation week's pay) and payscale. We told him not to do anything until we contacted the union. Union refused. Said it would look like the increase came from the employer (which it did) and not from them, so no dice. Then there was the time that we reached our agreement in the backroom, and then had to put on a show for the employees on the committee. The script was written in the backroom, and we came out and yelled and screamed and then worked out the agreement that the employees felt was hard-won. And these are just a few of the examples that I saw. So nothing would surprise me ever again. And for those who think I am anti-union, this was a job, and I had been a union member, and had no allegiance either way. At least I knew where most of the employers were coming from, but me eyes really opened up about the unions. |