tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post322576365553916774..comments2024-03-28T21:41:32.110-04:00Comments on Grim's Hall: Right to WorkGrimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-40190502047929718572015-03-11T05:05:52.962-04:002015-03-11T05:05:52.962-04:00Grim, you read like a philosopher-as if every word...Grim, you read like a philosopher-as if every word has meaning and is meant that way ;)<br /><br />No longer, in common usage, does it mean that "Trade Unions" are only those which represent workers in the trades. Any union is now a 'trade union'.<br /><br />Of course, the government also has employees who are in the trades as well.douglashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03241790925053112959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-61302659274684920312015-03-10T10:44:06.120-04:002015-03-10T10:44:06.120-04:00Texas has had a right to work law for decades, and...Texas has had a right to work law for decades, and it also has unions. I worked at two chemical companies that had unions. People would place it this way:<br /><br />"Yeah, XXXXX has a union, but then, they deserve it."<br /><br />And, at the second company, I got acquainted with the union stewards, who were the most respected and productive employees on site. At both companies, nearly every one of the union workers was also engaged in some sort of free enterprise on the side.<br /><br />There should of course be a right to form unions, and where there is a right to form unions, the right to work keeps them honest.<br /><br />ValerieAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-25561862641242133432015-03-10T09:53:32.417-04:002015-03-10T09:53:32.417-04:00Changing just a couple of words in FDR's quote...Changing just a couple of words in FDR's quote above:<br /><br /><i>...strike of company employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to obstruct the operations of the company until their demands are satisfied. Such action looking toward the paralysis of the company by those who have agreed to support it is unthinkable and intolerable.</i><br /><br />It's not far different from extortion. Nice company you got there. Be too bad if something happened to it.<br /><br />Unions, <i>per se</i>, aren't bad. Neither are companies. Monopolies and monopoly power aren't bad. What's illegal (and bad) is abuse of the monopoly power. Section 6 of Clayton, which exempts unions from Sherman, explicitly authorizes unions' abuse of their labor monopoly, though. <i>...the labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce....</i> Of course it is, and it's the property of a man, not of government to dictate what a man will be permitted to do with it.<br /><br />I'd be a lot less anti-strike if it were truly the collective action of the employees, if union behavior in Wisconsin during Walker's first term weren't typical union behavior, if it weren't for guys like Trumka repeatedly refusing to disavow violence as a legitimate tool of unions. Even the slur "scab" is demonstrative. All a scab is is a man willing to rent his labor at a lower rate than the union deems permissible.<br /><br />Right to work laws, which don't actually grant a right, but acknowledge and enforce every man's property in his own labor, are steps in the right direction. <br /><br />Eric HinesE Hineshttp://aplebessite.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-7432025367926241082015-03-10T08:26:37.470-04:002015-03-10T08:26:37.470-04:00That objection may be captured by the adjective &q...That objection may be captured by the adjective "trade," possibly.Grimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-19395973829113826312015-03-10T03:42:21.404-04:002015-03-10T03:42:21.404-04:00"Everyone has the right to form and to join t...<i>"Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests." - United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 23.4."</i><br /><br />Well, I'd argue that the exception should be public sector workers. An opinion shared by:<br /><br />A.F.L.-C.I.O. Executive Council, 1959: <i>“In terms of accepted collective bargaining procedures, government workers have no right beyond the authority to petition Congress — a right available to every citizen.”</i><br /><br />George Meany, President of AFL-CIO, 1955: <i>"“It is impossible to bargain collectively with the government.”</i><br /><br />Franklin Delano Roosevelt: <i>"Meticulous attention should be paid to the special relations and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government....The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service."<br />"...strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to obstruct the operations of government until their demands are satisfied. Such action looking toward the paralysis of government by those who have sworn to support it is unthinkable and intolerable."</i>douglashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03241790925053112959noreply@blogger.com