[quote=sdduuuude][quote=CA renter]They are totally free to work for any non-union employer they desire, but they do NOT have a right to the compensation and working conditions earned by dues-paying members. Hell no.[/quote]
This really irks me. You make it sound as if it is not extortion because there are some non-unionized schools.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t extortion for the unionized schools.
Workers may not have a right to the compensation and working conditions that the unions have strong-armed their way into, but workers do have a right to work at those schools under different conditions by providing a service that competes with the unions. Giving the union monopoly power over a particular school is extortion and grants preferred status to a select set of private individuals.[/quote]
Is it extortion when employers demand that their employees work overtime or be fired? Is it extortion when employers demand that their employees take pay/benefit cuts or be fired? Is it extortion when employers take a greater share of the surplus value crated by labor…and threaten the workers with the loss of their jobs if they object? The list goes on and on…
“Extortion” works both ways, sdduuuude. I would rather see the benefits of labor go to those who do the work rather than see it go to those who control the system.
Nobody is forced to take a union job. I can see the logic if they initially took the job as a non-union job, and then the union took over later; but to say that they are “forced” to join a union when they apply for and accept a union job is totally ridiculous.
When you talk about a select set of private individuals having “preferred status,” are you referring to the executives and owners of large corporations who have access to some of the top leaders of the world, and who create laws that favor themselves to the detriment of others? That wealth and power is not being shared, unlike the wealth and power that is collectively shared with many others via unions, and these most powerful individuals do not care one bit about you or any other Joe Sixpack “libertarian” as they stomp on your freedoms, take from you via low wages, excessively high prices, high taxes (that go to private contractors and other special interest groups that have nothing at all to do with unions), etc.
We have to look objectively at how power, wealth, and resources are allocated and do everything we can to maintain a balance between labor and capital.
