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IBM Union Calls It Quits (computerworld.com)
dcblogs writes: A 16-year effort by the Communication Workers of America to organize IBM employees into a union is ending. The union's local, the Alliance@IBM, is suspending 'organizing' efforts, and says its membership has been worn down by IBM's ongoing decline of its U.S. work force as it grows overseas. The union never got many dues-paying members, but its Website, a source of reports from employees on layoffs, benefit changes and restructuring, was popular with employees, a source of information for the news media, and a continuing thorn in the side of IBM.
Unions do have a place and need in certain industries... it's just that tech isn't one of them. Anyone sufficiently competent in the tech industry can improve him/herself and get a better income over time - far faster than the typical Union could ever get you.
You don't organize in a union for salary unless you are minimum wage earner. They have a big role in IT, but as legal assistence, being able to call on highly specialized lawyers to review your contracts, instead of paying 10s of thousands for one of your own, is worth every single fee. On top of being able to call them in as legal muscle if management is trying to screw you over.
Workers' rights and environmental protections are not perks. But companies that are doing good by their workers and the environment should not be punished. A union in such a company basically funnels cash from the company to the union leadership. That's not productive. (A union in such a company also pits workers against managers, reducing both moral and productivity. "There's the bell, I'm putting down my wrench and leaving, even though this bolt needs one more turn to be properly tightened. I don't give a shit about my work, my goal is to stick it to my boss." That's not cool.)
Add back in tariffs (which makes free market zealots cry but we can sell those tears for a profit).
The Australians do that now. The result is not higher paying jobs for Australians, it has done little to improve their overall income.
What it has achieved there is to raise the cost of goods to 60% above what everyone else pays. Everything made in Australia is hideously expensive, but the import tariffs run 50%, or the imports are outright blocked by crooked regulations. At the end of the day, Australia is a case study in why protectionist economics is a disaster.
I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
Try to organize a union in China and see what happens to you. You go to prison ... it is illegal to unionize.
Unions are not illegal in China. Many foreign-owned factories are unionized, and unions are allowed at any private company. They are not generally tolerated at state owned factories, but, in theory, they are not needed there since the government already represents the interests of the proletariat.