Union membership lowest since 1930s

[red states rule]

Watch out for Obama and the Dems to try and ram through Card Check and due all they can to force people to join unions
Union membership plummeted last year to the lowest level since the 1930s as cash-strapped state and local governments shed workers and unions had difficulty organizing new members in the private sector despite signs of an improving economy.Government figures released Wednesday showed union membership declined from 11.8 percent to 11.3 percent of the workforce, another blow to a labor movement already stretched thin by battles in Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and other states to curb bargaining rights and weaken union clout.
Overall membership fell by about 400,000 workers to 14.4 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. More than half the loss, about 234,000, came from government workers, including teachers, firefighters and public administrators.
But unions also saw losses in the private sector even as the economy created 1.8 million new jobs in 2012. That membership rate fell from 6.9 percent to 6.6 percent, a troubling sign for the future of organized labor, as job growth generally has taken place at nonunion companies. http://www.goupstate.com/article/20130124/WIRE/130129808/1002/SPORTS04?Title=Unions-struggle-as-membership-rolls-shrink

[Drummond]

Watch out for Obama and the Dems to try and ram through Card Check and due all they can to force people to join unions

I absolutely HATE unions. They're pocket protection rackets, whose only weapon is to be fiscally ruinous to those having the temerity not to bend to their tyranny.

Had Margaret Thatcher not prevailed over British Trade Unionism in the 1980's, today the UK would be a Third World entity ... if we'd been lucky ! As it was, a good strong dose of Conservative bloody-mindedness sent them packing.

Maybe, if Obama does as you fear he will, that - combined with the direction he's already taking you in, that of continued fiscal irresponsibility - will be enough to finally break the support he enjoys. And, like us back in 1979, a Conservative leader will rise from the ashes and put you back on the path of greatness.

[red states rule]

As more states choose to become "Right to Work" states, the left will not stand by and allow all that campaign cash (taken from workers as dues) go uncollected. Unions are out for political power and enriching the union bosses. as far as the workers - they are seen as cash cows and nothing more

[Drummond]

As more states choose to become "Right to Work" states, the left will not stand by and allow all that campaign cash (taken from workers as dues) go uncollected. Unions are out for political power and enriching the union bosses. as far as the workers - they are seen as cash cows and nothing more:clap::clap:

Totally true. This sums it up well.

[red states rule]

Top All-Time Donors, 1989-2012 and check out the unions listed
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php

[Marcus Aurelius]

Unions had a place at one time in this country. That time is past, IMHO.

[aboutime]

I absolutely HATE unions. They're pocket protection rackets, whose only weapon is to be fiscally ruinous to those having the temerity not to bend to their tyranny.

Had Margaret Thatcher not prevailed over British Trade Unionism in the 1980's, today the UK would be a Third World entity ... if we'd been lucky ! As it was, a good strong dose of Conservative bloody-mindedness sent them packing.

Maybe, if Obama does as you fear he will, that - combined with the direction he's already taking you in, that of continued fiscal irresponsibility - will be enough to finally break the support he enjoys. And, like us back in 1979, a Conservative leader will rise from the ashes and put you back on the path of greatness.


Sir Drummond. Totally agree, even from your perspective there in the U.K.
I was a Union member at 16 with my father. We were both Teamsters here in the U.S.
I quickly learned how crooked, and Non-labor. Not to mention Discriminatory back then.
When you mentioned Maggie Thatcher...I remembered how our FLIGHT CONTROLLERS here in the U.S. were put down by Reagan as they abused their membership powers...primarily caused by the Union leadership who really didn't care about their members.

Today. Here in America. Unions have become nothing more than an Arm of Politics for Funds that flow...as directed by the BIG WHIGS in the Union leadership, while the members rarely have a say in what their DUES are used for. But...if they complain. They stand to lose their jobs, pensions, and the benefits...for being ANTI-CROOKED.

[ConHog]

Unions had a place at one time in this country. That time is past, IMHO.

Exactly how I feel about it. There time has passed.

[red states rule]

Not only are union dues used to try and keep Dems in office - but also to keep the union bosses living high on the hog. They are not part of the 99% as they claim
Advocating for the working man doesn’t pay too poorly, it seems. Here’s a list of the annual salaries and benefits earned by the nation’s top labor officials, according to the Labor Department. This data is based on 2011 filings:
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka – $293,750.
National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel – $460,060
Service Employees International Union President Mary Kay Henry – $290,334.
American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees President Gerald McEntee – $512,489.
International Brotherhood of Teamsters President James P. Hoffa , Jr. – $372,489.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten – $493,859.
International Association of Fire Fighters President Harold Schaitberger – $323,811.
American Federation of Government Employees President John Gage – $198,690. (Gage retired this month)
United Food and Commercial Workers President Joseph Hansen – $361,124 http://washingtonexaminer.com/not-exactly-the-99-top-union-leaders-salaries/article/2505719#.UQMYCTbTmM8

[red states rule]

Bud and Lou knew what loafing really was when you are in a union
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfr7hFPb2pg

[taft2012]

Unions have become increasingly disconnected from reality. Right now, NYC is experiencing a truly bizarre union strike.

Yellow school bus drivers are on strike, not against their employers, who support the strike, but against the City of New York, for whom they do not even work.

New York City contracts private bus companies to provide school bus service, a program that costs the city over $1 billion a year. Most of the private bus companies utilize union bus drivers.

The city has now opened up bidding on all of the routes to try and reduce that staggering cost. The bus drivers' union wants a clause in the bidding process mandating job security, and that all bidders agree to use union drivers. The city, rightfully, has said it can not do that because the courts have ruled such a clause to be illegal. They say they can not legally add that in, even if they wanted to.

The current bus contractors are supporting the union, because that clause would make it easier for them to keep the route and not be underbid.

So the school bus drivers are on strike....against New York City. And they are not even city employees.

Even the most ardent union supporters are having trouble getting behind this one.

[red states rule]

Unions have become increasingly disconnected from reality. Right now, NYC is experiencing a truly bizarre union strike.

Yellow school bus drivers are on strike, not against their employers, who support the strike, but against the City of New York, for whom they do not even work.

New York City contracts private bus companies to provide school bus service, a program that costs the city over $1 billion a year. Most of the private bus companies utilize union bus drivers.

The city has now opened up bidding on all of the routes to try and reduce that staggering cost. The bus drivers' union wants a clause in the bidding process mandating job security, and that all bidders agree to use union drivers. The city, rightfully, has said it can not do that because the courts have ruled such a clause to be illegal. They say they can not legally add that in, even if they wanted to.

The current bus contractors are supporting the union, because that clause would make it easier for them to keep the route and not be underbid.

So the school bus drivers are on strike....against New York City. And they are not even city employees.

Even the most ardent union supporters are having trouble getting behind this one.

For some reason public sector unions do seem to go out of their way to piss off the very people who are paying for their salary and benefits. They have a lot of nerve considering in most cases they make more then then people paying the costs of their employment. .