STOPPING JOB CREATION, ANOTHER GREAT IDEA FROM THE FEDS, GIVING INTO UNIONS

We all know someone who is or was a union member.

My dad was one when he worked as a machinist in a machine shop in Chicago. He did not choose to be one though; he HAD to become one since the business he worked in was a "union shop."

Since that time in the early 1960's, union membership as a percentage of employed people had dwindled due to expansion of the number businesses in the country, and the decline of the forced "union shop".

Being a "UNION SHOP" has come to mean high labor costs, or lack of a profitable enterprise due to the excessive costs of labor in that enterprise.

Unions were needed, when workers had 7 day work weeks and no overtime pay and no benefits.

However, today, their hard fought labor benefits, are for the most part responsible for the decline of every industry in which they are pervasive.

Take for example the auto manufacturing industry in America.

The fully loaded labor cost per employee is realistically over $75 an hour; and that's regular time pay. That calculates to $3,000 per week; and $156,000 per year.

In order to not hire new employees, and thus add to a long term financial burden to the company, in times of added business, the auto companies would have the present employees work overtime at 1.5 times that wage, thus a cost of $234,000 a year, per employee!

To put this simply, think about this example:

You go to the Starbuck's store, and the barrista working mixing your exotic coffee, is getting paid $234,000 a year. What price would be the price for your cup of coffee?

Oh, and there can not be just one person, there would be 2 or 3 or four people needed to staff that store, plus a manager, at presumably an even higher price-assume $275,000.. That would mean a staff cost of $743,000 to $1,211,000 for that little store.

Rest assured that there would be NO such store in existence, nor would they ever be started.

Well this phantom business, this coffee store will never be seen again if the government and union backed EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT, a top legislative priority for the new administration is approved into law.

The ACT, in short would allow employees at a business, simply to sign cards requesting that the employees who are in the majority signings such cards, now be represented by a Union.

There is no more need for a secret ballot, nor employer lobbying.

Now, that is not bad compared to a planned provision in the bill that would have a government arbitrator set the contract terms for a business if the parties could not agree after 120 days!

So now the government and the Unions would be running every business in America deciding what wages and benefits would be paid in every company.

Do you believe that this ACT as proposed would be a stimulus to the economy, by mandating work terms?

Some of the best and brightest people, those in technology companies, those in manufacturing would be jobless. Every entrepreneur who wants to start a business would think twice about doing it. Every existing business would question its ability to continue to effectively compete with others.

THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT would be the employee FREE TO BE UNEMPLOYED ACT.

If history considers the Great Depression to be a bad time for America, it will look like a vacation compered to this great country being brought down to its knees with this great new goverment idea.

There is no country in the world stupid enough to have such a regulation to stifle free enterprise and the formation of new businesses, as well stifling every existing business.

New multi-billion dollar investments have been made by foreign companies such as Toyota, Nissan and Mercedes Benz in building auto manufacturing plants with NON-union labor.

Those companies have not asked for loans from taxpayers, those companie have put up their own non taxpayer capital to exist. If they did not have the opportunity to attract labor at a rate attractive to starting their business in America, they would not have built their plants here.

The woder about a free eneterprise system is that nobody is FORCED to work anyplace, at a salary or wages that they do not find appopriate or attractive. They are fre to change jobs for another job that they like better, or offers better pay.

Is it the desire of the government to now madate that employees get a certain pay scale and benefits...?

What about equality in pay? Do all the coffee shops pay the same?

That happened in the old Soviet Union and its eastern Block countries. I know how that worked first hand having visited there during the late 1970's.

Everyone was equally "employed".

If you worked at a candy store (candy store #2073) for instance, your pay was the same if you worked in another retail shop. All emplyees were equally bored. The service was non existant and the products as well.

Nobody cared about their job, and they and no way to make more money except by cheating the employer---they would keep their job no matter what.

Everyone wanted to make more money. The government finally allowed free enterprise to start by allowing private businesses to compete with the state controlled ones.

The private ones offered lower wages with the hope of better ones when business improved. Guess what happened?

Today there ane no government owned candy shops, and everyone makes the wages that are market based. The countries have all prospered.

Now in America, we are about to make all pay equally dismal. Slackers or performers will be paid the same "union mandated" wage. Just like the educational system, as a perfect example.

Is this going to be good for America?

Think about it...as an employee you will not be able to be paid more...the contract will forbid that. as an employer, you will be forced to pay slackers the same as motivated employees.

Worst of all, kiss that $1 value meal goodbuy.