UNIONS, SMUNIONS

It is pretty obvious that “Big Labor” suffered a “big defeat” in the Wisconsin recall  election. It pleased me but I thought I would do some investigation to see if I was justified in my satisfaction with the results. I went to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics to learn who is a union member and how many of them there are.

The numbers are rather surprising. Through 2011, the percentage of employees working in the private sector who are members of a union total 6.9%. The percentage of civil service workers (public sector workers) represented by a union totals 37%. The total workforce union representation of both private and public sector workers is 11.8%. That of course means that 88.2% of workers in this country are not union members and are working away on their jobs without benefit of union representation.

If you had been paying attention to the national media over the past several months you would have to have come to the conclusion that most of the country was beholding to big unions and big labor. It turns out that is just not true. Their membership is tiny by comparison. What is true is that big labor spends millions of dollars which they collect from their paltry membership to try to control elections and elect Democrats. What is true is that union bosses who control the money taken from their members live opulent lives of wealth and privilege. It certainly is no surprise to me that they would do whatever they must do to keep their gravy train running. Otherwise they would have to get a real job. What is also true is that big labor owns a few politicians and controls several others through phony intimidation.

I have never been a union member but I know many of you are, either now or have been so in the past. My opinion of unions is not very good. I think at one time in our history they probably served a purpose. Today I think they have  lost their value to their membership. Today they seem to exist only to continue themselves. They don’t really represent their members any more. They have become money mills designed to collect money and control elections.

It is past time for the American people to wake up and see the truth. Civil Service unions are ridiculous. Teacher’s unions are as well. People who work in these jobs have more job security than anyone in the private sector and it is not because of their union.  It is because they are civil service workers.

In addition to never having been a union member, I also have never held a civil service job. In the private sector where I worked,  job security is defined by an employee’s value to his employer, not the other way around.  If you wanted to keep your job, it was incumbent upon you to make yourself a valuable asset to your employer. This philosophy could not be improved by any collective bargaining group.

Big labor, it turns out, is nothing but a paper tiger. Their membership is tiny and is dwindling more every year. Their influence is governed by the money they extract from their hapless members and then spent trying to control Democrats. It didn’t work very well in Wisconsin, did it? As municipalities and local governments continue to face deficits requiring them to further reduce pension and medical benefits to their employees and retirees, public sector union membership is going to dwindle even further. Today if there were no public sector unions,  total employee union representation in this country would be something less than 5% of the workforce. Unions, smunions.

Ron Scarbro June 9, 2012