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I really, really don't want to get into a flame war over a topic that
some of us feel very strongly about, so I'm just going to point out a
few things and leave it at that.
> I like to think of this issue as really a risk/reward
> proposition. Joining a union or taking a nice comfy
> government job has far lower risk. As such, the rewards
> (money) are generally lower.
Numerous studies have found that union jobs pay better, have better
benefits, are safer health-wise, and, yes, less at risk of being
laid-off or fired.
> It is also impossible to start and run a small business in
> those countries. The governments make it virtually impossible
> for any kind of entrepreneur to exist. Hence, there is
> limited speculation and capital available.
Any visitor to Europe can't fail to be impressed by the exhausting
variety of small businesses catering to the tourist industry, and when
your toilet overflows in Italy, you don't call the federal government.
Look, differences in business formation policies have little to do with
unionization. They're formed by culture, which also shape laws governing
labor and capital.
> This is why the
> United States leads the world, many times over in research,
> development, and ingenuity. The US has strong, vibrant
> capital markets because speculation and risk are allowed.
The most highly-unionized country may be Germany, which also leads the
world, technologically speaking, in numerous industries, including
automobiles and environmental technologies. The industries that fueled
the Japanese miracle were fully unionized (and the present failures of
the Japanese economies have nothing to do with unionization). Cell phone
technology is dominated by European companies, esp. Scandinavian.
> Unions have a place, but not in technology. The technology
> industries are too dynamic and require too much ingenuity to
> remain competitive. There is no room for the mediocrity and
> uniformity that unions bring.
O c'mon. Unions have a place but not in hospitals. Unions have a place
but not on ships. Unions have a place but not in public employment.
Unions have a place but not in agriculture. Unions have a place but not
in ...
> The truth is, there is a
> lot more money to be made by aggressively and intelligently
> marketing yourself on the open market. The rewards of the
> open market are far greater than the rewards of any union.
Make that "the rewards of full-time employment" and I'll agree. That's
why I like to work as a contractor. But I'm also in a union that helps
me find writing contracts, negotiate improvements in them, and get paid
when a client breaches them, and that lobbies to get the government off
my back. In the last couple of years, the SF local sponsored legislation
exempting hourly tech writers from loss of overtime pay and helped kill
California legislation that could have flushed most independent
contractors' businesses down the toilet. The union has joined several
efforts to kill section 1706 of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, unsuccessful
so far, while our LA local led a successful fight against requiring
writers and similar at-home workers to pay exorbitant city license fees.
= Mike Bradley
Tech Pubs
(yup, I'm in the National Writers Union)
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