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Importance of labor unions
Labor unions and the impact on society
Rise and fall of labor unions
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President Obama’s approval ratings continue to tank and the black clouds of recession remains over the economy. Curiously, however, he spends much of his time trolling for bottom feeders by dropping his progressive net into the murky, stagnate, backwaters of network television in an effort to shore up his base. He is in his element schmoozing with daytime and late-night talk shows laughing it up with lightweight liberals. Running the Ship of State aground or demeaning the Office of the Presidency does not appear to be a big deal to the community organizer from the left-side of Chicago. Additionally, he continues the union circuit, ingratiating himself with the hard-core Marxist unions of the country that are responsible for much of the financial woes from which our country suffers. His pandering and bailouts of big Labor at the expense of job creating business is nothing more than an endowment to his base using taxpayer’s money. The only overtures to business are to the ones he can control or nationalize. The last couple of decades have brought to the states another scourge; public service employee unions which are welfare programs on steroids. States found themselves in the same position as business; if they didn’t capitulate to unions, they could not produce a product or provide a service, if they did capitulate, they were driven into bankruptcy. No politician since Ronald Reagan has had the guts to stand against them. Obama owes his presidency to the unions; therefore, everything he does is payback for that support. Every piece of legislation passed during Obama’s presidency has been a socialistic, redistribution of income to please the unions. He has a complicit Congress in complete agreement with his agenda of totally t... ... middle of paper ... ...t is for politicians to remain in power. American taxpayers are now called on to bail out these states that have been reckless in their spending, careless with their promises, and lacking in judgment and common sense. Fewer taxpayers are being asked to support more people. Obama knows his economic plan will not produce jobs in the private sector. Blaming Republicans and George Bush is his only defense of his policies. The only offense he has is creating more public sector jobs and bailing out states to protect the jobs of his base; the unions. Every public policy and legislation enacted by this administration and Congress goes contrary to the opinions of Americans. Obama’s Marxist agenda is paramount to his presidency and he is convinced he can reverse public opinion by lying, blaming others, and bringing more Democrats into the voting rolls using our money.
The paper will discuss minicases on ‘The White-Collar Union Organizer’ and ‘The Frustrated Labor Historians’ by Arthur A. Sloane and Fred Witney (2010), to understand the issues unions undergo in the marketplace. There is no predetermined statistical number reported of union memberships in this country. However, “the United Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) excludes almost 2 million U.S wages and salary employees, over half of whom are employed in the public sector, who are represented at their workplaces by a union but are not union members. Not being required to join a union as a condition of continued employment, these employees have for a variety of reasons chosen not to do so. Nor do the BLS estimates include union members who are currently unemployed” (Sloane & Witney, 2010, p.5). Given this important information, the examination of these minicases will provide answers to the problems unions face in organizational settings.
Talbott, John R. Obamanomics: How Bottom-up Economic Prosperity Will Replace Trickle-down Economics. New York: Seven Stories, 2008. Print.
Back in 1980, Republican president nominee Ronald Reagan pledged throughout his campaign that it was his goal to “restore the great, confident roar of American progress, growth and optimism”. Restoration, reinvigoration, and reclamation of values believed to be lost by the presidential treachery he was succeeding. Fast forward to 2008, Democratic president nominee Barack Obama did not see a need for restoration, he saw a need for new waves with his slogan “change we can believe in” after the economic destruction by W. Bush. Being such dramatic foils, the two men represent different eras of American politics. The unprecedented election of Obama severed Reagan’s seemingly everlasting legacy, signaling real changes coming to the presidency. The “Reagan Revolution” is remembered as an era of conservatism and economic peace, while Obama’s terms are viewed with mixed emotions. Obama’s impact can definitely be argued, as political information was more readily accessible in his presidency than any other in history; thanks to new technology and social communications, but since time has passed, so can Reagan’s. The use of their presidential powers is what a president is remembered for. Assessing the ranges in their backgrounds, motivations, policy creation and execution, and overall achievements, one can determine
As part of the Square Deal to control corporations, a series of new measures and policies were created and approved to ensure and protect laborer rights on a federal level. Prior to Roosevelt, the federal government barely supported labor— rather it used injunctions and military actions against labor union strikes, as demonstrated by the railroad strikes of 1877 and the Pullman Strike of 1894. However, during his presidency, Roosevelt wanted a compromise between workers and corporations, and was quick to eschew the use of federal troops, although not as quick to recognize unions. His solution to strikes, influenced partly by the Anthracite coal strike of 1902 and other labor unrests, was the establishment of the “Square Deal” that met the demands of ...
The article the Obama Doctrine (Goldberg April 2016) was able to answer many questions that the author had about president Obama’s choices and problems he has had to face. The article revealed how the president felt and dealt with the hardest decisions he has had to make while carrying out America’s role in the world. Many key concepts were represented in the article such as realism, humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect.
During the Progressive Movement, government regulation of big business was a prominent theme. This theme was primarily shown in President Roosevelt’s idea of the ‘Square Deal.’ In 1904 he advocated this domestic reform program which called for government control of corporate abuses. The ‘Square Deal’ was his campaign slogan in the election of 1904. It basically meant that when big business abuses its power, the government will step in to make business equal on all sides, like a square. This ensured that business was fair for all. In 1902, Roosevelt put his idea into use during the United Mine Workers Strike when the workers wanted a raise, shorter hours and recognition of their union but their employers refused to give them what they wanted. Roosevelt called both sides to the White House and forced a compromise. The workers were given shorter hours and a raise but not recognition of their unions. In another instance, Roosevelt applied his plan when he passed the Elkins and Hepburn Acts in 1903 to give the Interstate Commerce Commission power to regulate railroads, prohibit better rates to ‘favorite’ customers, and allow the ICC to set ma...
Hamermesh, Daniel S. “President Obama And The Minimum Wage—A Politico-Economic Bargain.” Intereconomics/Review Of European Economic Policy 48.2 (2013): 131-132. EconLit. Web. 24 Oct. 2013
With WWII on the horizon in the early 1940’s, Americans knew they must produce goods for the cause. Production was greatly needed and worker’s shoes needed to be filled. Labor Unions stepped up and proved to be extremely productive and fruitful. Although productivity was high, Union strikes began to brake out. Labor Union employees felt suppressed under the growing power of the unions and work stoppages were at an all time high in 1944. Acts such as the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 and Landrum-Griffin Act of 1959 were passed to protect Union workers, however the corrupt unions had left employees feeling used and disrespected. The abusive reputation of unions still stands today as the public and employees find it hard to trust such massive corporations with dishonest pasts.
On March 18 2008 presidential candidate Barack Obama addressed a growing controversy surrounding the racial views expressed by his former pastor Reverend Wright. Beyond simply expressing disapproval towards these opinions, Obama used the topic as a spring board, to discuss the greater issue of racial tension throughout America. Playing off of the opening line of the constitution, Obama calls for “a more perfect union”, a union where racism is finally exterminated from
The basis of today’s opposition’s argument is that unions have outgrown their usefulness and can be harmful to American businesses and the economy as a whole. The opposition’s argument has some merit and supporting evidence albeit with personal and political bias.
Domhoff discusses the prevalence of labor unions in the New Deal era. In fact, by 1945, with the help of the liberal-labor alliances, union membership had increased five-fold to fifteen million in that past decade (pg. 172). However, after 1945, the liberal-labor alliances never saw a victory against corporate conservatives. Because of the corporate world’s domination of policy implementation, politicians rules time and again against labor unions because it works in corporate America’s favor. Labor unions serve as many working class Americans’ avenue into the political sphere; denying them a right to unionize is not only a fundamental violation of free speech but also morally and ethically wrong. Overall, Domhoff’s critique of wealthy politicians (primarily Republicans) is merited considering he argues empirically with statistics supporting extremely skewed voting trends against unions. Additionally, Domhoff’s argument exudes sympathy toward those less fortunate; I share Domhoff’s sentiment that is imperative we promote equality amongst classes, one way in which we should do so is through advocacy of labor
The efforts to undermine the collective bargaining rights of public sector workers in Wisconsin led by Republican Governor Scott Walker – and the widespread resistance of unions, workers, and supporters – represents, perhaps, the most important domestic issue in the United States at the moment. The Wisconsin protests have become the center of national media attention as tens of thousands of union workers and their employees crowd the State Capitol. The story certainly deserves the spotlight, as what happens in Wisconsin may very well spread too much of the rest of the nation. However, what is often lost in the storylines is what the protesters really are fighting for in their efforts. According to Governor Walker (R-WI) and many conservatives the protesters are simply trying to hold on to unsustainable wages and benefits that they have gained through collective bargaining negotiations in the past. The legislation Walker is attempting to push through would require public employees to contribute a much larger sum toward their pensions and health insurance plans, and therefore lessen the burden of the state. However, Walker's bill would also permanently strip the unions of their collective bargaining rights. It means that in the future public employee unions would not be able to negotiate benefits, and could only ask for pay raises at the rate of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Ten years from now if the economy is fully recovered and the state of Wisconsin is running a surplus the unions would still not be able to negotiate for better benefits or higher pay raises than the CPI because their rights to collectively bargain will be taken away. Then, maybe there is a different reason rather than economical hidden behind Walker’s ag...
From the earliest days of the American colonies, when apprentice laborers in Charleston, S.C., went on strike for better pay in the 1700s to today’s world working people in America have come together to improve their lives on and off the job. Today, AFL-CIO represent 12.5 million working people including teachers, doctors, engineers, car-washers, nannies, plumbers, and many more. They brought workplace rights and protections like the eight-hour a day and laws protecting safety and health on the job. However, this can also results in deprived industrial development because of higher demands of AFL-CIO for labors, which can hurt the economy of the country. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the AFL-CIO group endorsed Barack Obama for president, uniting the nation's 15 million union workers behind the Illinois senator… its 56 unions can spend some of its $200 million war chest on his campaign (“AFL-CIO”). This represent that this type of groups can drifts members and public opinion towards presidential candidates, which can have a huge impact on
It might be said to assume that a politician, lawyer or advocate for the people who has not studied economics and sociology is likely to become a public enemy. We elect our political officials because we are given the chance to have someone represent the area in which we live in, whether that be county, state or nationwide. It is up to our officials to represent our voices and demand the right to be heard, not ignored. Furthermore, the media has developed a ‘‘beat’’ to cover the president’s every word and action, and American citizens have become accustomed to looking to the president as the primary policy maker and representative of the
Reiland, Ralph R. “Obama Totally Wrong About What ‘Doesn’t Work’.” Human Events. 16 Jan. 2012: 20.