Quote:

ladisy - well said ! As a business owner myself, I believe it is a responsibility to care for ones employees. This responsibility is to ensure the company is financially strong, forward thinking (looking for pot holes in the road) and thusly provide oportunity for financial growth. The problem is that, in my experience, Unions and most employees do not have an appreciation for the financial risk that business owners take in starting/running a business. If things take a turn for the worse ,financially, the employee does not recieve bonuses or raises and at worst is looking for another job while the business owner usually looses it all. The problem with most CEO's is they have no sense of ownership thusly no consequences for their actions...gee ! kind of like politicians. I think the way to help solve this problem long term is better economic education to our kids but there you again have to many administrators making money and not stepping foot in a class room...Basically, the entitlement mentality is breaking us !

I used to work for FedEx. They are mostly non-union. When they started, just 30 some years ago, the company was run by those who founded it. Those who were there had a sense of excitement and a lot of pride in what they were doing. There was a great spirit of camaraderie, almost a feeling of family. They had a generous profit sharing plan that included almost everyone and a nimble management team that responded quickly to problems and opportunities. Everyone took great pride in the company and it earned a reputation as a great place to work. Over time the pioneers retired, took their profits and moved on, or simply moved out of day to day management. They were replaced with “Professional” managers with MBA’s and no real connection to the early days of the company. Over time the profit sharing was scaled back until now only the very top management gets it. The social events were reduced or eliminated and the paternalistic attitude of concern for employees welfare has largely been replaced with a much more cold hearted attitude. Even the commitment to customers has been replaced by a very short term profit mentality. Priorities change almost every day. Delivery commitments take a back seat to payroll considerations. In short, the bean counters have completely taken over the company. It seems as if FedEx has devolved into an experiment to see how long it takes a brilliant business idea to be overcome by incompetent management. This is not an isolated event. Long time employees of WalMart say the same thing, It’s just not the same since Sam died and management was turned over to the “professionals.” When both of these companies were started they didn’t need a union. The owners/managers of the companies worked WITH the employees and took care of them. Now both companies see their people as assets to be managed rather than people to be cared about.

Would unions help in either case? Probably not. Unless they recognize the necessity of profits, the repressive nature of strict work rules and the need to concentrate on their members needs rather than a social or political cause, they would probably make things even worse.

We all like to think of ourselves as rugged individualists. But when push comes to shove most of us are sheep who do what we are told. Worst of all, a lot of us become unpaid agents of whoever is controlling the agenda by enforcing the current dogma on the few rugged individualists who actually exist.