999% disagreed; .001% Agreed. My example with the farmer was just bringing up a basic Marxist idea of capitalism causing employees to become disconnected from their labor, and as a result, becoming a legion of zombies (No, I'm not a communist, or socialist). I wasn't even trying to bring it to the level he did. Plus, the "greed" factor doesn't take into account that people get stuck in their jobs. Actually, a high percentage of employees become stuck in their jobs, and become disengaged and disgruntled. This, rather than unionism, is more the key to the destruction of productivity, in my opinion. A person can be in a union, and still remain actively engaged in their job. But, most likely, union or non-union, a person will become disengaged and unproductive, at some point in their careers. This is from Your HR Digest - Helping To Maximize The HR Function In All Companies

Research by the Gallup Organization suggests that approximately seven out of 10 Americans - an estimated 101 million workers - are not engaged in their jobs.
Disengaged workers include those who merely show up for a paycheck to disgruntled workers who act out their unhappiness and undermine what their engaged co-workers accomplish.
In economic terms, actively disengaged workers cost our economy $250 - $300 billion every year.
Some experts argue that the greatest threat to America’s economy is not offshoring labor, downsizing or unethical corporate practices, it’s employee disengagement.
In fact, statistics indicate that:

• Engaged employees outperform average employees by 20 percent (2004 study conducted by the Corporate Executive Board)
  ·Highly engaged employees are 87 percent less likely to leave their organizations than highly disengaged employees (2004 study by the Corporate Executive Board)
• 44 percent of engaged employees strongly agree that the conditions of their lives were excellent, in contrast to just nine percent of actively disengaged workers (Gallup Management Journal survey)
• 54 percent of disengaged employees say they think their work lives are having a negative effect on their physical health (Gallup Management Journal Employee Engagement Index survey of U.S. workers)
• 51 percent of actively disengaged employees feel their work lives are having a negative effect on their psychological well-being (Gallup Management Journal Employee Engagement Index survey of U.S. workers)

PS.-Workers of the world, Unite!!!....