Originally Posted by
Cardinal
Have you ever shopped at a Wal-Mart? The line level employess are cowed, gullible, idiots who can barely operate their cash registers and signed up for $8/hr slavery with no end, no path, no advancement in sight other than nights spent stocking shelves under flourescent light. I've personally seen no less than five employees "working together" to accomplish a firearm purchase and they failed, yes, after 45 minutes they handed me back my credit card and said "we can't do it." This is their last resort job, and when management threatens that during an organizing campaign they take the bait hook, line and sinker. Yet all that is beside the point, a comparison between Wal-Mart and the skilled workers at an airline leaves chasms of discrepancies.
Aaaaaah, you get it.
Wal-Mart has employees who cannot do their jobs. (They are paid accordingly, $8/hr). What do unions do? They ensure that these $8/hr employees who CANNOT do their jobs, get paid more AND keep their jobs even if these employees do not know how to perform them.
That's what unions do, Cardinal.
You hit the nail right on the head. You get it. Unions protect the weak and inefficient. (Or as you say cowed, gullible, idiots.) You as the customer, have to bear the burden everytime you want to make a transaction.
Wal-Mart is not forced to keep their labor supply. They can get rid of these employees anytime (legally of course . . . not being able to perform the job you were hired to do consitutes legally), but it's obvious that the labor pool that Wal-Mart has to choose from does not include you. If Wal-Mart reduced their labor personnel by 50%, then they could raise everyone's pay to $16/hr. Providing . . . . that these employees could solve your gun purchase problem.
It's easier to justify higher wages IF you can get more productivity out of your workforce. (as pilots we're limited to the amount of production we can work) Airlines are actually constrained by the Federal Government, as to how much pilots can work (As they should be . . .it's a safety issue)
However, many employees want to work LESS (with no fear of being fired) and get paid MORE.
That's what unions do. Protect the weak and inefficient. And as an employee, if you don't like Wal-Mart, go to Target.