Quote:
Originally Posted by Mason32
In general your wife is correct. The unions of today generally drive productivity down to the lowest level that can be obtained from the worst worker.... so that then everybody is treated "fairly" on that expectation of work produced....
I have seen extreme slothfulness in many jobs that were non-union, as well. I would say the main problem is the disconnection between labor, and the fruits of labor; a natural product of capitalism. By the way, I'm not saying I'm a communist. The following explains. For example, why would a farmer work harder than he has to, in order to grow crops, if harvest time comes around, and the land owner, who hasn't lifted one finger to grow the crops, gets to keep 100% of the harvest. Then, the farmer receives compensation that allows him to only purchase 5% of the harvest, which will just barely feed his family. Performance-based compensation can help with this problem. Not all union jobs are non-performance based, and not all non-union jobs are performance-based. In order to get maximum productivity out of laborers, you have to connect them to their work. Get them involved with upper-level decision making, and connect them to the results of those decisions; whether it includes reward, or punishment. Reward them for a well job done. Treat them well, compensate them fairly, treat them as humans, as opposed to just numbers and a hindrance to increased profits, etc. Because of the constant exploitation of labor, by management, unionism becomes necessary, unfortunately. Unionism didn't create the problem; management did, through constant exploitation of labor in the name of short-term profits; not realizing that long-term profits will only be hurt through this exploitation. I hate to say it, because of how much of a cliche' it is, but take Southwest as an example of hard working union employees who are connected to their work, and are compensated fairly.