Who are the people who advocate crushing the unions, lowering wages and then expecting workers to work longer?

"Who are the people who advocate crushing the unions, lowering wages and then expecting workers to work longer?"

Those who profit from the same.

And those too stupid to realize they are the one's who's wages will be cut, and required to work longer without the benefit of collective bargaining.

Hi Ted. I am not sure from which Country you come from. I am in Australia and we are lucky to have a good Labor Govt. The Unions are holding their own here and seem to be getting stronger. Our Govt. supports workers as much as they can. About employees purchasing shares within the Company they work. Good and Bad Idea. Most Companies are small and pay a medium wage. They require more money than their employees can contribute. I think most people are trying to survive today without putting money into their Company.Can they trust the Manager and Board. It is a very Iffy thing. A big Company does offer shares, but with the state of the economy, Who will invest? It is a catch 22 situation when you break it down.

Just for the record. Australia will be one of the few Countries that can by-pass this recession. The outlook is good and not that bad. Guess we have grown up over the years and do not require America and England for support.

Jeez Ted, Sorry. My mind has been in neutral lately. Sorry my Mate. Please forgive.

To Dubya's Legacy. Brilliant Mate. I really like your style. If the shoe fits (or is flung) wear it. Really Great!!!!

I'm with skewzie2 and copycat, who said it so well. Once unions were a necessary evil and now they are just evil. And this is experience talking. Most of them are either useless and help your bosses oppress you, while taking all the goodies for themselves, or they are bullies whose primary interest is their own paychecks, not yours, and not your security.

What we need is fewer unions, and a whole lot fewer execs who think they ought to net millions for sitting behind a desk and, maybe, signing papers and taking those power lunches, while deciding how much work they ought to be able to gouge out of their workers for how little pay. If they weren't taking theirs off the top, and at ridiculous rates, they could afford to pay their workers a reasonable salary, and hire enough people to actually DO the work they are wanting done. And still make a profit for the company.

It's not so much about protecting the American economy as giving a fair share and a fair chance to the American worker. Before the days of overblown union bosses and greedy executives blowing profits into their golden parachutes, at the expense of the guys doing the real work, this country was a thriving proposition. And it could be again, if we would concentrate on making it work, instead of getting ours at everybody else's expense.

And if we had less damn greedy and corrupt government, that would be all to the good, as well.

Who's trying to break the unions? Everybody with smarts who would like a chance to make a decent living.

Employee-ownership is a very effective and good approach.

As to who would be against that AND unions... hmm...

Those using politics to crush unions are one thing.

Those using automation and technology are spot-on. Why?

Even if we outlaw all automation in the interest of protecting jobs, there's no guarantee other nations would do the same. More probably, the opposite would happen; they'd hasten their race toward efficiency.

Progress-resistant nations would gradually lose all competitiveness and be 'bought out' by realistic nations.

Not only would they have finer-quality products at much lower prices, their average income would be much higher, jobs would be more specialized, higher-tech and with better conditions.

Not long ago, 98% of the people worked the crops just to feed themselves and the remaining two percent with more dignified jobs.

Now, 2% drive mega-monster tractors, follow accurate weather forecasts, efficient fertilization techniques, etc... and those 2% feed themselves AND the remaining 98% of us.

We can not stop progress.

...

Union have outlived their usefulness. Also there are state and federal labor laws in place to protect the american worker from unscrupulous employers. And did you know if your union goes out on strike,you are not entitled to unemployment and strike pay is less than 1/2 of your wages. And if your union says to go on strike, you have no say in the matter. You also have no say in concessions made with the employer. The voting is just a sham to appease its members. If you are for the unions you have never worked for a union company. Yes you make a little more in wages, and you will have medical insurance, but you don't get the other benefits non union employers give to their workers, like retirement packages. In companies where the employees are forced to belong to the union, the employee must pay union dues out of their paycheck, which brings down the level of pay to that of a non union person. Who is getting rich off the unions, not the employees, but the union bosses with their large salaries and bonuses. Not to mention the expense accounts. All this comes from the union dues. And in the long run the union employee is no safer or secure in the job market than the non union person. Wake up and smell the coffee. Unions at their inception were a necessary evil, but now they are just evil.

Union busters are at work to ease the pressure on US industry to make us more competitive. Here is my view the current wall-street crisis is all made by bad management, greed,Wildly complicated banking Instruments the bankers could not figure out, and finally the slow deregulation of all kinds of loans and the interest.

If the unions are ask to take concessions we should demand that all the people that put us in this place make concessions before unions agree.

Greed mongers suck. We all know it. However, we control our own destiny by controlling our purchase dollars. If they ship our manufacturing base overseas, then we should just not buy the stuff that they manufacture. Without the boom of the US markets, most products these days-especially consumer and luxury items, would have a difficult time staying afloat even with all the cheap labor. One possible answer is to begin limited protectionism in which we tarriff the heck out of items produced by firms and courtries that continuously screw America. Yes, making gov't bigger to regulate this is not a good thing, but since the rage of deregulation has ran througout the biz community, the businesses themselves have proven too greedy to regulate themselves and protect their workers and client base. Has anyone ever heard of pitchforks and torches in the streets???

The same people who dont want to pay for their wages through taxes they have to pay.

Why should someone making $20 an hour subsidize another persons wages who is making $50 an hour ?

And that is exactly whats happening when the Gov uses tax payer money to bail out a company who cant reduce its employees wages even if it wants to.

In case you geniuses haven't taken a look around. More and more older americans are out working. The only ones who aren't are those who have retired with monsterous retirement accounts. DOn't you ***** about the old lady at the check out at kmart, or the old fart working as a crossing guard at the school. They are working at 70, because they have to. Unions have outlived their usefulness. Companies WILL close shop here and go to Mexico or Canada, or they will close up and move to a state where the unions won't be allowed to blackmail them into guranteeing them a lucrative retirement. How about this, you get you union retirement, but you give up medicare, social security, and other services that non union retirees need to have. Unions will destroy job security for the rest of us. And many non union companies offer 401k's and other investements into their companies. Ban all unions !!!

The people who made up the last game on Wall St. that killed the national economy.

They must have forgotten to read some Adam Smith.