Listen to a couple of union members talk when they think no one is listening, and they will bash and trash the union for what it is. Hypocrisy? Hardly—unions are generally manned by very nice, decent, hard-working folks who are smart enough to realize when they are under the thumb of legalized mob racketeering. But listen to two union members talk when they know non-union people are listening, and what a bizarre love fest commences. Eventually, they come down to three points.

First, unions continue to save the world. Did you know that? Yes, unions still believe that if they vanished from the earth, monocled Harvard men in top hats will immediately crack whips upon the bloody backs of your starving children. Check out what the AFL-CIO says about sweatshops :

Yes they still exist today. n [sic] August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced compound of seven apartments in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 illegal Thai immigrants who had been forced to sew in virtual captivity.

One is curious how a union helps in these situations, since (a) unions do not employ illegal aliens, and (b) eight criminals enslaving six dozen victims is hardly a legitimate enterprise anyway. But this event is a non sequitur to what value a union provides, yet bear in mind this is the best example they can come up with for why unions are vital.

Second, speaking of things that happened a while ago, the issue of safety usually follows. The American worker should get down on his knees and thank the unions for safer working conditions! And yes, there is a lot of truth to that. Despite a lot of frivolous propaganda out there about union contributions to workplace safety, there is no denying that it would take anyone about ten seconds with a good internet connection to find a dozen examples where unions actually helped us all.

But hold on—ask the union members when was the last time the unions contributed anything to workplace safety? OSHA (whom most union members openly hate) took over that job back in 1970, and by then, the unions were pretty much done with getting untrained children away from whirling blades. Unions maintain that by reporting safety violations to OSHA, they continue the tradition of keeping workers alive. But so what? Anyone can contact OSHA over even a concern of workplace safety. Actually, the last uncontested and inrguable contribution by a labor union was in 1929, with the formation of the Labor Union Safety Program, which started the concept of tracking workplace accidents.

Further, how good is the union record since then? Mining is heavily unionized, and is among the most dangerous trades due to poor safety records. So while the American worker should thank unionization for starting workplace safety programs, the unions have done very little since then—except of course cherry pick success stories that could have been performed by anybody.

Unions cite three things they contribute: prevention of sweatshops, workplace safety, and collective bargaining. Sometimes, they claim work quality. All of these are false contributions. Here’s why.A third topic upon which union members tend to self-congraulate is the collective bargaining agreement. This is a clever term for “ransom note.” Give us more money, or we strike. That, of course, is the cynical interpretation. In fairness, the unions simply state that they expect their members to be paid what the market will bear. Unfortunately, as Gormogon readers know all too well, the market no longer can bear that price. Unions must give back money, or they will expire right along with the rest of us.

And, as we see too often, (union wages – union dues) = non-union pay. Many if not most union members are not earning more pay for themselves—they are simply helping to support a union boss or two.

Sometimes a fourth issue comes up, particularly among the trades. That issue is quality. When you hire a union shop, you can be sure of getting quality work done. Your home or business will not burn down. Or flood. Or fly apart. And it is true that trade unions train their people pretty well.

But so do most non-union shops. Unions like to scare folks with radio and newspaper ads, warning them of what happens when they use non-union workers for their projects—but the examples they cite are of non-licensed or uninsured shops: illegal in most places. There is a wide difference between hiring a non-union shop that does quality work and a couple of unlicensed guys who do work illegally on the side. Indeed, whom might you trust: the guy whose career solely depends on doing good work, or the guy who will just be sent to some other job by the union hall after he screws up?

And of course, no matter how much the unions scream quality, they are just as prone to on-the-job errors and omissions as anyone else. Training and quality indoctrination only goes so far. Unions, like non-union shops, can easily provide a moron with a hammer. And if you get one of those, the recourses are exactly the same: you refuse to pay until the situation has been corrected, and if need be, you put a lien on the company until they do. So what does the union provide you?

The bottom line is this: unions talk a good game about the great things they provide. But their claims do not stand up to scrutiny, or have long since passed into history. Meanwhile, we are faced with real economic hardships as a country—some of which the unions expressly create or sustain. No wonder we see a spate of smackdowns lately.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.