Unions Target Amazon To Increase Dwindling Members; Why Mish Hates Unions

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk,

Vote counting is underway in Alabama at an Amazon facility in Bessemer.

Spotlight on Bessemer, Alabama

Nationally, Amazon has 950,000 employees and is the US’ second largest employer after Walmart. Analysts expect Amazon to eventually take the top spot. 

If workers vote yes, Bessemer employees would be the only unionized Amazon workers in a nation where memberships have dwindled.

There are 5,805 Amazon workers in Bessemer. If they were all to unionize, they would be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which had 18,000 members in the state as of 2020; the new workers would represent an increase of about 32%. Alabama is a right-to-work state, so workers wouldn’t be required to join the union.

Amazon Full- and Part-Time Jobs

Public Unions

My main gripe against unions is with public service employees.

Corrupt union leaders get in bed with corrupt politicians then hold the public, whom they are supposed to serve, hostage.

Faced with no garbage pickup, closed schools, no fire departments, and no polices, city officials inevitably cave in to preposterous demands. 

Insolvent Illinois is a prime example of what eventually happens.

Private Unions

If private unions demand too much, and get it, bankruptcy results. GM is a good example. 

My experiences an employee in unions shops where I grew up also left a huge distaste.

For example, I got called in on a summer job I wanted and the next day the union went on strike. I had that job precisely one day.

My main gripe against private unions is they promote based on seniority, not skills. Hours, schedules, etc., are also based on seniority. 

The more skilled one is the less use a union is. 

I was the best at several tasks at a grocery store I worked. That meant I worked busy Saturday afternoons, not Saturday evenings. What high school kid wants to work Saturday evenings? 

The union came in, and guess what? The result was not good for the store, or me, but someone who could neither bag well nor operate a cash register at all. 

Right-to-Work

I am a strong advocate of right-to-work. A huge failure of Trump’s 4 years is failure to pass national right-to-work legislation.

He wasted years pissing with Obamacare and more years with the Wall.  

Janus vs. AFSCME

On June 27, 2018 I reported Supreme Court Delivers Huge Blow to Unions!

In Janus vs. AFSCME, the Supreme Court correctly dealt a huge blow to forced membership in unions.

By a 5-to-4 vote, with the more conservative justices in the majority, the court ruled that government workers who choose not to join unions may not be required to help pay for collective bargaining.

The ruling was welcome. But it did not go far enough. There should not be public unions in the first place. Even FDR, a big union champion and bastion of the Left understood that.

Public Unions Ought to Be Illegal 

I salute Ronald Reagan for firing all the PATCO workers when they attempted to shut down air traffic.

Public unions protect bad cops, bad teachers, even pedophiles. 

For discussion, please see Public Unions Have No Business Existing: Even FDR Admitted That