Ed Miliband, the British Labour Party Leader, wrote on his website that he would not support the strike on June 30,2011 by 100,000 British public employees. He said "You do not win public backing for an argument about pensions]by inconveniencing the public." Is this ever a change.
In years past strikes were common. Transportation would stop. Mail would not be delivered. Usually the workers won. The most notable time when they did not win was when Ronald Reagan fired all of the air traffic controllers who did not come to work. A gutsy move. Yet the airplanes kept flying as new controllers were hired and trained.
The idea of a union in the past was that workers could legally unite and negotiate for pay and working conditions with employers that were not benevolent. Often labor would win concessions that were themselves oppressive.
We have entered a new society and a new economy. Labor is viewed by management as customers and as partners. Management looks to balance the needs and desires of all the stakeholders. That includes customers, stockholders, employees, suppliers, management and the environment. Unions that only consider labor are obsolete.
This week we have heard Rahm Emmanuel, new Mayor of Chicago, telling labor that they have to change their attitude or even more will be laid off. Emmanuel has to close a $650 million budget shortfall. All over the country the new role of unions is primarily to help plan how much gets cut from pay and benefits and the break-our of impact between current and retired employees.
A new type of union is needed that can find a way to employ labor on a steady basis. It can work. In Massachusetts, as an unintended consequence of a requirement for health insurance many employers have made deals with competitors to hire each other's employees when they lay off workers to keep from reaching the minimum numbers of hours where insurance is required. Could a union stop this from happening? What could it do when the employer simply cannot afford the insurance and be competitive? Customers will only pay so much for a hamburger. In years past, employers could raise prices to cover increased pay ands benefits. Automobile manufacturers' pricing was a method called target cost rate of return. They would work backwards from return on investment, add back costs and arrive at a selling price. The customers would always be there.
Like it or not we are not recovering from a recession. There is a new world out there. Not only can the automobile manufacturers not charge what they will but a baker has to think carefully before adding another nickel to the price of a doughnut. We are in a post consumer society where the customers can just as well say no to anything.
David Sneed
In years past strikes were common. Transportation would stop. Mail would not be delivered. Usually the workers won. The most notable time when they did not win was when Ronald Reagan fired all of the air traffic controllers who did not come to work. A gutsy move. Yet the airplanes kept flying as new controllers were hired and trained.
The idea of a union in the past was that workers could legally unite and negotiate for pay and working conditions with employers that were not benevolent. Often labor would win concessions that were themselves oppressive.
We have entered a new society and a new economy. Labor is viewed by management as customers and as partners. Management looks to balance the needs and desires of all the stakeholders. That includes customers, stockholders, employees, suppliers, management and the environment. Unions that only consider labor are obsolete.
This week we have heard Rahm Emmanuel, new Mayor of Chicago, telling labor that they have to change their attitude or even more will be laid off. Emmanuel has to close a $650 million budget shortfall. All over the country the new role of unions is primarily to help plan how much gets cut from pay and benefits and the break-our of impact between current and retired employees.
A new type of union is needed that can find a way to employ labor on a steady basis. It can work. In Massachusetts, as an unintended consequence of a requirement for health insurance many employers have made deals with competitors to hire each other's employees when they lay off workers to keep from reaching the minimum numbers of hours where insurance is required. Could a union stop this from happening? What could it do when the employer simply cannot afford the insurance and be competitive? Customers will only pay so much for a hamburger. In years past, employers could raise prices to cover increased pay ands benefits. Automobile manufacturers' pricing was a method called target cost rate of return. They would work backwards from return on investment, add back costs and arrive at a selling price. The customers would always be there.
Like it or not we are not recovering from a recession. There is a new world out there. Not only can the automobile manufacturers not charge what they will but a baker has to think carefully before adding another nickel to the price of a doughnut. We are in a post consumer society where the customers can just as well say no to anything.
David Sneed
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