"CalifBill" wrote in message
m...


Seems as if the union leaders were stupid. But they got paid during the
strike. the stupid ones were the workers who struck and did not get paid.

When unions go on strike it affects more than their own membership and the
company.
If the strike is in the auto industry, car shipments are delayed, the
production of customer ordered vehicles are delayed or the sale is
cancelled. Non-union parts suppliers have to cut back on production.

In other industries a trade union strike often results in non-union
employees being laid off for the duration of the strike. These people
receive no union strike "benefits", didn't have a vote in the strike
decision, yet suffer the consequences by losing their job. I remember this
happening often at the old Bethlehem Ship Yard in Quincy, MA. Back in the
50's and 60's it was a major employer on the south shore of MA. When a
trade union went on strike, everybody suffered. I also remember violent
confrontations occurring between union and non-union people who were trying
to report to work but had to cross picket lines to get in. My family knew
several people, union and non-union, who worked at the "Shipyard" and I
recall horror stories of some of them being threatened and physically
blocked from entering the yard. As a youngster at the time, maybe those
stories are what turned me off about unions.

Eisboch