wrote in message
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Dan Krueger wrote:

"Collective bargaining" says it all. The individual either can't think
for himself or can't earn his own wage on his own merit. He has to be
grouped with a variety of worker - good and bad - to get the same pay,
the same raises, the same treatment, etc.

Still sad.

"Collective bargaining" is the only means by which the worker can even
begin to establish a level playing field. Now, there are folks who
don't think anybody except the guy with capital invested in a private
company has any right to any sort of fair or equitable
business/employment climate and that such a capital investment grants a
license to exploit any and all dumb or desperate enough to work for
the firm- and those who feel that way are entitled to do so.

Otherwise, the power of the employer to withhold pay is merely offset
by the power of the collective bargainers to withhold services. Seems
pretty fair to me. One side uses every trick in the book to pay as
little as it can get by with, and the other uses every trick in the
book to get paid as much as it possibly can. Yup, that's fair. Not
exclusively advantageous to management and capital- but fair.

Without collective bargaining, it is the employer, not the worker, who
ignores merit and does not differentiate between good and bad workers.
Without collective bargaining, everybody's job is constantly at risk if
some guy happens along who will whore out for a buck an hour less.



Tried hard to stay out of this, but Chuck, you did me in ...

Where do people like yourself get these concepts and models of business in
your head? The majority of people are employed by small businesses. Every
small business I've ever dealt with or been associated with absolutely do
NOT have the employment philosophies that you describe. Employees who make
themselves valuable through their skills and dedication to their
responsibilities are cherished and rewarded to the max the company can
afford. Conversely, the slackers, assuming they can meet the minimum job
requirements, are not compensated at the same level. Seems fair to me.

The only place in industry where I consistently saw the employees becoming a
"billet" number with no consideration given to individual talent or drive
was in big corporations with a unionized work force.

RCE