Originally Posted by
BlackPeter
westerly, just because you are politically one eyed does not mean everybody else is as well.
Unions in itself are just an instrument to allow individuals with limited bargaining power to increase this power as a collective. This is good if they correct this way an obvious and unfair imbalance of power (like during the industrialisation). It is bad, if they abuse this power to further blackmail, corruption and crime (quite the standard in some industries in Australia and the US) or if they abuse this power to ruin corporations (British rail springs to mind - forcing the company to have a fireman twiggling his thumbs on the diesel locomotive) or just look at the ugly power games in even our harbours ... unions just love to play god with the fate of corporations and don't care how many workplaces they destroy to further their own selfish course.
I don't support or oppose the idea of unions more or less than I oppose or support the idea of corporations / church groups /religions or governments ... they all started probably with a good cause, but as soon as they have too much power many of them turn ugly. They all need a tight control ... and that's all I ask for.