Collective Bargaining Doesn't Hurt...

[Sparx]

Union-free Virginia not spared state pension woes


Union-free Virginia not spared state pension woes

[Gilligan (Premo)]

Of course not. Union or non-union, the public employee pension fund managers at the state level were/are operating with really stupid AROR numbers for their funds..numbers in the 7-8% range. Actual returns are more like 4-4.5%?...so there is a huge gap between the anticipated/needed fund growth and what is actually there.

Cuts will happen everywhere...to everybody.

[ylexot]

Really? They don't hurt?

Without unions, McDonnell says, it's been easier for Virginia to slash costs and balance the budget during the economic downturn. State employees went four years without a pay raise. Thousands of state and local employees have been fired or furloughed to make ends meet.

"We didn't have to go and sit down and negotiate with a number of unions about how we were going to do that," McDonnell said. "We just did it."

[Sparx]

No, they don't. You're making a good argument for how unions are needed.

[ylexot]

Originally Posted by Sparx

No, they don't. You're making a good argument for how unions are needed.

Because they're good for bankrupting governments...and companies

[Gilligan (Premo)]

Originally Posted by Sparx

No, they don't. You're making a good argument for how unions are needed.

If/when a state faces a budget shortfall, some people may have to give up something and other people have to go. It's literally that simple. What exactly is any union going to do to help that situation in any way, shape or form?

[Cheeky1]

I believe workers unions have their place in history and in the current.

However, I also believe the workers unions ideals have changed (whether my pre-conception is true or not) from looking out for the hard working American to proporting an entitlements philosophy, which, appears to me, is of the opposite mindset and ideal.

I have never been a member of a union, so, I have a question for you all: Is, or has there been any union, anywhere in the US, that looks(ed) out for the well-being of its members rather than its own cash flow and/or political motivations?

[ImnoMensa]

Originally Posted by Cheeky1

I believe workers unions have their place in history and in the current.

However, I also believe the workers unions ideals have changed (whether my pre-conception is true or not) from looking out for the hard working American to proporting an entitlements philosophy, which, appears to me, is of the opposite mindset and ideal.

I have never been a member of a union, so, I have a question for you all: Is, or has there been any union, anywhere in the US, that looks(ed) out for the well-being of its members rather than its own cash flow and/or political motivations?

As a Union member I can say that my local does exactly that, they look out for their members and not their own cash flow.

I cannot say the same for the International.The people we send our per dium to. The International worries more about power and political stances than they do about members.

[Cheeky1]

Originally Posted by ImnoMensa

As a Union member I can say that my local does exactly that, they look out for their members...

If you don't mind....might I ask: How, and by what means, does your local union look out for its members?