Update: 04/27/2011.

Since writing this article last year I have been amazed to see the governments of various states begin to strip away at the power of the public unions. From New Jersey to Wisconsin we are witnessing a massive pushback against union bargaining power. When I wrote this article, I felt that it would be just a matter of time before those in government would finally view unions as a threat and not a partner. Still, I did not think it would begin so soon.

If you are a member of a union, I recommend that you read this artcle. It is my firm beleif that your leadership is completely blind to what is coming and will ultimately sell you down the river. I am not a huge fan of unions, but I can see that there is a beneficial place for them in our economy. If union leadership doesn’t abandon their greedy power grab and figure out how to work with corporate and governmental leaders in a way that benefits all concerned…well read the article and see for your self.

UNIONS NEED CAPTIALISM TO SURVIVE!

Recently, I was reading an interesting article about a dilemma currently being faced by the Chinese government. It seems that the younger workers are no longer motivated to work hard by simple patriotism or love of country, they want to be paid. China has created an economic system that tries to blend the basic tenets of Communism with the economic workings of Capitalism. The end result has been a class of workers who have tasted what it is like to live in the USA. Freedom and affluence are like crack cocaine, very addicting, the more you get the more you want.  In order to keep production levels high, the manufacturing facilities now have to offer more pay and benefits to these younger workers, thus driving up the cost of labor. I find it interesting that a purely Socialist government has had to resort to a purely Capitalist way of thinking to inspire their labor force.

This problem has been in development for several decades. In 1978, the Chinese government ratified a new constitution that has many basic elements built into it that resemble the US Constitution. It has provisions for freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and other similar freedoms that we enjoy in the US. All of this is predicated on this simple foundation: The government is pre-eminent over all other things. The Chinese Constitution clearly states that ALL freedoms are allowed as long as they don’t interfere with, hinder, or harm the government and its activities. You are free to say whatever you want as long as it doesn’t harm the government and so on. I believe that this was created for 2 simple reasons: 1) To pacify the growing number of Chinese people who were rejecting the Maoist teachings and communistic regimes. 2) To entice the large, multi-national corporations to relocate manufacturing operations in mainland China.

By offering up a “new” constitutional structure that gives some façade of freedoms to a people that had formerly only known oppression, China was able to make itself appear to be moving to a more contemporary governmental entity. It also opened the door for a new “state approved” class of private business ownership. The leaders found out that if you gave a few people something tangible and promised that same thing to the others if they would cooperate, you would now have a motivated work force. Combining that with a new relationship being developed with several major US corporations that were looking to escape the ever increasing burdens of excessive regulation and stifling taxes, China now had a recipe for economic growth.

This all works fine if your work force can be controlled, but things will begin to breakdown as people gain a taste for affluence and power. This is exactly what is happening in China now as a new class of private wealth has begun to emerge. This wealth class has developed a power base that is beginning to rival that of the Communist government itself. What is amazing to me is that a purely capitalist economy is developing in the midst of a totalitarian governmental regime. As a result, China is facing the prospect of dealing with an internal revolution for control of the economy.

One of the signs that show this is the increase in “unauthorized” labor strikes. Here is something that ALL UNION MEMBERS should pay attention to, it is ILLEGAL to form or organize a labor union in China. That’s right; unions are illegal in this openly socialist country. The only sanctioned union is one run by and for the government. Now it has always been my understanding that the purpose of a union was to create a negotiating tool that works for the benefit of those members it represents. A group of people come together and select a representative who then presents their unified request for a labor agreement. It has always amazed me that unions and their collective members seem to be embracing the same socialist concepts that, if implemented,  would ultimately result in their destruction as an organization. If the SEIU or UAW tried to organize in China, the leaders would be jailed and the workers punished. If they tried to complain to the press they, and any portion of the press that aided them, would be jailed and tried as agents of dissention and treason. There is no possible way that a labor union could ever survive under a socialist regime, it would represent to much competition for power and thus be eliminated.

Yet, back here in the good old USA, we have all of these unions clamoring and pushing for regulation and governmental controls that will ultimately result in the same type of socialist government that is in existence in China. To put it more bluntly, UNIONS NEED CAPTIALISM TO SURVIVE! Without a privately owned, free market economic base, the labor unions will cease to have any function or need for being. Major unions need major corporations, period. 

If the union rank and file members don’t rise up and demand of their leaders a change of focus where government is concerned, those same members and leaders will ultimately loose all that they have worked for. If the government employment sector grows to a size and power that gives it complete sway over the entire labor picture, unions will be doomed. SEIU, NEA, AFLCIO and any other union that derives its contracts from the government will no longer be needed or welcome by that same government.

It is a fact that ALL socialist governments have only ONE central power center. In China it is the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Cuba has Castro, Venezuela has Chavez. There can only be one center of control under this type of governmental structure. There is no room or need for anything that might challenge or undermine that power base, so good bye unions.

Now it can be said that unions are a major contributor to the problems of excessive cost and regulation, but, it is also possible that these same unions with better organization and understanding of what is at stake can play a significant role in repairing the damage done.

In short, unions need for government to remain small and limited in power. They also need for large corporations to be both healthy and profitable. If these things don’t happen, these same unions can plan on going out of business.

Think about it.