Ricci and Unions

[roo_ster]

[If any of y'all have an interest in quantitative analysis of current politics, economics, etc., Steve Sailer is a blog you ought to read.]

Yes, I am posting a pro-union, or at least not anti-union, article.

See, unions are not just patronage machines and weapons to use against entrepreneurs.  They might have other uses not as obvious.


http://isteve.blogspot.com/2009/06/ricci-and-unions.html

Ricci and Unions
Something worth thinking about is the valuable role the firefighter's union in New Haven played in keeping the politicians from getting their hands all over the fire department. It was the union that had negotiated the compromise by which 60% of the weight would be given to a written test (i.e., objective and blind-graded), while the city got only 40% of the weight given to a subjective oral test, where minorities made up almost 2/3rds of the judges.

In general, in cities that have tipped toward minority political dominance, where conmen like Rev. Kimber are trying to get their hands on control of the jobs, unions sometimes provide a bulwark against race discrimination.

This provides a new/old perspective on the much-denounced subject of teachers' unions. It's widely believed that if only we got rid of teachers unions, then we'd have superstar teachers in every inner city classroom. Yet, history suggests that we might wind up with worse teachers because rising politicians would try to fire the old white teachers and give their jobs to co-ethnics.

That's exactly what happened in the late 1960s in the black Ocean Hill neighborhood in New York City, when the NY school board temporarily decentralized. Black politicians immediately fired huge numbers of white teachers (mostly Jewish) and hired blacks. Albert Shanker, the union boss of the United Federation of Teachers, went on the warpath. A huge brouhaha ensued and Shanker eventually mostly won and got the white teachers re-installed. In "Sleeper" (1973), Woody Allen is told by the people of the future that his age had been obliterated when "a man named Albert Shanker got hold of a nuclear warhead."

That teachers unions and their seniority rules keep white teachers in jobs in minority-run cities is one of those phenomenon that nobody talks about but is staring you right in the face.

[Regolith]

Unions, in their original form, were useful tools.  They helped balance the power between employers and employees, helping to make sure both sides were able to reach an amicable agreement.

Then the federal government came along and effectively placed its hand on the union's side of the scale, unbalancing the power equilibrium in the union's favor and morphing them into the refuge of the lazy, mediocre and corrupt that we have today.

Sometimes they still manage to perform the function of their predecessors, much like a broken clock is right twice a day.

[MechAg94]

My Dad worked for a journeyman union for many years.  Since it was small construction jobs with small crews he had some control over who was on his job and made sure he had guys that would work.  However, he will admit that most of the workers and many foreman didn't seem to fully understand that they worked for the company, not the union.  If the company didn't make a profit on the job, they couldn't afford to hire them.  IMO, the  problem with many unions is they have essentially become a labor contractor with a monopoly at certain locations yet they fail to fully take responsibility for training, quality of work, and productivity. 

My company just did a repair job on a plant where we had a specialty welding outfit in to do some work on nickel alloy piping.  One of the welders on the night crew was doing a sloppy job according to what I heard.  The job foreman sent him packing pretty quickly.  They charge and pay high wages and can't afford to put up with sloppy work that has to be redone.  The other welders and fitter they had were very good and hard working.  If most union workers had that attitude, I would have no problem with them.

I know there are lots of unions in this country.  Sometimes I wonder just how many actually fit that bad stereotype. 

[K Frame]

"Black politicians immediately fired huge numbers of white teachers (mostly Jewish) and hired blacks. "

Hum...

If by HUGE numbers he means that fewer than 20 white teachers were fired, and mainly on charges of actively working against the NYPS decentralization agreement, he's still wrong.

Most white teachers in the Ocean Hill neighborhood KEPT their jobs. I can't find concrete numbers, but I seem to recall that the teachers (and administrators) who were removed from the Ocean Hill schools was something like 10% of the population of white teachers in that district.

Also, the teachers that the blogger claims were fired were NOT fired -- they were removed from teaching positions in Ocean Hill and were ultimately reassigned to other duties by the NYPS BOE.

I'm quite disturbed at how the blogger is representing, or should I say misrepresenting the event to somehow attempt to prove his point.

[Azrael256]

IMO, the  problem with many unions is they have essentially become a labor contractor with a monopoly at certain locations

The word you're looking for is "cartel."

[stevelyn]

Unions, in their original form, were useful tools.

Now they're just tools.

[Matthew Carberry]

Not sure I see the problem if elected representatives exercise their appropriate authority to hire and fire within whatever Constitutional (Fed or State) and/or therein derived procedural rules may apply.

If they choose co-ethnics who do a bad job, the appropriate control is for their constituents to replace them, not to depend on an organization that by its nature restricts freedom of association and of contract.

[MicroBalrog]

In a proper society, unions should be voluntary. If you don't like them, you don't have to join. This isn't the case.