The Lay of Labors New Land

The one thing I would love to see unions take a more active interest in for their membership is continuing education.

The backlash over the past 20 to 30 years against unions have largely been a result of a perception that union wages are excessively high in comparison to the skills necessary for the job, especially when the wage inflation of incumbency and seniority are considered.

It is common sense that a large portion of labor-intensive jobs (janitorial work, assembly line, etc) simply don’t require the skills that the union wage implies. The inflated wages are a consequence of a seniority system that provides no value to businesses, who then periodically must adjust their highly paid senior workforce as new competitors hire younger union workers at significantly lower union wages.

That is a sure-fire recipe for union-management labor conflicts. As recent history has certainly born out in the airline and automotive industries.

There is certainly a need for senior floor workers in positions like foreman, etc, but if every worker who starts at age 20 starts expecting that they have a right to those positions at age 50, well, you don’t need one highly compensated foreman to oversee the work of one worker.

Putting more emphasis on educational benefits allows those workers in lower paying jobs to seek better pay in better jobs, rather than getting better pay simply by being able to show up for work and keep their seat warm.

Posted by Jay Cline on Oct 26, 2005 at 10:59 AM