What is your personal view of unions and their effectiveness?

Answer 1

Unions are a controversial topic in the United States. For the most part they are seen as a good of society but they are not completely without fault. During the late 19th and early 20th century, unions were important to the improvement of society. Since there were no labor laws at all, and the rise of corporate giants like Rockefeller meant that the common worker had no defense against his employer. When companies were just a factory or two it was easier for the workers to be able to demand a certain level of respect but once the difference in industrial process of the 2nd industrial revolution came about the worker became an automaton for the business owner. The loss of humanity led to the increasing difficulty of work with less benefits and lower pay. The unions were the mechanism that could contend with the factory owners and corporations. But today's age with many labor laws in place, and many unions forming in less risky fields of work like grocery store instead of coal mines has led to a negative outcome of unions. They now have inflated pay, ridiculous benefit packages, and large pensions to sustain people who don't do as much as they would have 50 or more years ago. The auto industry for example cannot compete with Toyota or Honda because the U.S. factory worker makes more than is necessary and way more than there Japanese competitor. Unions had a time and a place but in today's society they should be a defense mechanism rather than an assertive force.