Are Unions ‘Big Business’ Or Just Trying To Help As Many Workers In The World As They Can?
May 22nd, 2007
Submitted By: Erik Slayter
Referencing this article found in the Wall Street Journal.
I guess the answer to that question depends on your point of view. The president of the Teamsters James Hoffa is on his way to Beijing to explore possibilities of helping to improve working conditions in China. His launching off points will be United Parcel Service and YRC Worldwide - two of the largest employers of Teamster members here at home. Not surprisingly, employees of these two companies are not unionized in China.
The AFL-CIO [as a side note, take a look at the arcade games on the AFL-CIO site ] does not formally recognize the Chinese “All-China Federation of Trade Unions” because they have no rights to strike and do not use collective bargaining for contract negotiations.
Hoffa says, “the workers can’t be ignored”. The cynic in me thinks that what Hoffa meant to say is, “gadzooks there’s a lot of union dues to be collected.” With the recent financial troubles with our automobile manufacturers in the US, I’m sure the unions are taking a hit - is this just another example of global expansion by big business to help diversify it’s revenue stream or does Hoffa really want to help every worker in every country?
Entry Filed under: Pre-Departure, Beijing, China, Misc.
4 Comments Add your own
1. Chris Carr | May 22nd, 2007 at 8:53 am
Good post.
No question in my mind that this move is driven by control, power, rent seeking, turf protection and revenue more than saving the proletariat of the world.
Who would have thought 20 years ago that auto workers in Detroit would one day want to throw their arms around the shoulders of their “communist brothers” in China?!!
2. Andrew Gardner | May 23rd, 2007 at 7:51 pm
Great post Eric.
I think the new slogan for Teamsters should read “Trying to raise the price of goods throughout the entire world.” After reading the post and article I could not help but to think that Teamsters is facing the same fate as the American manufacturing industry. As more and more manufacturing jobs are shipped off shore, the union is having less and less domestic employees to represent. It only makes sense to follow these jobs offshore.
Also, I wonder what response the Chinese government will have in Teamsters early attempts at organizing labor. One of China’s main competitive advantages is its cheap labor. If Teamsters was successful in organizing labor, the country could lose that advantage to other countries. I do think that the government would step in to prevent any organization of labor.
3. Chris Carr | May 24th, 2007 at 8:11 am
Andrew is dead on.
If “true” unions come to China, that will cut into China’s comparative advantage on costs, thereby protecting more American workers/jobs/industries. That may be a good thing. But ….
Like I have always said, Americans talk a big game and continually mouth the words, “we support competition and free markets” …. until it applies to them.
I am especially sensitive and aware of this issue. I grew up right in the middle of farming and ranching USA in the Midwest. My entire family, on both mom and dad side, including my parents were/are ranchers and farmers. It used to drive me nuts to hear some of my own relatives rail on “black mothers on welfare” without a hint of recognition that he ag industry is more subsidized than any housing project on the Chicago south side is or will ever be! My attempts to point out this inconsistency in their arguments got me kicked out of a number of family card and poker games!
Here is another way to think about and personalize this …. over the years grad students here and elsewhere sometimes have complained to me that MBA programs are too competitive and grade oriented. No question, that such a focus can have a dark side to it if/when it gets out of control; but generally I try to gently remind these folks that this is part of competing and life, that I can’t change that, and the sooner they get comfortable with that reality of the world, probably the better off they will be …. I am just not convinced that awarding all grades on a credit/no credit basis will encourage folks to do their best work. Anyone agree/disagree?
4. James Towers | June 13th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
In response to Dr. Carr’s tangential topic, and with a sample size of only one program of 60 people, I think some sort of credit/ no credit basis would work for MBAs. This year I took three 4 unit courses without receiving credit for them. Sure they look good on a resume, but I would have done them anyway for the experience. I also attended every speaker series event because I wanted to learn. Obviously, coming to grad school we have made a conscious decision to advance ourselves and I think anyone who has sat in on a class with us will realize that we are all intellectually curious people.
I guess the the true test of an MBA program’s mettle will be if it can handle the credit/no credit grading system. That will mean that all the courses are stimulating, relevant, and insightful enough to hold the student’s attention. I feel that this year I attended, participated in, and was generally more enthused about classes that didn’t require mandatory attendance, participation, or homework. We all made the choice to go to grad school to learn and expand our knowledgebase, and I truly believe that grades or no grades, I and a great deal of my colleagues would have gotten as much if not more out of this program.
I realize that this is utopian and unrealistic, but I think that some combination of credit and graded courses should be utilized. For example, if organizational behavior was instead a 10 week credited seminar every friday, I would probably be more inclined to pay attention and learn than if it was a graded class. Conversely, this would probably not work for a math based class like statistics because knowledge and understand only really come through test preparation.
Furthermore, apparently from the Duke example, MBAs cheat way too much anyway, so a credited basis would encourage students to do their own work and thus actually do work and get something out of the exercise. In closing I would just like to say that I wouldn’t want a lawyer or a doctor who has a credit/no credit degree.
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