How many of you "Pro Union" liberals/democrats are actually union labor? Or hire union labor? Or are a signatory Union company? You know, actually pay the wage and benefits. I am sure I will here crickets on this question.
I was in an airline pilot union. A rare white-collar union with members who lean Right. The primary reason for an airline union is to prevent accident since accidents often kill pilots or their careers regardless of fault. Airlines push their pilots on sleep issues and many accidents were fatigue related.
It's impossible to say how many lives were saved by my union's safety actions, but over the decades, I'm sure it was many. Same goes for saving pilots and their careers. Nobody except the pilot's families care when a cargo plane crashes. The planes are insured and they can hire another pilot.
I'm not a big union guy and,yes, there is a darkside to unions just like there's a darkside to corporate domination over every working American. I am a big fan of balance. Too much domination by one side or the other usually falters as we are seeing happen in America today and with the UAW in the 70s/80s.
After being a military brat for 18 years then signing up myself for another 13 years*, being dumped into the civilian marketplace came as a shock. First, there were shitload more dumbasses out there than I believed could have existed. Literally people with more money than brains. There was also a lot of backstabbing, lying and cheating going on at all levels of employment.
I became truly surprised these assholes were actually making money with an airline when I saw money leaking daily due to incompetent leadership and policies. I became a "unionist" because my life and career literally depended upon stopping the excesses of an incompetent leadership which didn't even know how to fly.
Sorry for the rant. Becoming a union worker was really the lesser of two evils in that scenario and, IMO, I did a lot of good working in safety. Unions may be a pain in the ass, but they are a necessity in the transportation business. Find another way to maintain balance between labor and management/politicians.
*Active duty. Fucking Russians pussied out and I became another Cold War casualty in 1991. I immediately became drilling Reservist.
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