On Unions

I made an observation on Facebook about Connecticut Power and Light, and the State Regulators who oversee them.  It has taken CP&L over a week to restore power after an early season snowstorm blanketed the state.  As of 11/6/11 they still had not restored power to over 77,000 customers.  I wondered if when the investigation on why CP&L responded so poorly began state regulators would be held accountable.  It was my guess they would not.  Along the way someone I don’t really know commented “What, no comment about overpaid ,(sic)lazy union workers?”

What I find irksome in that comment is it reflects the typical pro-union (i.e. liberal) belief that every conservative is 100% anti-union 100% of the time.  Our first thought is to blame the union for everything, just as they blame big business for all the ills of the nation.  Is it that liberal’s see the world only in black and white, there is no middle ground for discussion?  This jaded view of mine seems to be reinforced by a number of my high school acquaintances now conversing on Facebook.  One has been so narrow as to say greed did not exist before Enron.  Others have talked about all that is good and right with the #OWS protest.

So as a fiscal conservative what do I think about Unions?  The more I consider them I come away mixed about their need and their value.  I am not so naïve as to believe all corporate management is benevolent and makes corporate decisions with regard to its work force.  Left on their own management of today is, I believe, every bit as likely to revert to the same despotism that led to the original creation of guilds.  Every company would replace its entire manufacturing process with robots if they could.  But so far, unions seemed to have cared little about protecting the jobs of the workforce, concentrating instead on wage and benefit demands.  They have allowed millions of jobs to be outsourced to offshore manufacturing with little criticism leveled at their role.  Union rules have led to the best qualified being passed over or eliminated based on seniority alone.  Union stewards have protected the incompetent at the cost of the skilled.  Union leaders have drained the coffers of union retirement plans, yet still they lead the unions.  All in all I think unions serve a purpose, I am just not convinced it is a universally good purpose. 

This has been heavily reinforced with the public service and teachers unions, whose protest centers exclusively on protection of their taxpayer funded benefits.