Well said, Joe. I don't have time to go into details now, but when the paper I work for unionized about 20 years ago we lost all kinds of perks, made management too scared to actually DO anything about deadwood workers and cost each and every employee about $500 to $700 a year in dues. So far the union has not protected one job when the big cuts came in the '80s and again in the '90s. They have not solved a single case of supervisor persecution or — as far as I can figure out — done anything useful for us.

They have settled for some of the smallest salary increases we have ever had, locked us into impossible schedules and generally screwed up the business of news gathering and processing.

For regimented (i.e. manufacturing) jobs they might make sense, but for lots of other kinds of work they are nothing but a pain.

david