4 ms·

The Unemployed Now Have Their Own Union

14 points by daniel-cussen 17y ago

daniel-cussen 17y ago
Not the greatest article, but I submitted it because of the idea; it very novel, and illustrates the "elusive obvious."
jrockway 17y ago
Good idea, but this is more like a lobbying organization than a union. Are they going to walk out of their job if they are not paid well? Probably not.
- daniel-cussen 17y ago
  Sure, yeah. But they can vote in an organized fashion.
nitrogen 17y ago
What leverage does a union of unemployed people have? What will they do, go on strike? Or just clog the sidewalks around state capitol buildings?
- idoh 17y ago
  They can vote. Even small groups of people can do interesting things in local elections with low turnouts, for example teacher's unions and school board elections.
- rmorrison 17y ago
  They threaten to start working.
tjic 17y ago
I shudder to think about what happens if the unemployed all simultaneously stop ... what? Surfing the web?
- bluedanieru 17y ago
  Well if you can't think of any negative consequences that might result from having a large organized group of people with little to do and less to lose, I'd say you have a poor imagination.
epochwolf 17y ago
I'm wondering if they have to pay dues.
guelo 17y ago
A more powerful idea would be a union of freelancers/contractors. Imagine all freelancers stopped working for a company that lobbied against health insurance reform, or a company that engaged in patent abuse. They would have a lot of power but the problem would be scabs and foreign outsourcing.
- stellar678 17y ago
  There is a freelancer's union: http://www.freelancersunion.org/ http://www.freelancersunion.org/ Not sure how much the focus is on organizing around pressuring potential client companies, but there is some issue advocacy, along with group insurance and retirement plans, etc...
jerf 17y ago
Yes, form a union to demand more benefits from the world's most indebted entity! Get yours while the gettin's good. That's the way forward... more people on the dole! Are you really coming out ahead begging Congress for jobs when they've shown no ability to create them? The average cost of a single "created job" lately would be enough to run a small business in the private sector. What you really need to ask them to do is stop draining the private sector of a quarter of a million dollars (plus interest, since it's borrowed) to provide you with a low-end temporary job for a year.
- bluedanieru 17y ago
  There are plenty of countries with larger debt problems than the US. I don't think this union is so much about getting a check from Congress than it is tipping the legislative balance a little bit less in favor of giant corporations than it currently is. US law has little in the way of worker protection, and is quite hostile to small business as well. Reminder that Congress is basically owned by the richest 99.99th percentile (who have seen their wealth increase of late, I might add). It's too bad that it takes a collapse of the economy before we can see agitation for this sort of stuff, rather than during fatter times when it should be easier, but I guess it's hard to think about the future for a vast majority of the population.
  - lrm242 17y ago
    Why is the government always in the corporation's back pocket? The democrats are firmly in control, with a president who has shown a huge favor for unionized labor.
  - jerf 17y ago
    I cheated and used absolute debt. Relative debts aren't 100% applicable, because the US' absolute debt is large enough that they may face a problem few if any others will face, which is the world running out of money to lend, but it's anybody's guess how that will affect anything, if it has any effect at all. Increasing union-style protection is not going to help small businesses. Everything the current Congress is capable of thinking involves raising the price of employees. They don't even always understand that's what they are doing, i.e., "making an employee harder to fire", regardless of how sweet it sounds in a politician's speech, means making them that much riskier and therefore that much more expensive to hire.
aresant 17y ago
What would be a lot more compelling is to see the unemployed form their own angel investment networks in a similar "local node" format. Unemployed don't have lots of bucks to invest, but take $1000 each from 10 - 20 people, invest in best local biz plan, and you’re going to be creating jobs, stimulating the local community, and can at least give the unemployed people something to market (and earn an ROI on eventually).

14 points by daniel-cussen 17y ago

Not the greatest article, but I submitted it because of the idea; it very novel, and illustrates the "elusive obvious."

Good idea, but this is more like a lobbying organization than a union. Are they going to walk out of their job if they are not paid well? Probably not.

daniel-cussen 17y ago
Sure, yeah. But they can vote in an organized fashion.

nitrogen 17y ago

What leverage does a union of unemployed people have? What will they do, go on strike? Or just clog the sidewalks around state capitol buildings?

idoh 17y ago
They can vote. Even small groups of people can do interesting things in local elections with low turnouts, for example teacher's unions and school board elections.
rmorrison 17y ago
They threaten to start working.

tjic 17y ago

I shudder to think about what happens if the unemployed all simultaneously stop ... what? Surfing the web?

bluedanieru 17y ago
Well if you can't think of any negative consequences that might result from having a large organized group of people with little to do and less to lose, I'd say you have a poor imagination.

epochwolf 17y ago

I'm wondering if they have to pay dues.

guelo 17y ago

A more powerful idea would be a union of freelancers/contractors. Imagine all freelancers stopped working for a company that lobbied against health insurance reform, or a company that engaged in patent abuse. They would have a lot of power but the problem would be scabs and foreign outsourcing.

stellar678 17y ago
There is a freelancer's union: http://www.freelancersunion.org/ http://www.freelancersunion.org/ Not sure how much the focus is on organizing around pressuring potential client companies, but there is some issue advocacy, along with group insurance and retirement plans, etc...

jerf 17y ago

Yes, form a union to demand more benefits from the world's most indebted entity! Get yours while the gettin's good. That's the way forward... more people on the dole! Are you really coming out ahead begging Congress for jobs when they've shown no ability to create them? The average cost of a single "created job" lately would be enough to run a small business in the private sector. What you really need to ask them to do is stop draining the private sector of a quarter of a million dollars (plus interest, since it's borrowed) to provide you with a low-end temporary job for a year.

bluedanieru 17y ago
There are plenty of countries with larger debt problems than the US. I don't think this union is so much about getting a check from Congress than it is tipping the legislative balance a little bit less in favor of giant corporations than it currently is. US law has little in the way of worker protection, and is quite hostile to small business as well. Reminder that Congress is basically owned by the richest 99.99th percentile (who have seen their wealth increase of late, I might add). It's too bad that it takes a collapse of the economy before we can see agitation for this sort of stuff, rather than during fatter times when it should be easier, but I guess it's hard to think about the future for a vast majority of the population.
- lrm242 17y ago
  Why is the government always in the corporation's back pocket? The democrats are firmly in control, with a president who has shown a huge favor for unionized labor.
- jerf 17y ago
  I cheated and used absolute debt. Relative debts aren't 100% applicable, because the US' absolute debt is large enough that they may face a problem few if any others will face, which is the world running out of money to lend, but it's anybody's guess how that will affect anything, if it has any effect at all. Increasing union-style protection is not going to help small businesses. Everything the current Congress is capable of thinking involves raising the price of employees. They don't even always understand that's what they are doing, i.e., "making an employee harder to fire", regardless of how sweet it sounds in a politician's speech, means making them that much riskier and therefore that much more expensive to hire.

aresant 17y ago

What would be a lot more compelling is to see the unemployed form their own angel investment networks in a similar "local node" format. Unemployed don't have lots of bucks to invest, but take $1000 each from 10 - 20 people, invest in best local biz plan, and you’re going to be creating jobs, stimulating the local community, and can at least give the unemployed people something to market (and earn an ROI on eventually).