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This article has so many fatal flaws, I have no idea where to start. For starters - Unions are great, I mean, just ask Detroit how awesome they are. The unions

This article has so many fatal flaws, I have no idea where to start. For starters - Unions are great, I mean, just ask Detroit how awesome they are. The unions absolutely buried that city in unfunded pensions: http://www.freep.com/interactive/article/20130915/NEWS01/130801004/Detroit-Bankruptcy-history-1950-debt-pension-revenue http://www.freep.com/interactive/article/20130915/NEWS01/130... "Even in recent years, when no one questioned that the health care tab had been ballooning, city leaders failed to cut costs because of intense pressure from unions. Adverse court and arbitration rulings also stymied the city’s best efforts to cut. The city’s spending on retiree health care soared 46% from 2000 to 2012, even as general fund revenue fell by 20%." From the article: "The anti-labor movement’s greatest victory has been in preventing the unionization of the jobs that have replaced well-paying industrial work." This is such a myth. Right now there's a HUGE shortage of skilled labor in this country - most in non-unionized fields: http://www.scdigest.com/ontarget/13-11-06-3.php?cid=7555 http://www.scdigest.com/ontarget/13-11-06-3.php?cid=7555 "Companies that make tangible products are struggling to find candidates for about 237,000 job openings. To put that figure in perspective, it's 89,000 more than the entire U.S. economy created in September." "But worse, the under 30 crowd simply does not see manufacturing work as an attractive option. That may be due to some misconceptions about new age manufacturing jobs, says Paul Gerbino, head of ThomasNet News. Many young workers don't even think about manufacturing as a career "because they don't realize that factory jobs are not what they were in the old days," says Gerbino. "Many of these jobs involve sophisticated technology" he told Fortune, and with that comes improved pay. Salaries can start at $50,000 or more, and climb to well over $100,000 a year for skilled, experienced engineers and technicians. The Thomas.Net study found that 59% of small and medium-size manufacturers are planning to hire skilled trade workers - that is, if they can find them." Not exactly a ringing endorsement for the author's assertion we need more unions to protect the "working wages".

EliRivers 13y ago
Right now there's a HUGE shortage of skilled labor in this country Maybe if they paid more than unskilled labour, they'd fill those posts. www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/magazine/skills-dont-pay-the-bills.html
- at-fates-hands 13y ago
  I'm not buying that - not only from the OP's article, but all of the press fast food workers are getting because they feel they aren't getting paid enough. From what I know and what I've read, you have to be at least an assistant manager before you'll see the same wages you can make as a skilled worker. Most asst. managers make around $40K a year plus benefits. Just like my article pointed out, most skilled laborers START at $50K and go up from there. If I was 23 and making $50K with a car payment and no kids and no family, I'd be living the high life!
  - EliRivers 13y ago
    most skilled laborers START at $50K and go up from there "At GenMet, the starting pay is $10 an hour. Those with an associate degree can make $15, which can rise to $18 an hour after several years of good performance." 40 hours a week for 52 weeks a year on 10 an hour comes out to 20888 dollars. That's a lot less than 50000. Got a degree and been there for several years? 40 hours a week for 52 weeks a year on 18 an hour comes to 37440. That's a lot less than 50000.
    - at-fates-hands 13y ago
      A lot depends on what industry you're in: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes472031.htm http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes472031.htm Residential Building Construction: $41,910 Performing Arts Companies: $57.710
      - EliRivers 13y ago
        Those are the mean annual wages. Starting wages are much, much less than the 50000 starting wage (and most of those mean annual wages are themselves less than the "50000 starting wage").

EliRivers 13y ago

Right now there's a HUGE shortage of skilled labor in this country Maybe if they paid more than unskilled labour, they'd fill those posts. www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/magazine/skills-dont-pay-the-bills.html

at-fates-hands 13y ago
I'm not buying that - not only from the OP's article, but all of the press fast food workers are getting because they feel they aren't getting paid enough. From what I know and what I've read, you have to be at least an assistant manager before you'll see the same wages you can make as a skilled worker. Most asst. managers make around $40K a year plus benefits. Just like my article pointed out, most skilled laborers START at $50K and go up from there. If I was 23 and making $50K with a car payment and no kids and no family, I'd be living the high life!
- EliRivers 13y ago
  most skilled laborers START at $50K and go up from there "At GenMet, the starting pay is $10 an hour. Those with an associate degree can make $15, which can rise to $18 an hour after several years of good performance." 40 hours a week for 52 weeks a year on 10 an hour comes out to 20888 dollars. That's a lot less than 50000. Got a degree and been there for several years? 40 hours a week for 52 weeks a year on 18 an hour comes to 37440. That's a lot less than 50000.
  - at-fates-hands 13y ago
    A lot depends on what industry you're in: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes472031.htm http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes472031.htm Residential Building Construction: $41,910 Performing Arts Companies: $57.710
    - EliRivers 13y ago
      Those are the mean annual wages. Starting wages are much, much less than the 50000 starting wage (and most of those mean annual wages are themselves less than the "50000 starting wage").