By TRS

October 28, 2008 12:11 PM | Link to this

Many are to blame for Ohio’s economic conditions but if Rugola weren’t in denial he would look in the mirror and take his fair share of blame. Early on the union movement certainly was a positive force; but, used its power to play a large part in the ruination of an industry. For years, GM and other auto manufacturers were held hostage to union demands. Some say they shouldn’t have given in and I would agree with that; but, the unions publicly played on the sympathy of people and exerted their power to shut industries down. If it were justified that would be OK; but, it evolved into a system meant to sustain the union bureacracy rather than serve the worker. They created make work rules in increase their roles; however, long term where did that get them? As late as the ’90s GM had the “make out” rule where workers would bust their buns for 4 hours and “make out” a certain amount of production. They would then sit around until shift change and go back to work earning time and 1/2. I don’t fault the workers in total; but, some played the system (ie filing grievances which shut down an entire line) and that did not serve the entire work force well. The vast number of GMers played by the rules and earned their keep; but, the union served them badly. How so? In the mid 90s, GM had something like 40,000+ workers in Dayton - now its around 3000 or so. Is that all the union’s fault? No, but they bear a brunt of it. Ohio has much to offer. Industry needs water and we have plenty of it; but, industries are not coming here because Ohio has the reputation of having some militant unions. What do unions want to do to change that? Why, take away the right to the secret ballot so they can “thug” their way into places. Now thats really attractive to industries! Perhaps working hand in hand with industries, keeping them honest but being realistic about work rules, wages, etc would help rather than seeking to bully their way into places that really don’t want them. Belonging to a union is like anything else - it must bring value. If unions believe workers can’t be trusted to decide in the privacy of a ballot box whether or not a union is to their best interests and feel the need to “thug” their way in, then we’re really in trouble.