re: Debate: Are unions what caused the United States to lose so many manufacturing jobs?

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I agree 100%. I would rather pay a little more for stuff made in this country than having it come from elsewhere.

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I agree with you but it wouldn’t be a little more, it would be ALOT more.

I see some of this at my job now because where I work is trying to involve offshore more and more for cost reasons and although I don’t see the true numbers, the bits and pieces I do see lead me to believe there is a very large difference in their labor and our labor. We’re not manufacturing, but skilled labor.

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Debate: Are unions what caused the United States to lose so many manufacturing jobs?

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Chinese trade and NAFTA did.

Of course, unions are evil.

Since the turn of the 20th century American businesses have universally put the well-being and prosperity of their workers first.

I don't why the greedy workers keep insisting on joining unions. Because American blue collar workers are rolling in so much cheddar, the only reason they could support unions is they hate America and want us to turn to Communism.

Unions as an entity aren't what did it. It's the frick ups who lead them and speak for the union in deciding they need to negotiate over inflated salary for particular positions within the organization. They basically negotiated themselves out of a domestic position. On paper, unions are great for the employee. The boss can't simply frick over his workers. But, sure as the sun rises, there's always some knucklehead who wants to run the show and ruins what should be a great thing.

That's not the only reason the US loses so many jobs though. There's also the rigid environmental and labor agencies as well. This is the disconnect that many people are ignorant about when discussing the carbon footprint of the USA. The USA isn't who should be looked at in this regard as much as the foreign countries. Environmentalists are barking up the wrong tree. Imagine what countries like China and others are doing with hazardous waste and what they emit in the atmosphere - without having the EPA breathing down their neck and doing yearly audits.

Yeah, I fricked it up.

this thread

yes, and no.

yes, they drove up the cost of labor, but that's just part of it.

Oppressive regs and unfavorable business environments is what pushed manufacturing out

I believe they were part of the problem, but not the entire problem.

I think unions are non essential in the sense that we have laws to protect employees from abuses. Now, whether the laws are fair or being fairly interpreted is another issue. As we see today, corruption is rampant on wall street, in politics and in society in general starting with the president all the way down to the citizens who no longer are capable of thought free of social posting propaganda. We are too easily abused by fake news from both political parties and I stress the word BOTH.

Absolutely. In California what takes up to 6 different people/crafts, Texas can use 1.

Cali: Pipefitter/rigger/forklift Opperator/boilermaker/structural

Texas/Louisiana: one guy can do all of these things.

And it goes way beyond construction. It’s everything unions have their hands in.

I was in New Jersey and people in most of the northeast aren’t allowed to pump their own gas. They have to wait for someone to do that for them. Which creates jobs but it’s a useless job that costs money non union states don’t have to pay out.

The guys that stock up the sodas at the convenient stores, the driver only drives. Unloading drinks/snacks are done by someone else completely.

Apply this mentality to factories and watch how much the $ stacks up and you’ll see why they go overseas.

They play a big part in the safety regulations we have in place which also is a major contribution to work leaving the country.