How Small Business Benefits From Supporting Labor Unions

For a short time I worked as a union officer for the office workers' union at Walt Disney studios. It was a very educational experience and one thing I learned is that people have a strange attitude about the relationship between unions and business management. All too many business managers think of the union as their enemy, and unfortunately too many union members think the same thing about management. The sad part of it is, both sides are working toward the same goals. Employees need to be working for a successful and prosperous company and the company needs to be a place where employees can be happy and productive.

In today's business climate this partnership is even more crucial. We have a problem in this nation - too many gigantic corporations are hogging all of the business, putting smaller business owners out of business. And these corporations don't hire the union employees. Instead they outsource the jobs to foreign countries where they can get labor for pennies on the dollar.

Unions were originally formed to protect employees from the abuses of large companies. It is beneficial, I believe, for small business owners to support this fair play because in the process of promoting fair play for labor, they are also promoting fair play for business in general. Without mentioning names, the largest retailer in the nation has been accused of busting unions so they could continue to pay lower wages and less benefits. This same company sells products which are manufactured largely in China and this practice has cost a large number of American jobs. When this company moves into a new locality, small business owners go out of business. Small business and labor are both victims of the same corporate greed.

If small business owners could team up with labor, they could fight this evil together. It requires some sense of responsibility on both sides. Union members cannot expect a local furniture store, for example, to pay the same wages as they would expect somebody like GMC to pay. And the small business owner has to realize that it is this employee who is helping him to make a success of his venture. That employee cannot do his best work if he is worrying about foreclosure or eviction because his wages don't cover the basic cost of housing. The trick is for both labor and management to make small business's prosperous and then share that prosperity.

If you are a small business owner and your employees express a desire to form a union, my suggestion is, talk to them and to the union officials and see how you can make it into a mutually satisfactory partnership. If an employee comes to you with a grievance, don't think of it as a personal attack. Think of it as an invitation to open up a dialogue to resolve small problems before they escalate. On the same token, if you are an employee, don't think of the union as your way to stick it to your boss. Think of them as a tool to help you to help your boss become more prosperous and share his success with you.

Sure, unions have had their problems. There have been instances of corruption and abuses toward business. But for the most part, they are a good thing - not only for employees, but for the business community as a whole. Let's use them as the beneficial tool they were designed to be.

Ron Coleman is retired and spends most of his time working as a freelance cartoonist and writer. He has served as a union officer in the office workers union at Disney Studios and has sold several pro-union cartoons to labor publications. His work can be seen on his website: http://www.coleman-cartoons.com

---

North Korea and Diplomatic Solutions; Random Thoughts Part II

North Korea and diplomatic games; something has to give and... Read More

Debt Relief and Reality Check

The United States and other first world nations have been... Read More

Enlightenment Experiments

Pierre Dupont de Nemours:After arranging the Armistice that ended or... Read More

Mexican Trucks in the United States; NAFTA Trade and Problems

Expected new applications for Mexican trucks to enter the US... Read More

Congress Considers National Data Privacy Law

Legislation was introduced into Congress this week that would establish... Read More

How Bill Cosby got it Wrong

Bill Cosby got it wrong. His many speeches regarding the... Read More

Globalization

Often we see protests at the sites of global leader... Read More

The History of Trade and Using it as a Weapon for Peace

The Flow of Trade is a major consideration of civilizations... Read More

Corruption and Transparency

I. The FactsJust days before a much-awaited donor conference, the... Read More

Democracy, War and the Media - Uneasy Bedfellows All Round

Recent international wars and the often spectacular ways in which... Read More

TABOR: The Growing Taxpayer Bill of Rights Movement and Economic Incentives for Industry

A governing.com report blast one of the major grassroots initiatives... Read More

No Child Left Behind needs to go Virtual

The No Child Left Behind can work if the Federal... Read More

Transporting Troops in the Future

Currently when we transport troops we use large cargo planes... Read More

Mr. Bin Laden: Tear this Wall Down

You say, you want to help the Palestinians, but most... Read More

US Trade Deficit with Bordering Neighbors

The trade deficit with Canada is now 50 Billion per... Read More

The Looting of American Taxpayers Social Security Disability by Fraudulent Employers Pt. 1

For more than a decade, you the American taxpayer have... Read More

The World of Diplomatic Backstage

De-classification of official documents have been a routine practice in... Read More

California Car Wash Fundraisers and Environmental Law

Many non-profit groups are feeling upset that they are allowed... Read More

What Ordinary People Are Saying--Robertson Assassination Comment

What ordinary people are saying about U.S. televangelist Pat Robertson... Read More

Market Impeders and Market Inefficiencies

Even the most devout proponents of free marketry and hidden... Read More

Faith in Our Government

Many have lost faith in the government and are completely... Read More

Famous Filibusters in Political History

The filibuster as a political delaying tactic has been a... Read More

Global/Israeli Corruption!

What depth of blind insanity has inflicted itself upon Israel's... Read More

We Must Register AIDS Carriers and Homosexual Men

It is a law that we register deadly weapons with... Read More

How Senator Sarbaines and Oxley Destroyed America

You have probably heard of the Sarbaines Oxley Law (SOX)... Read More

Iran is Escalating the Conflict

Iran has threatened to raise America's fuel prices again. They... Read More

Upcoming Palestinian Elections Might Put Extremists In Power

The Palestinian Fatah Movement is doing whatever it can to... Read More

The Project For A New American Century

Let the reader be reminded, that this document we are... Read More

The Senate Filibuster: The Hulk Plan and the Nuclear Option

The partisan feuding in the U.S. Senate over federal judicial... Read More

World Power Brokers Readying for WWIII

Einstein when ask how did he believe WWIII would be... Read More

John Kerry as a Prosecutor?

Prosecutors with political ambitions are known to modify the truth... Read More

China Finds Humans to Test Bird Flu Vaccine On, in Qinghai

China is serious about breaking into the bio-tech field and... Read More

Bush Victory: A Defeat for the Have-Nots?

The shouting is over and directions for the next four... Read More