Michigans right to work law

[Devils Horse]

Not sure it's been proven unions help the middle class. On balance unions have artificially raised wages to where companies send jobs offshore. Why pay unionized Americans 30 to 50 an hour for unskilled labor, when they can pay Latin Americans, Vietnamese, or many others far less for the same jobs?

That said I'm not anti-union, just believe people should have the choice of whether to join them or not.

Pay attention. What is hurting the middle class the most is LACK of jobs, not weakened unions. The lion's share of new jobs in the last report were government jobs.

Mr. Obama's formula is poisonous to America. Take a look around, you have to be blind not to see it.

Racial tension is the high. Mr. Obama has intentionally divided the country with his class warfare tactics, and anyone who disagrees with him and the Democrat party are labeled haters and racists. The federal government has record debts and deficits. The economy is in the toilet. Has been since he took office. Rig the unemployment numbers all you want, but that is a fact.

Opposition is weak and fragmented. Democrat party socialism looms, and the the rich don't have enough money to pay for it. That leaves the rest of us to finance Mr. Obama's new America.

Mr. Obama continues to insist the problem is the rich aren't paying enough, yet unless you're a damned idiot you can see government spending is the true problem. Higher taxes on the so called rich are a forgone conclusion, the only question is how high? It's a matter of time till the rich get soaked by the government to the point they start taking their money out of our system and heading offshore. The Cayman Islands look pretty good when Uncle Sam confiscates 40 or 50 percent of the money you make.

For my kids' sake I hope I'm wrong about all this.

[kygorski]

I've been out of the work force for almost 20 years. I had a union job, I was also a president of a now defunct local.It wasn't the wages that drove away the jobs in the area where I lived and worked. It was just a matter of the companys not upgrading,and moving to low areas[where the wages went up anyway]tax breaks to relocate plants, and the taxes eventually went up there also. But I was able to buy a house, put my kids through college[with help], and live a fairly comfortable life. My pension was not union negotiated, nor were my medical benefits.But because of the prevail9ing wages in that area, there was a competition for reliable workers.That area is now considered "rust belt" Schools have dertriorated because of smaller tax bases. But thats all history, I got MINE,and now you guys scramble for yours,Have you made any plans for your retirement? Got any put aside for the grandkids education? I'm learning to live with far less, but when I look at the bleak future for some of the americans that are being born now, I'm glad I'm old, and near the end of the trail.

[kygorski]

Union shops are negotiated. If an employer does not want one, he didn't need to agree. I worked in a union shop, if I didn't want to jopin, I didn't, but a service charge was imposed on me. This was pointed out to all the guys who were hired! The company I worked for would not allow a closed shop, we could live with that, and did.After the initial trial period an employee was asked if he wanted to join the union. I believe at one time, our local had about 550 members, that came to 97 %. BUT all emplyees benefited from thje contract, or in the case of a strike those not covedred suffered also. RTW will still allow workers to join an existing union, or not.The stats from 2000 show about 9 % of private sector employers were organized. Public sectors were almost 18%.So less than 30% of the countrys workers brought about the fiscal fiasco?You gotta be kidding.Common sense will tell you a supervisor makes more, as well they should, but when the workers make minumum wage, how does that effect the supervisor pay scale. My cousin who lives in california says big mack pays about 9.50 an hour, for part time work. And they are always hiring.