I generally avoid politically-charged topics that don’t directly relate to business, but a recently available Business Week article about the united states Postal Service reminded me of the controversial subject that impacts most of us: structured unions. Although essential to protect worker privileges once, modern day unions have become irrelevant, damaging, and a microcosm of most that’s wrong in today’s debt laden weather.
The article discussed the imminent demise of the postal service system and exactly how little can be done to avoid the train wreck in large part because of the labor contracts with the union. It’s uncommon for anything from Washington to done on time, but the survey premiered 18 months because the problem had gotten so very bad early.
As the wall space of the postoffice are crumbling down, the unions have extracted more and more for themselves. They point to a “win-win” by their recent negotiation which yielded guaranteed raises for another seven years and forbids any layoffs. The primary reason the postal system is in shambles is exactly because it can’t right-size to current market conditions.
For years, unions have negotiated to the idea of an unsustainable cost structure which does not permit them to shed locations or some of its 500,000 FTEs. Meanwhile, the demand for his or her services continues to decrease. The unions are well alert to the imminent demise and are angling for a taxpayer bailout.
Given the government’s recent background, I see this as an assured end result almost. The frustrating thing is that we now have solutions. The three season study explored countries throughout the world for ideas that worked well. Most privatized, modernized, expanded digital services, and outsourced offices to third parties. In Germany, Deutsche Post has transformed around so amazingly it actually started making acquisitions (DHL).
- Pricing Plan
- 12 amount of tax computed under subsection (b) shall
- 29307 Shady LN
- To post vouchers and other transactions in the right accounts with the correct amounts
- 4 years back from Spring Valley, CA. U.S.A
- Employees Move with Their Numbers
The irony is laughable – the US has now end up being the model of unsustainable socialism while Europe has taken a more capitalistic method of resolving real problems. The auto bailouts were another sign of union carnage. From start to finish, the discussions were tipped in the favour of powerful unions politically. The government threw out the bankruptcy rules and eventually handed over controlling interest to the unions (they became the largest shareholder in Chrysler and second behind the government in GM). What happened to the Ma and Pa with GM bonds which were said to be first on the administrative centre stack?
Gone. And for what purpose? We actually compensated those that caused the problem to begin with (too much labor costs in comparison to Japanese competition). As well as the personal bankruptcy rules were ignored in the process? Welcome to the alternate universe. The list goes on and on. State and local governments are in shambles because of unfunded liabilities negotiated by hard charging unions.
The paltry 401(k) company efforts will not make a dent in most retirement requirements – in large part because of the unfunded liabilities companies continue to pay to retirees. The unions are too powerful to address the true problems we face simply. Instead, the Bidens of the world focus on immaterial items like website optimization (yes that was top of his list) which won’t solve our huge deficit gap. Most of us suffer as a complete result. Tax increases, cuts in services, debt for many generations to come. When I think about how exactly much harm has been caused by the short-sighted minds of the union, it takes me to my free market origins back.