I have been remotely monitoring the ongoing saga between the Professional Associations and the Jordanian government with great interest. For some reason I feel compelled to comment on what‘s going on: These "professional" unions are becoming a waste of space. Many unions that impose mandatory subscription fees fail to do anything useful for members, instead wasting time, effort and energy indulging in regional politics.
I wonder: If they are so keen on debating political issues then why not pursue other avenues to do so? The unions shouldn’t be a platform for voicing frustration about issues like the American administration’s foreign policy, as but one example.
Instead of focusing their time on, say, increasing the minimum wages of their members and finding ways to improve their respective professional fields, the unions organize rallies, events and sit-ins discussing regional (Note: regional not local) politics — something that will advance their particular body absolutely nowhere!
Inspired by a Thomas Friedman column, I’m compelled to say that the associations focus all their energy on anti-Americanism, failing to see the problems in their own backyards. If they insist on putting regional politics such as Iraqi elections (as another example) ahead of their real raison d’être then I would not shed one tear if they were closed down!
hehehe. i try to boycott all these places Akram.
Linda….Didn’t mind you trashing Wal-Mart etc even Starbuck but The Gap? please…. where else can you go and get a decent sweater and a pair of pants if not at The Banana Republic. which is owned by the Gap. How about Old Navy. Where every kid I know wears their products. Owned by The Gap. I got to draw the line here. Besides my son Sam works for them.
Booooooooooooooo Sam’s Club.
Wendy, if organizations such as Wal-Mart had unions, bought products from comapnies that create their products in a non-sweat shop environment, then over time, sweat shops would not exist. Thus, if enough people boycotted these places: Wal-Mart, Starbucks, the Gap, etc, big exploiting companies would have to to create their products the right ways, and not take advantage of poor people in thrid world countries. I am not saying that the jobs should be take away from these poor people, but they should be able to work in better conditions, and that is exactly what Wal-MArt should demand from the people they buy and sell their products from.
And as for uion leaders getting all greedy, well they should. These people work for big corporations that make make billions off of their labor workers. Here is a perfect comparative example of what would happen to you if you worked in a non-union organization. I must refer to Wal-MArt again. There have been many stories of how Wal-Mart management will purposely make their employees work a few hours a week under full-time, just so they will not get full benefits. Night shift workers have continually complained about how Wal-MArt used to lock down all the doors at nite because they feared their employees would take too many smoking brakes. Well, once the fire alarms went off, and an employee broke his leg to brake down a door so they can all exit. Come on, do they have no respect for their employees? They treat them like animals. Thus, I would rather have a H.S. graduate making good money and recieving good benefits rather than breaking his leg from trying to brake down a door so he can escape a fire.
And if we are actually going to say that unions drive up the prices of stuff here in America, than that is just a joke. Look at places like the guess store or the Gap. they dont have unions and they use sweat shops in third world countries, yet you walk into their stores and their prices are skiy high. So union or no union, greedy corporations will always drive up the prices because they know the buying public is apathetic and does not question any of their unethical corporate practices.
Even the pizza delivery drivers are getting in on the action with starting a union!! 🙂
I am usually against unions and don’t have a problem walking past the picket lines when I feel the workers are wrong in their demands…be it at the grocery store, Fed-Ex, airline workers…you name it. These vulnerable workers become greedy b/c of unions and the unions use scare tactics to get companies to give in to their demands. When an autoworker makes over 100K a year, without even a HS diploma, or a grocery clerk is asking for $15 an hour with health benefits then is a problem. Unions drive up prices unnecessarily and in my opinion have led to the offshoring of much of the labor jobs in the US.
I do admire, CC though. The agriculture workers were getting treated terribly and what he did was right. I think I too would have a problem with getting sprayed with insecticides while working the fields picking grapes. In that way I can see the need for a union, but had CC advocated for wages of $25 per hour and premium health insurance for all the workers or the grapes would rot on the vines, then I doubt I would hold him in such high regard.
Although I don’t shop at Wal-Mart, I do go to Sam’s Club on occassion.
Yes, this blog just gets more and more instructive for me!
I read Friedman and agree with Natasha on it. Even with a pretty tough skin about being American, the Unions statements have amazed me with their myopic venom. Surely the creative energy of these well-educated, passionate people could be better utilized?
I’m not a fan of teacher’s unions in the US. I believe they have strangled and marginalized the educational system to the point of no return.
Linda, sorry I can’t join you in the Wal-Mart boycott. Just gotta keep those poor Chinese laborers working ! 😉
well, Jeff, I may agree that the Unions are made and designed to have a different purpose that what they are doing now. But this may be considered natural evolution, where something may grow to fit the purpose of the missing other. I am not saying it is right, but for sure, the way the Interior minister is reacting to it won’t fix it or make it better.
Iyas, regarding the anomaly between the Unions, and UJ student council and so. I think that you blame Islamists too much. The wouldn’t reach the boards in either UJ council, or the Unions if they weren’t elected. And when they clash with Authorities, they do so, while trying to practice the programs they got elected for. Now the problem is, why would I (as a student or a union member) elect someone to the board who have a program that have nothing to do with my direct well-being ? that use the vocabulary that you are talking about above ? This is the question to ask. (Same question could apply on the election and reelection of Bush BTW 🙂 )
Linda…..Employees who engage in union activities are protected. The clock starts clicking from the instance they are either discriminated against through intimidation, coercion or terminated due to engaging in union activities. In some cases a pretext is used by management and often a good board agent handling the case can see through the defences and pierce the vail. Make whole remedies are provided by the NLRB. I agree that unions are alive and well in the U S. However, statistics clearly indicate that participation and membership today is less than half what it use to be. I feel that the powers to be in the political parties are not effectively pushing unions now a days as in the past when communism was a threat. I am sure unions may very well resurge if the economy in some sectors continues to decline.
Hahahaha. Hello, Unions may not be that large here in America, but they are still strong and well. The biggest are unions for teachers, bus drivers, grocery market workers, farmers, doctors, writers, actors; you know, if you think about it, there are a great deal of unions in America. But they differ very much than those of Jordan. This is what I think at least to the way you guys are describing them. In fact, unions are so popular, a recent one i had one of my reporters write a story about last semester while editing for campus paper was the Graduate student/ Teacher’s Assistants union. hahahaha.
No, unions are alive and well in America, except of course when it comes to places like Wal Mart and Starbucks. Any time one of their employees try to start one they intimidate him or her or get them fired. Thats why I encourage all of you to boycott wal mart and starbucks.
hint hint Natasha.
I would not say that American union participation has decreased due to the fall of Communism.
If anything, it has decreased due to the loss of manufacturing jobs, including in union heavy industries like steel, and prescient companies treating their workers better so that they will have an easier time convincing them not to unionize.
Natasha,
I have been thinking of the issue for a while now but refrained from posting anything about it because I was sure it will spur a debate which, unfortunately, I don’t have time to follow closely; but thanks! Once again you proved that I can rely on you to speak up!
I agree with mostly all the comments posted here (Jeff, I will start quoting your last sentence).
I would like to draw an analogy with labor unions and the UJ student council. Natasha may know what I mean because of her experience at UJ. In both cases, the Islamists are more active in running for office and winning. Eventually they try to impose their doctrine on members (they do that in a style and using vocabulary that was only suitable until the fall of the Ottoman Empire). They both clash with the authorities (UJ administration or the Ministry of Interior) which use less-than-democratic means of shutting them up. Perhaps the only difference is that there are still certain unions which are not fully controlled by the Islamists, but are under, for example, an Iraqi Ba’athist influence with the end result being no different. The regular hurly-burly and pictures of Hamas “martyrs” and the clashes with authorities are, as pointed out above, a result of the failure of political parties.