Why the hell are unions allowed to exist in the UK today? To be fair today’s teacher’s strike is something I know nothing about – I haven’t really kept upto date with it but the tube unions and railway people striking over their disapproval with a lesser percentage salary increase then they think they deserve.
That’s utter nonsense. Its not about them deserving anything. Its about the state of the economy and management taking a tough decision. In fact, management should be able to decide (within reason) about pay packets, working conditions (within the remits of the law), other benefits using their own judgement and not be held to ransom by some media-obsessed yobo who determines his own self-importance and seems to be bullying his members into agreeing with him.
The only benefit for unions that I can see is to effectively stop ruthless employers taking advantage of their staff and treating them unfairly. The law exists for any unlawful acts, and the freedom of the press should regulate the unfairness. I say “should” as I do accept that this may not always happen but equally the current situation is unsustainable and deeply imbalanced on the other side. In the last paragraph I bracketed the words “within reason” and it is these words in themselves that are the issue. Unions will always insist that if left to their own devices and without the protection afforded to staff by union membership, management would abuse their power and unfairly harm staff interests. This may have some truth to it, but the current power unions seem to wield is not right, fair or justified.
It has to change.
Related articles
- Government talks ‘unlikely to stop strike’ (simplybusiness.co.uk)
- Strikes: Which Workers Will Walk Out And Why (news.sky.com)
- Unionization and Inequality (economistsview.typepad.com)
