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October 9, 2008 12:01 AM

Amendment 47

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I'd be the first to tell you that the Rocky Mountain News is a terrific place to work; an upbeat, energetic newsroom in spite of the woes of the newspaper industry, a pleasant environment, a responsive management, good benefits, benign work rules.

That was decidedly not the case when I started here more than thirty years ago. The salary, benefits, pension and work rules we ink-stained wretches enjoy today were hard won in collective bargaining agreements negotiated by the Newspaper Guild and later, after a merger, the Communication Workers of America. I've been a union member since I joined the Rocky. It hasn't been cheap. There have been many times I could have used the dues I pay the union, but it never seemed right to me to take the benefits the union negotiated on my behalf without paying for the salary of the negotiators.

Right to work is always sold as a benefit to employees, allowing them to choose whether to support a union or not, but in truth it's simply an assault by business owners on employees. States with right to work laws invariably have lower salaries and benefits than those which allow closed shops. Take a look at who supports this bill. I'll give you a hint: it isn't a bunch of hourly workers taking an unpaid break from the lobster shift to ask you to please help the boss control his labor costs. If that's not persuasive, here's another way to look at it: one way to limit excessive CEO pay is to pay employees more.



Discussion

  • October 9, 2008

    10:51 AM

    Ted in Vegas writes:

    Argument for: The liberal union bosses will no longer use my money to lobby and push for ideas and candidates that are against my own interests.

    Argument for: The union bosses will not have the clout to drive my employer into bankruptcy the way the AFL-CIO drove nearly all steel production overseas and drove up the labor costs of car manufacturing so much that its cheaper to buy cars shipped thousands of miles to my home.

    Argument for: More self-determination; less forced indentured servitude.

  • October 11, 2008

    6:19 AM

    Ike writes:

    Let's be sure to mention the sell off of the steel industry to those off shore companies during the Reagan years, Ted. Are you so sure it was the AFL-CIO representing steel workers or was it yet another poorly concieved sequence in the famous Reagan Voodoo economics?

  • October 12, 2008

    10:39 PM

    momma y writes:

    Ike
    Steel is made from iron and carbon using technologies that are both old and new. Unions here hobbled the steel manufacturers with contracts forbidding the use of robots in all but a few areas and requiring too high a number of human workers to "support" the robots and the steel.

    How much more did the foreign steel cost for ingredients? Iron, energy, and oxygen combined with technology to make steel. Then there were the transportation costs. Could it be that the union made steel more expensive even though the only part of the process which cost less in foreign steel mills was labor? No business buys more expensive materials. Foreign steel was cheaper manufacturers bought it unless they had union contracts ordering the use of domestic steel. Those contracts were most visible in the auto industry. Look at it.

    There is no argument against 47 other than it will destroy unions. No proof, no line of reasoning. Just the blunt statement. The fear Stein is trying to inspire is actually the first argument containing a reason. Too bad so few have his courage.

    Yes, The bankruptcy of the steel mill in Pueblo was caused by its inability to compete with the unfair advantages of offshore companies? No. It was caused by unions demanding more more more and getting it until the demands killed the business which killed the union as well.

  • October 14, 2008

    11:13 PM

    jenny writes:

    Ed Stein has this one right - we should look at who's supporting these initiatives before we decide whether or not to vote for them. On the one had, we have a group of business and labor leaders telling us to vote NO on Amendments 47, 49 and 54 and on the other we have a small group of special interests supporting them. Whenever you have two groups who usually disagree working together, that's a good reason to support them.

  • October 26, 2008

    12:28 AM

    richard myers writes:

    Passing along this link to an opposition website with information about Amendment 47:

    http://www.voteno47.com

    And, a site with more info about Amendments 47, 49, and 54:

    http://www.protectcoloradosfuture.org/

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