I have a close relative who is a non-union department manager of a very predominantly Union manufacturing facility in the Southeast. This person could care less about politics, so I love hearing his perspective. minimum pay for Union employees is roughly 85k annually across the board. That's from machinists, down to line workers. High school, or ged education being the vast majority of employees. (machinists makes sense to me, but... Line workers... That blow my mind) this plant has been unable to expand and hire the last few years, while other plants in this same company in other, non Union States, have flourished and expanded rapidly. Just to clarify this is a fortune 500 company. This plant faces the quarterly possibly of a shutdown and consolidation to a non Union plant, while it's fairly productive. Management is constantly poked away to higher paying management positions in non Union companies, and hiring has creeped along for non management employees in a town that experiences high unemployment. He told me the single most detrimental thing holding them back is Union labor costs. And no, this company isn't rolling in billions in profits, and paying executives an amount of money that even puts a tiny dent in the bottom line. If they weren't handcuffed by unrealistic future obligations, written in stone, threatened by strikes, they would be able to pay higher salaries now during prosperity, rather than creep along until they can fund another expansion elsewhere.
My opinion.. Let companies expand, train and hire employees without unions demanding unrealistic wages for basic jobs, they will be able to hire more people, and pay them an honest salary that fits the job. Maybe if unions were realistic and not short-sighted with benefit demands, maybe they wouldn't have such a target on their back. Honorably mission when they were established... But now a mob like, corrupt initiative that is hurting job growth in many states.
