What has happened to America's unions, does Illegal imigration have anything to do with their demise?
604619
Unions started as a very essential function. Before they came about workers were forced to work inhuman hours, had few perks, rights and pay scales were close to slave wages. Back then people worked dangerous jobs in horrible conditions and were gratefull just to have a job. \n\n\nSince then Unions have instead of safeguarding those gains often felt they had to push for more and more. There comes a point when they push too far than can be reasonably given by a company or trade. Many unions have reached that point or gone beyond. The successfull unions are the ones that recognized when to back off and when to press. They kept a balence of workers needs and the profitability of the enterprise in focus. \n\nUnions have suffered major blows in the last decades. Some put themselves out of biz with increasing demands on companies at the verge of bankruptcy. Unions are partly at fault for many jobs being shipped overseas. \n\nSome Unions have commited suicide. The Air trafic controlers strike and the umpires strike are two examples. Poorly timed strikes that cost the unions all credibility. While the Air traffic controlers had a legitimate gripe, they had other means to address it and should have used those means. The Baseball players strike has damaged baseball severely as another example. Millions of fans never returned and MLB as a sport is on a precipace as it's fan base is aging out and new fans not being generated. It's just too expensive for the poor and middle class to attend games any more. So it is the wealthy and bachelors who are the bulk of the audience today. \n\nUnions also suffer from actions not their own making. The cost of doing biz in the US has skyrocketed while the economy has continued to decline for decades. Whole industries have ceased to exist in the US. This of course wiped out the unions that organized workers in those fields. \n\nCorruption and strong mafia ties have hurt the rep of the Unions over the years. Many non-unionized industries want nothing to do with unions in part because of this. \n\nThe very public failures of unions have also led many non-unionized industries to be rabidly anti-union. Entire states are strongly against unions for many reasons not just big biz bribes. \n\nBig Biz of course hates unions and have been actively working toward their demise for years. \n\nIt is an employer's market right now. Hard to unionize somebody like walmart employees when Walmart can go out and replace an entire store's staff in a single day. There are far too many people out of work today for a union not in a very specialized field to hope to succeed. \n\nAs for illegals. Unions until recently hated them as they actually undermined many trades unions. Illegals came in and took over carpenter jobs, plumbing, and many other heavily unionized jobs and did it for wages that were a fraction of what union workers got for the same thing. This cost many unions large chunks of their membership. As a means of survival unions are now actively recruiting illegals. This is a desperate act because by joining a union they price themselves out of the market and will be instantly replaced by a non-unionize illegal or if the wage scale goes up a legal US citizen will again be able to work that job and compitition from legals will knock out the illegals. The unions though want to collect those union dues so they'll recruit anybody they can for as long as they can.
1126259
Nafta is not good to either America or Mexico. It is only good to businesses who go to Mexico then use cheap labor there.\n\nThe reason Nafta failed and does not work is because there are no stipulations in it that demand Mexico enforce their labor laws. This is what Ross Perot wanted added to Nafta that politicians left out.\n\nPerot showed pictures of workers who lived on hills in cardboard boxes outside the plants they worked for. The reason is because (as I said before) there is nothing in Nafta that forces Mexico to enforce the labor laws.\n\nSo basically, a company can move to Mexico and still pay Mexican workers very low then they turn around and don't even lower the prices here. It's nothing but a way for companies to get richer and richer at the cost of mexican workers and american jobs.
354656
Back in the 90's in So Cal the Mexicans undercut the union drywallers and worked for next to nothing..that killed the union..as soon as they were the only drywall workers they started crying that they needed to make MORE money...wanted the wage the union they killed got paid....Just something that I still am pissed about...
620629
ILLEGAI IMMIGRATION I SUPPOSE ,CONSIDERING THAT MILLIONS AMONG THE WORKFORCE ARE ILLEGAL.IF THEY SUDDENLY STOPPED WORK THIS WOULD IMPACT NEGATIVELY ON THE US ECONOMY BEARING IN MIND THEY ARE DOING ALL THE MEANIAL JOBS.
899020
It is just part of the free trade economy.  Labor jobs Will go where  labor is the cheapest.  Where we are failing miserably is not putting enough money into our schools and teaching our children the skills they need to survive today.  It is quite a mess,  and one the politicians really do not want to tackle because it will be  so expensive and defiantly mean raising our taxes.  Then we have to trust Washington to do the right thing with our money which is quite a risk.  Our debt has doubled and we are going to need tax dollars to save our kids and there kids. It is quite a complicated mess, and a really good question.
690418
Very simple, I fired 6 employees who took off to boycott, they were not "illegal" but they were hispanic and in favor of breaking the law. Maybe the Government wont do anything, But each business owner sure can. I already replaced the hispanics who went to boycott with Americans who were interested in working, took abt 30 minutes. I wonder how they will feel tomorrow morning when they find they have no job here.
711643
Oh please.  Of course GM (or Ford/Chrysler/Lear/Dura/Dana/Tower/etc, etc) closing plants have a lot to do with the unions.\n\nUnion workers don't like to hear this, but NO company can afford to pay workers for the REST OF THEIR LIVES and stay in business.  Our government unions will find this out soon enough.  The wages & benefits of the UAW workers have been so out of whack with reality and the actual value of their skills, that the only way any of these companies can ever hope to stay in business is to trim their staffs.\n\nThe same EXACT thing was happening in the early 80's, the Big 3 had the chance then to fix this and they chose to do the easy thing and allow the unions to demand ever increasing wages and benefits, even as costs went through the roof, yet the prices of the vehicles could not keep up.\n\nIn the 90's the decision was made to screw over their American venders/suppliers in order to save money, yet they continued to give more & more to the unions to keep them from striking.  They managed to run nearly EVERY other American manufacturing job out of the country, and now the chicken is finally coming home to roost.\n\nFunny, if you run your suppliers out of business, then the people who used to have good jobs (and trust me, they were not near as good as the Big 3's workers had) can no longer AFFORD to buy your cars.  Your production slows, you lay off/fire workers and the big cycle of the demise of the American manufacturer is on.\n\nAll I can say to the affected UAW workers, is I AM sorry for your plight, but you should have used your free education opportunity for just this reason. \n\nOh yeah, & welcome to the real world.
650872
People have lost their sense of patriotism. Rest assured that there will be no loss of American territory to anyone. Americans are getting tired of illegal anything. We are getting tired of our corrupt politicians and all of it.
681201
I think the illegal immigration bill has nothing to do with legal workers. Here it states:\nLabor certification: the process an employer must go through with the Department of Labor to certify that no American workers are available to fill the job for which the employer is sponsoring a foreign national for legal permanent residence.\n(B) the employment of the alien in such labor or services will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers in the United States similarly employed. \n\nThe Immigration Bill is more about enforcing current laws, protecting the borders better and  what should be done with the present illegals in the country.
740070
Fine the employers and the jobs will dry up for illegals.  No jobs, no illegals.  But this will not happen as it would solve the problem, and as you can see, nobody in power is interested in solving it.  Instead, they allow passions to be stirred, and try to distract the public with fictions like a border fence, etc.  It is time for the public to realize that some powerful people have friends, like Tyson Foods, profitting from taking jobs away from Americans and giving them to people who will do the work for less than the minimum wage, without any benefits - in effect, slave labor.  Why would anyone who loves this country, wish an outcome like this?
1161895
As corporate interests have gained total control in this country they have not had to pay any attention to workers' demands.  The laws favor their unjust practices, so there is no recourse.  During the cold war era, anything that suggested "communsim" or "socialism" was condemned.   Currently, workers themselves often have no idea at all of how their meager remaining benefits were originally won--history is taught from the viewpoint of power after all, and in that view the unions are best forgotten.  Now, people are so alienated from the political process they don't even see the possibility of mass movements having any effect.  It is easier to bury oneself in consumerism than to try to mobilize your local community.
577409
Thats a dirty trick.Now I have a question,were the workers replaced with Americans?
266923
I don't think so. Whose gonna do the unwanted jobs then? Easy for some people to say yes but they wouldn't dare do the jobs these people do. Did you ever think that some of these people came here legally to be able to support their families but majority of them ended up being abused by their employers so they ended up illegals? I have heard a lot of stories and verified them. Some of the bad things that happened to them were done by by our fellow Americans and you talk of having electric fences? What's the matter with you? I bet your ancestors would love to hear your comments when they came here as immigrants too. If they'd have known what the future generation would be maybe they would have aborted you.
553776
GLOBALIZATION\n\nThe politicians are being bribed to destroy America, we call these bribes campaign contributions. Monied interests who want to unify the Western Hemisphere into a single trade bloc from Canada to Chile have been supporting politicians who will make laws and policy decisions to bring about this goal. For years the ground work has quietly been laid, NAFTA, lax border enforcement, foreign aid to developing nations to impoversh those nations and make them subject to foreign money manipulation.\n\nWith the flood of illegals in the US the main opposition to this trade bloc, the US middle class, is being eliminated. Soon the middle class will vanish and there will be no group with the political will to resist the New World order being constructed against our interests.\n\nSo by allowing this massive influx of people into our nation it will destroy the middle class and stop the opposition for these trade blocs and ultimatly a New World Order.
381032
we wont fall apart, at first some weirdness would go on. lets be real who did those jobs before the illegals came? and some of the evil companies that are using them will probably fall apart the others will survive. and if they become legal they will ask for money so that argument if they leave i will have to pay more for lettuce well your going to have to pay more anyway that's gone, so there is going to be companies falling apart anyway. i watched some news clip on this subject the other day and this guy who owned a veggie company was crying about this very subject saying even if you paid Americans 20.00 a hour they still wouldn't do it you got to be kidding me i would love to \nmake twenty bucks a hour . but don't kid yourself they will still want more, and what about our construction workers ,roofers who have had their trade destroyed not every American has a degree. in my town most of the city crews are all Mexican that always wasn't the case  illegal legal slavery wages is no longer an excuse . let me know what you think  i used to work for a school system in my town and they were forcing all employees down to the janitors, to learn Spanish that's when i decided to get out .
590434
Corporations. They've been entrenched against unions for years. The "undocumented immigrants" sounds like a Nativist talking point but there is something else to consider. Raise that minimum wage and you'll HAVE american jobs created since the current minimum waeg is unlivable.
932366
Mexico is becoming less and less socialist and more capitalist all the time, so the prospect of the country following Central America´s example is low.  What will the US do for wage slaves?  If anything, wages will be forced to go up and citizens and legal residents will reap the benefits.