I think it's nice that employers sponsor benefits for employees. I think employees should be grateful, as there's no law that says an employer has to do so.
I also think that when insurance claims go up, the employer must do what's best for the company. If increasing profitability & improving the value of the stock is important to the company, then let them cut benefits a little. Or increase the amount of the cost they pass off to the employees. Or increase the price of their product to cover that cost. You gotta do what you gotta do. But in most cases, the last option isn't feesable. there's always someone who's waiting to come in & undercut you & put you out of business. This is a free market economy, afterall.
Employees are a part of that equasion. If they don't like what their employer is offering, then they can go seek employment elsewhere. If the employee is valuable (meaning a good employee versus a bad employee), then he should be able to find another job. If the employee isn't valuable, well then he'd better decide quickly whether the cut in benefits is worth losing his wages. And especially in areas like grocery store checkers, you've got to take whatever job you can get. There's not much you can do to show another employer your "stuff".
Unions really pisses me off. Everywhere in the country, the cost of healthcare is rising. Employers all across American are facing the same situation- the cost of their health insurance premiums are going up 15-40% each year for the last 5 or so years. That's a difficult number to sustain over such a long period of time. Small employers are forced to reconsider offering benefits altogether. That's sad. Really. But I see firsthand these folks having to make this tough decision. It's especially worse when the employees are like family. But you know the saying- sink or swim.
So why shouldn't union employees be subject to the same hard times? I don't get it. I hear of unions demanding no increase in cost and no cut in benefits. What the hell? Are the business that employ union employees in a given field or market making that much more money than the non-union workforce? Are union-employees that much more valuable? Someone please shed some light if I'm grossly wrong here.
I'll die before I ever join a union. Those thieving commie *******s can kiss my a$$.
and yz250roost- I'll support you, brotha, but I won't support your comrads. Those commie *******s piss me off. Everyone should know by now that unions are to our country what jalapeno's are to Dickie's anus. It's just luck that they also happen to benefit union workers somewhat.
How's this for dumb- certain contractors can't bid on a gov job unless they hire a certain percentage of union labor? That's BS! Nevermind the fact that they might get the job done faster, better and under budget with or without the unions.
I'm not even going to knock union workers. Because saying that they suck compared to non-union is bull. I'll judge each employee individually, not based on their status as union or not. I know some