The idea that you’re suggesting is called union busting. It only works in USA and very few sectors in Europe where sector agreements are not mandatory by law.
I’d argue that it also doesn’t work in USA, since the companies end up spending more money on avoiding an agreement than what they’d save on salaries. They also waste a lot of time and resources on the individual bargaining, which provides no value for neither the company or the employee.
If the employers pay people more to not join a union, the union might even say: “Mission achieved without a fight. See ya’ll next time inflation catches up.”
It only works in USA and very few sectors in Europe where sector agreements are not mandatory by law.
I’d argue that it also doesn’t work in USA, since the companies end up spending more money on avoiding an agreement than what they’d save on salaries. They also waste a lot of time and resources on the individual bargaining, which provides no value for neither the company or the employee.
This is very silly and idealistic. Just because it’s underhanded doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. Take a company like Amazon, it has a massive number of employees all across the country, who are not unionized. If employees at one location do attempt to form a union, the company isn’t just looking at the immediate, short term cost-benefit of letting it happen vs busting it (even to the point of potentially closing down the location entirely), they’re also looking at the potential precedent that it would set, the proof of concept. If they allow one location to unionize, they all might unionize - as A Bug’s Life explains, “It’s about keeping those ants in line.”
It absolutely works in the US which is why they do it. Europe has historically had more organized and more class conscious workers, compared to the US with all our “temporarily embarrassed billionaires.” I get that it may sound nice to say that employers reap what they sow, that if they bust unions they will naturally face the consequences of their actions - but unfortunately, that’s not how the world works. Historically, many people got rich off of slavery, colonialism, and blatant, horrific exploitation, far worse than the conditions we have today, they lived and died for generations in wealth and prosperity. Why then, is it so hard to imagine that people who bust unions and underpay their employees could profit from it today?
If the employers pay people more to not join a union, the union might even say: “Mission achieved without a fight. See ya’ll next time inflation catches up.”
This is so dangerously naive and idealistic. You’re talking about giving up worker power because you trust market forces to come back around to our benefit. You’re completely ignoring the life-or-death nature of the power struggle between the classes. Any union that has any power to stop such an arrangement should come out in full force to stop it from happening, and if they’re powerless to stop it, then they should be desperately looking at how to change things to strengthen their position. It’s absolutely insane to try to say that it would be a “win” for the union, to the point that frankly I have to question your motives for saying it. Letting the company but off union members out of the union would destroy or significantly weaken the union, and the union is the only thing checking the power of the company, and if that balance of power shifts far enough, it may be impossible or extremely difficult for the union to recover.
The idea that you’re suggesting is called union busting. It only works in USA and very few sectors in Europe where sector agreements are not mandatory by law.
I’d argue that it also doesn’t work in USA, since the companies end up spending more money on avoiding an agreement than what they’d save on salaries. They also waste a lot of time and resources on the individual bargaining, which provides no value for neither the company or the employee.
If the employers pay people more to not join a union, the union might even say: “Mission achieved without a fight. See ya’ll next time inflation catches up.”
This is very silly and idealistic. Just because it’s underhanded doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. Take a company like Amazon, it has a massive number of employees all across the country, who are not unionized. If employees at one location do attempt to form a union, the company isn’t just looking at the immediate, short term cost-benefit of letting it happen vs busting it (even to the point of potentially closing down the location entirely), they’re also looking at the potential precedent that it would set, the proof of concept. If they allow one location to unionize, they all might unionize - as A Bug’s Life explains, “It’s about keeping those ants in line.”
It absolutely works in the US which is why they do it. Europe has historically had more organized and more class conscious workers, compared to the US with all our “temporarily embarrassed billionaires.” I get that it may sound nice to say that employers reap what they sow, that if they bust unions they will naturally face the consequences of their actions - but unfortunately, that’s not how the world works. Historically, many people got rich off of slavery, colonialism, and blatant, horrific exploitation, far worse than the conditions we have today, they lived and died for generations in wealth and prosperity. Why then, is it so hard to imagine that people who bust unions and underpay their employees could profit from it today?
This is so dangerously naive and idealistic. You’re talking about giving up worker power because you trust market forces to come back around to our benefit. You’re completely ignoring the life-or-death nature of the power struggle between the classes. Any union that has any power to stop such an arrangement should come out in full force to stop it from happening, and if they’re powerless to stop it, then they should be desperately looking at how to change things to strengthen their position. It’s absolutely insane to try to say that it would be a “win” for the union, to the point that frankly I have to question your motives for saying it. Letting the company but off union members out of the union would destroy or significantly weaken the union, and the union is the only thing checking the power of the company, and if that balance of power shifts far enough, it may be impossible or extremely difficult for the union to recover.