The Crimson Cavalier's first (but not last?) guest post...

Since launching my blog earlier this fall, I've had it in mind to invite and allow the occasional guest post on my page. I certainly don't pretend to have a monopoly on ideas (or anger), and this being a democracy, I'm more than willing to let another voice be heard every once in a while. With over 100 posts under my belt, I decided to take a break for a bit today and let somebody else do some talking.

Am I just getting lazy on a Friday and shirking my responsibility as a blogger? Maybe. Would the President and Congress scold me for outsourcing my labor to a foreign body? Probably. Am I going to protect the guest poster by masking his/her identity and promote journalistic integrity by posting his/her words without editing (except for punctuation, where I'm a stickler)? Absolutely.

So, enjoy. You don't have to agree with the poster's words (just like you don't have to agree with mine) or his style (no cartoons or humorous pictures? What the hell!), but as I said--this here is a democracy. And if you ever feel like submitting a guest post of your own, don't be afraid to ask. I'd be more than happy to outsource some more labor. So without further ado...

FREE MARKETS 1, UNIONS 0

by "Tom Glavine"

Originally, I had my sights set on the irony (many of you wouldn't know real irony from crappy happenstance) of AARP's lauding Obamacare and being instrumental in its passage, only to reveal months later that:

In an e-mail to employees, AARP says health care premiums will increase by 8 percent to 13 percent next year because of rapidly rising medical costs.

The problem with tackling that article is that it is too easy--Obamacare is so fatally flawed that trying to attack it would be akin to slapping around a 90-year old man with Stage IV cancer who has lost most of his limbs from either sepsis or diabetes.

So instead I will be taking on the behemoth that is unionized labor (cue climactic music here... DUN DUN DAHHHH!)--in my humble opinion the prime modern-day example of a wonderfully-intentioned idea being utterly gang-raped by human nature and its proclivity towards avarice (yes I used a thesaurus to find a word that meant extreme greed).

Labor unions were formed during the industrial revolution as a response to the abuse of low-skilled factory lemmings (workers) by factory owners. Their initial mission was to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment. This was soon expanded to include more social reforms like the institution of public education and the adoption of universal manhood suffrage.

Setting aside the history lesson for a second here, the beginning of the unions in America brought about fantastic change and allowed for less slave-like conditions in some respect. However, once labor laws were enacted on a national level, we began to see the hideous transformation of unionization into the beast it has become today. Following the enactment of effective labor laws, unionized labor should have fallen by the wayside--but greed and corruption took over, and the result is horrible squeezes on corporations like you will read about below (Spoiler alert!! This story might have a happy ending, depending on which side you are on).

My muse for this story was a wonderful article in a small Midwest newspaper called the Belleville News Democrat, whose headline read "Olin to move 1,000 jobs to Mississippi (easy to spell out loud, much harder to type quickly) after union says no to new contract".

EAST ALTON (Illinois)-- After union workers employed at Olin Corp. voted against a new contract for the second time in as many weeks, the munitions manufacturer announced Wednesday that it will pull the trigger and move those jobs to Mississippi.

Now, at first blush, you may think that this is quite the tragedy--a company who has long been an employer of workers in the Midwest, leaving to head south where labor is cheaper. Or, in a second vein, one could lament the loss of 1,000 jobs at the hand of the evil corporate power. I, however, wanted to know more (unlike most Americans, who are too busy, lazy, stupid--pick one--to read more than the headline and first paragraph). So I kept going, and found this gem (emphasis mine):

Company employee Andy Lucker, who has worked at the East Alton plant for the past year and a half, said the contract that he and other union workers were presented Tuesday was the same on that they voted down over two weeks ago. He said the concessions included eliminating workers' HMOs, getting rid of a fifth week of paid vacation, a seven-year wage freeze, and a reclassification of some jobs.

This is one of those times where I wish there was a way to SUPER BOLDFACE something so that I could truly express my shock and outrage for this particular piece of text that horrified me as much as watching the Budd Dwyer suicide video (do yourself a favor, trust me, and do not look that up). FIVE WEEKS OF VACATION!! Let me express that in a different way--10% of the time that you are being paid to work, you are not working.

The article continues, explaining that the reason for the vote against the concessions--which came Tuesday via a 593-470 margin was that:

...most workers refused to accept concessions because they believe the munitions manufacturer has been profitable.

God forbid a company AND its labor union both make money! The union was merely trying to squeeze every ounce of profitability from the company and for ONCE, one of the key functions of an efficient market reared its head: PRICE DISCOVERY. The union presumed that it had more bargaining power (collective or otherwise) than it actually had. I wonder how many of these union workers thought they had Olin over a barrel.

Now they know...

I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too.

Thanks to the guest poster for nearly-unprecedented candor, anger, and just a hint of condescension. And, just for good measure... I'm gonna throw in a cartoon just for kicks.