the only real good argument i've ever heard was one night

Posted on: February 7, 2017 at 17:27:15 CT

i was sitting in a hotel bar and ended up chatting with the mayor of Ft. Lauderdale, FL. the talk turned to unions. my only real experience with unions is being forced to join one when i was a grocery store stocker in high school. i got paid slightly more per hour, but that was pretty much eaten up in dues.

anyway the mayor gave an example of his city and electricians. he said that when you hire a union electrician you can be assured they went through a training program (apprentice, journeyman, master) so you can trust the quality of the work as opposed to say hiring illegals who get the job done for 1/2 the price but with sub standard safety protocols.

basically he was saying do you want to put the safety of your family in the hands of someone who may not have the requisite training?

a decent argument. i don't buy it all. i'm still pretty much a right to work guy and if the unions add value to the individual worker they will want to join on their own. but still he made a good point imo. and that isn't to say you couldn't get that training w/o being in a union.