As I looked over all of the Google returns of the last couple of days related to the Employee Free Choice Act, it dawned on me that the framing of the issue has ended up on the side of the Unions (I believe they were just as oblivious to this point), and even the business-friendly side of the argument has taken up the language used to frame this debate. Even in the article I referenced in an earlier post about Bernie Marcus and Rep. George Miller debating the merits of the EFCA, the title of the article mis-framed the issue: “Labor” vs. Business.
American businesses are not at war with “labor.” For the most part, the managers and owners of our companies recognize the crucial role fulfilled by the men and women who make up the workforce of this country, and value them highly.
The current battle being waged is one between Big Labor (ie. the leadership of America’s Unions) and the American people. The unions have no greater antipathy for “business” than they have for the average worker. Their only desire is to siphon off as much money as they can through their main funding mechanism, member dues, to support the growth of their beauracracy and the welfare of those who own/run that beauracracy.
Look no further than the dismal state of the education system of this country. Most of the problems arise not from the lack of funding of our system, but by the rules create by the teachers unions that defend the entrenchment of incompetence rather than the elevation of accomplishment. Unions are doing their upmost to wreak our health system as well, and if teamed up with a Government-run health system, we can expect the same downward spiral of the quality of that system.
No – it is not a fight of Labor against Business. It is a fight between Big Labor Management & the American people. Call it like it is.
The warning shot across the bow for some companies is this: you had BETTER make sure that those men and women that comprise your workforce KNOW how much you value and appreciate them. You had better find ways to allow them to let you know what they think. You should make sure your focus is on a proper balance of seeking the welfare of your workforce while maintaining the profitability required by your stakeholders. And occasionally, you may need to convince your stakeholders that it is also in their best interest to see some of the profits of the organization plowed back into the development & welfare of that segment of America’s people whom you employ. If you wake up one day to find that the fight is now your “labor” vs your company – you’ve already lost the battle.
