Amazon Dodges a Bullet

The Amazon workers in Alabama this week voted on whether to unionize and become members of the RWDSU (Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union). The vote shot down the initiative but the union and politicians are upset and challenging the vote. Interesting that the Democrats are having an issue with mail-in voting and vote harvesting. Guess those methods are only good when they work in your favor.

This is a tough subject to write about because there are so many villains and not sure there is a hero in the mix. As a disclaimer, I am retired and drive a school bus part-time. At 66, I had to join a union to work a part-time job. This was a conundrum as I have never been a fan of unions and think they have had their purpose but now their purpose is getting union bosses rich and still having an impact on elections with their support of anyone liberal. So there is villain number one….the union with their eyes on initiation fees and monthly dues. By the way, only about 12% of the workforce belongs to a union. Not much of an influencer any longer. The chart below shows how union affiliation has been on steady decline since the ’80s

Then there is Amazon. The Goliath that we all cannot seem to live without. We try to shop local on most purchases but we also get more packages from Amazon every week than we are proud to admit. It is so easy to pick up your device of choice, order what you need and have it delivered the next day. Unfortunately, the malls are emptying as online shopping gets to be easier and more popular. Amazon is the giant leading the new trend in buying habits.

Finally, we have the politicians. You may ask why a Senator from Vermont is involved in a union vote in Alabama. Bernie Sanders has a vested interest in union growth whenever and wherever it happens. The Unions and the Democrats have been in lockstep for decades. The Dems rely on the union money and the unions rely on Democrat support to hopefully reverse the union enrollment situation. Witness the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act being pushed through Congress by Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden. This bill will require most employees in the country associate with a relative union. With an act of Congress, the unions start to reverse the trend.

The Teacher’s Union in California is a prime example of a group too powerful for their own good. The majority of schools in the state are still not teaching in person. When the demands are met to appease the teachers, the bar is raised. It is embarrassing when you think of a state like Florida where schools have been in person since September. Only the union is standing between teachers and students in California. A terrible example for the kids who have suffered greatly. They have suffered academically, emotionally and who knows how many of them have been abused physically without someone like a teacher or counselor looking for such instances. This is all on the union and on the teachers for allowing it to go on endlessly.

The government, specifically the Democrats, is feeding this bad behavior. First by continuing to push for greater union membership and then to push money on top of unreasonable demands. Enabling these out-of-control unions is about the same as giving in to a spoiled child. Once the appeasement starts the bad behavior will only escalate. Probably the only way this will stop is for an air traffic controller-type resolution. Unfortunately, Ronald Reagan is not waiting in the wings to make that call.