The Wars within the Union Movement

With the exception of the re-election of President Obama, very little has gone well for the unions in 2012.  Even the re-election of Obama may mean little as the previous four years have seen administrative rulings favorable to unions, but a total zero for legislative progress.  Unions sought card check legislation which would have made the process of organizing new workers much easier, but that never went anywhere.  One would have thought the unions might have wanted to swing for the fences with a President and Congress totally in their corner from 2008-2010.  Swinging for the fences might have met amending the Taft Hartley Act to discourage right-to-work legislation at the state level. 

Aside from all this, the effectiveness of the union movement has been compromised or eroded by two very significant wars going on within the union movement.

The first is a struggle for a new identity.  When one looks at the legislative agenda of the American Labor Movement from the early 20^th Century, you cannot help but conclude that very few movements in American history have been as successful as the unions in getting their agenda enacted.  Whether it was the right to bargain collectively, the elimination of child labor, boosting workplace safety, or providing a safety net for the disabled worker, these protections came to reality because of the success and strength of the unions.

In fact, today, one could say the success of the union movement was so complete that it was literally left without a flag to fly or a cause to champion.  While I am sure such occasions have taken place, I am not aware of comprehensive union futuring taking place.  Surely, there are issues in the electronic workplace, the tightening health care markets, the nature of project work teams, and how to contact and organize the locationally indifferent workers—now 60% of the U.S. workforce, with which unions ought to be concerned.

So there is a war for identity.  What should unions stand for in the 21^st Century?

The second war within organized labor is the divergence of interests between public and private sector unions.  The growth rates are different.  Private sector unions are experiencing membership declines while public sector unions are experiencing membership increases—now to the extent that their influence is an overriding factor in national union leadership and policymaking.

There is a growing feeling among private sector unions that they have not benefitted from the ascent of the public sector unions.  For one thing, many factors drive the costs of public services, but increased labor costs in the public sector are shouldered by taxpayers, some of whom are private sector union families trying to get by in especially unsettling times.

Even though we have seen massive demonstrations where all unions stand, apparently united, for collective bargaining and workers’ rights, one would be hard pressed to show the similarities between a unionized university faculty member and a unionized ironworker, 10 stories up, in freezing weather.  Or the working conditions of a staff support executive secretary with a coal miner.  Moreover, there have been increased incidents where public sector unions have taken positions that actually hurt private sector unions.  Public sector unions, opposing the re-opening of certain mines in northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, have contributed directly to the hurt suffered by out-of-work private sector union families.

These wildly divergent work orientations foster divergent points of view and organizational interests.  Wrapping them together in a few broad slogans and phrases is not enough glue for what the movement needs to press forward.  And they certainly are not enough to foster a vision of the 21^st Century workplace and how to protect and advance those who toil within.

Another Holiday without Kinder Eggs

What can Mexican, Canadian, Kenyan, and most other children of the world have that U.S. children cannot have?  The answer is especially painful this time of year:  Kinder Eggs.  Of course, U.S. children cannot have Kinder Eggs any time of the year, holidays notwithstanding.  And thus, children living in the United States are being deprived of a global experience.

A Kinder Egg is a chocolate treat with a small toy embedded inside.  With European origins, produced, I believe, in Germany, Italy, and Austria, and with European processes, the chocolate is outstanding, but it is that little embedded toy that constitutes the Great Satan to U.S. authorities.

The toy is considered to be a “non-nutritive object” and therefore, it is illegal by U.S. law.  In fact, legal justification for such classifications and resultant policy actions may be found in the 1938 Food and Drug Act.   Besides containing a “non-nutritive object”, consumer advocates point out there is a real danger of children choking on the toy.

What is it about children in the U.S. that makes them excessively prone to choking on small toys?  U.S. children share about 10,000 miles of borders, north and south, with Canadian and Mexican children who, evidently, are not prone to excessive choking.  In fact, it appears that only children in the U.S. choke on small toys and must be protected.  The rest of the world has decided that the product is safe and that their children do not choke on things as readily as U.S. children.  So what is it about our children that make them so different in the proposed consumption of chocolate eggs?

If you travel to Europe, do not even think about bringing Kinder Eggs back with you.  Your fine for the attempted smuggling of Kinder Eggs could range up to $25,000.  That is serious.  You might as well try to smuggle an AK assault rifle into the country, given the consequences.

25,000 to 35,000 Kinder Eggs are seized at U.S. ports every year.  This impressive intercept activity no doubt protects our children from dangers associated with the flagitious degenerates in Big Chocolate. 

It seems like we are getting so adept at seizing Kinder Eggs that it might be time to figure out ways that we could drop Kinder Eggs into the pockets of suspected terrorists seeking to come to this country.  Or into containers of “knock off” electronics hoping to escape the attention of port enforcement officials.  Being associated with a Kinder Egg in a border area is not a good thing.  I wonder if, in our War on Kinder Eggs, we have stopped to think how such a dreaded product could possibly be our friend and ally.  Flooding our enemies and potential lawbreakers with Kinder Eggs just might be the missing strategy to fix all our unfair trade and immigration problems.

By the way, what is a little regulation, without strange anomalies?  Choco Treasures and King’s Cake contain “non-nutritive” products, but somehow escape the official stigma cast upon the poor Kinder Egg.

What do you think will happen when they find out about fortune cookies?

 

 

   

San Francisco, the Nude Ordinance, and the Limits of Expression

A friend recently remarked that she was headed to California and “back to the 21^st Century”.  Given all the hue, cry, and gnashing of teeth over the repeal of San Francisco’s nude ordinance, one would have thought she was headed back to prehistoric times, when humanoids wore skins and not much else.

San Francisco, several years ago, adopted an ordinance allowing one to be nude in public.  There were certain conditions, but basically one could head out to the local coffee shop au natural.  But then, San Francisco encountered the excesses of the new ordinance, among which were naked activists staging a “nude-in” near a line of school children, waiting to see “the Sound of Music”.  Classy.

Other incidents in the heavily gay Castro district of San Francisco soon convinced the residents that the nude activists were to the ordinance what James Egan Holmes or Jared Loughner were to gun ownership.  The tourists weren’t much better as they prowled the streets of the Castro looking for photo opportunities involving themselves and the nearest naked miscreant, sitting right smack in the middle of a public sidewalk.

When it became too much, many gay men protested the outrageous behavior to their elected Supervisor.  The result was a 6-5 vote to repeal the ordinance.  That set off the usual, well worn, overly abused civil rights rhetoric such as “freedom”, “bigotry”, “intolerance”, “fascism”, and “hate”.  Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney must have been rolling in their graves.

I am certain there is a far greater evil than the repeal of the nude ordinance.  That would be the complete diminution of and disrespect for courageous people who were blow torched in the remote forests of the Segregated South, because they sought equal service at a lunch counter or the right to vote.

The nude activists charged, with great consternation, that repeal of the nude ordinance would “Peoria-tize” San Francisco, a comparison, I am sure that will not cause the Peoria Chamber of Commerce to lose any sleep.

The late philosopher, Christopher Hitchens, remarked that gay marriage was not a radicalization of society, but an embourgoisement of the gay lifestyle.  The fact that gay men led the charge against the nude ordinance because they found the outrageous behavior to be antithetical to family values and the healthy upbringing of children certainly confers much credence on the observations of Hitchens. 

But we still need to note that the 6-5 vote is clear indication that San Francisco is not anywhere near Peoria, or Planet Earth, for that matter, when it comes to culture, manners, or expression. If I were in Peoria, I wouldn’t sweat it either.

And so, while children are enslaved in factories in Southeast Asia and the Middle East teeters on yet another round of mass murder, the nude activists are planning to resume their fight for “freedom”, “justice”, “diversity”, “tolerance”, and my personal favorite, “social justice”.

All of which brings to mind something my mother used to say: “There’s nothing in this country that can’t be cured by a good famine”.

A Big Bronx Cheer for the National Hockey League

When billionaire owners and millionaire players get to fighting with each other, the real casualties are the little people underneath their big feet.  The little people being the hot dog vendor, the beer vendor, the shop owners, and other small enterprises that depend upon an active professional sports league to operate as they say they will.  The small businesses and vendors are lost behind the blaze of headlines, “Parties abruptly break off talks” or “impasse continues”.

And so it goes with the National Hockey League—four work stoppages in the past twelve years.  Four different episodes of stomping on small businesses and loyal fans.

Even though I am a borderline rabid Detroit Red Wings fan, I have had it with the selfish pigs that make up the National Hockey League.  As a long time economic development practitioner, I am appalled by the damage being done to the people who have livelihoods that depend upon the billionaires and millionaires doing their jobs.

I would think that hockey fans are sick and tired of being taken for granted or that we would not notice what they are doing to small businesses and working people.  As the most recent work stoppage began, the head honchos proclaimed their fans were the most loyal of all sports fans and that no matter what happened, the fans “would come back.”

This is the same blatant arrogance that demands public dollars to build stadiums and arena or else.  The “or else” means the franchise will be relocated to another city full of suckers.  Imagine Glendale, Arizona—hardly a hotbed of hockey fans, but nonetheless, the home of the Phoenix Coyotes.  The taxpayers are ultimately on the hook for this magnificent new arena.  Since promises of ticket sales and concessions would produce the revenue necessary to service the debt on the arena, a work stoppage means that this revenue will not be available.  It seems like it is more than time for fans to vote with their feet.

If you are a starved hockey fan in Michigan, I have a recommendation for you.  In addition to several minor league franchises, our state is home to some of the best college hockey in the nation.  The University of Michigan was a pre-season favorite to win the NCAA national championship.  Little Ferris State University is not so little in college hockey circles as it played Boston College in the national championship game in April of this year.  My own Western Michigan University Hockey Broncos are nationally ranked.  And, as Michigan State University fans know, their hockey program is on the rise.

This is good quality sports entertainment.  Although the students can be a bit rambunctious, the games are still exciting and up close.  With these options in hand, who needs the National Hockey League and their blatant disregard and disrespect for their fans and their vendors?  It already costs an arm and a leg to attend a National Hockey League game. As much as I love Mike Ilitch and what he has done for downtown Detroit, the Tigers, and the Red Wings, enough is enough.  And I am truly sorry about that.

Respect commands itself, but there is no respect.  It is time to tell these people to take a hike.  Go Broncos!

Wind Harvest in Gratiot County

Driving north on 127 out of Lansing, the terrain is fairly flat.  Then, all of a sudden, they appear:  wind turbines.  There are one hundred thirty three with thirty four more on the way.  They draw attention and they change the view.

They stand in testimony to the fact that an economic development organization can make a real difference.  Without the work of Don Schurr and the Greater Gratiot Development Company (GGDI), it is highly unlikely the wind turbines would be there at all.

Economic Development is a fad-ridden business, whether it is robotics, life sciences, or green energy.  The rhetoric in economic development far outstrips the accomplishments in green energy.  Gratiot County stands alone in Michigan, a true best practices case, in making a green energy strategy work.

Don Schurr is a thirty five year veteran economic development practitioner.  He is place based in that he has spent his career in Gratiot County.  Economic development work in Gratiot County mandates an understanding of the agricultural economy and nobody understands it better than Don Schurr.

So, when small family owned farms began to disappear across the country because they were at a severe competitive disadvantage vis-à-vis the emerging giant corporate farms, Gratiot County realized it had to do something to assist the families who had farmed for decades.

GGDI gathered many of the farmers together and asked if they were open to a harvest of a different kind.  Instead of growing and harvesting vegetables and fruits, the farmers were asked if they would consider the harvest of wind energy for sale.

Studies had shown that the flat terrain of Gratiot County was conducive to the placement of wind turbines.  The circumstances were right for this kind of agricultural land use, only this time the product would be renewable energy.

A land pool was formed throughout the county.  People had to indicate whether they were interested in having a turbine placed on their property.  They also had to agree that the sites selected would be done through a strict process governed by engineers who would select the most likely sites for success.

The next step was to gather all governmental units within Gratiot County in a room and stay there until they crafted a countywide ordinance.  A countywide ordinance was necessary as there is considerable risk for the investor.  The ordinance was crafted to protect the citizens of Gratiot County and to provide some reasonable assurance to energy investors.

They came out of the room with two things:  a new ordinance and a level of collaboration worth a brand.

In my own mind, there are many questions about green energy as an economic development strategy.  There are other considerations such as advancing technology in oil and gas extraction that now promises our country full energy independence.  While the advanced technology is new and promising, it must be part of a bigger picture where all possible sources of energy can be harnessed to meet the needs of our country.

There will be more about green energy in future columns, but for now, Michigan should be proud of what a small county and a plucky economic development operation have successfully accomplished.

Great Lakes Shipping and a College Education

“There go our jobs,” the tetchy lakes veteran said.  He punctuated his remark with a stream of tobacco juice into the already ensepulchered waters of the Cuyahoga River.  It was summer, 1969, and we were moving slowly up the river, past the ship building activities that would culminate in the MV Roger Blough, an eight hundred fifty foot ore carrier that would ply the steel making routes of the Great Lakes.

Today, even the Blough is significantly smaller than the new generation of 1,000 foot vessels that carry coal, taconite, limestone, and grain in quantities that would keep dozens of one hundred car freight trains moving overland each day. 

I was one of the fortunate kids who left college for the summer, jumped a ship, and worked the summer months hauling taconite from Duluth or Two Harbors, Minnesota, down to one of the steel mills on southern Lake Michigan or Lake Erie.  The work was hard, but the pay was good.  I did not have many opportunities to spend my pay, so there were savings to finance the costs of a college education.

With college campuses inflamed with protest and unrest in the late 1960s, it was also an enforced opportunity to stay in touch with the real world of hard working people that had their own opinions about what was going on in the country and the world.  It was a challenge to earn the respect of my shipmates who generally prefaced the words, “college kid” with adjectives like “dumb” and far worse, but this is supposed to be a decent column. Only by working as hard as the hardest working person on the boat was I ever able to overcome the malediction of pursuing a college degree.

The scene on the Cuyahoga that day was marvelously prescient.  I was on a ship that was six hundred feet long and maybe carried one-fourth of what the one thousand foot, automated, self unloading monsters are capable of hauling today.  My ship had thirty people working on board.  Our work was comprised of cleaning, chipping paint, priming and painting, shoveling, tending mooring cables, taking soundings, and whatever else needed to be done.  The newly automated vessels have largely eliminated most of that kind of work. 

At one time, during three straight days of dense fog, approximately one hundred twenty ships went to anchor on either side of the locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.  Today, a recurrence of those circumstances would produce no more than forty ships waiting to lock through.  I doubt that tourism at the “Soo” locks has the same vitality as back then when people used to see in an hour what today takes twenty four hours to see.  Older ships were shown the way to the ship graveyards as the new vessels came on line. 

Larger, more efficient ore carriers mean fewer ships are necessary to carry the raw materials to the steel making process.  The high degree of automation means fewer sailors are necessary to do depth soundings and to tend mooring cables.  The sophistication of the navigation equipment means that the skill levels necessary for these jobs are far in excess of what the summer college kid possesses, or for that matter, men who had toiled the lakes for all of their lives.

The union halls of the Upper Midwest teem with workers with considerable seniority, hoping for an opening within the reduced numbers of people needed to transport raw materials for the steel industry.  The summer college kid working on the boats is clearly a thing of the past.  A lost step on the ladder of upward mobility that went the way of the summer factory job.

When we think about the transformation of business and industry, one need only look at the changes that have taken place in Great Lakes shipping over the past thirty years to understand how the process impacts the lives we lead and the lives we thought we would lead. 

The real lesson to be learned, contrary to what politicians and special interests tell you, is that we do not lose most jobs to “outsourcing” or to the Chinese or the Mexicans.  Far more jobs are lost to productivity improvements and technological advances. 

The old lakes veteran was right.  There went our jobs.

Why is it that...

It is okay to politicize the murder of Osama bin Laden but not the torture and murders of four Americans in Benghazi?  During the Democratic National Convention, taking out Osama was mentioned no less than 21 times.  It is also instructive that when the Egyptians went over the wall of our embassy, they were chanting "Obama, Obama, we are all Osama.