Unions

I have often expressed my view that I am for private company unions and against public unions. I worked in industry in 8 different production plants, four were union and four not. As a plant manager I realized that the best way to get along with union members was to be more concerned about results than credit. My role was to aid the plant supervisors in conjunction with the union stewards by providing them with the time, tools and training needed to run the plant. Whenever I contacted the home office, I would propose some additional changes that would help the employees. Minor things like rule changes or major things like an additional holiday or other benefits. When ever a change was approved, I would make sure that the production employees knew that their union representatives were given most of the credit. The employees wanted to see the results of their union dues. In turn for this the stewards would help to run the plant in an efficient, safe manner. It was following a simple life lesson that most learn as children. When you treat people with dignity and respect they respond in a favorable way. This way of looking at things was made clear in the 70's when American businessmen went to Japan to see how they were making quality cars while in the US a lot of junk cars were coming off the end of the line. These supposedly smart people came home with a single message. They discovered that if people are treated respectfully they do not want a union but if they are not treated that way they deserve a union. Unions did a lot for this country in the late 1800's and early 1900's and 100 years later it is their time once again.