In OpinionJournal today, the article on the Big Labor split of the AFL-CIO that happened on Monday.
Although I agree with the article, we all know it's not going to happen. Labor is stuck in a "make the big companies pay" rather than looking at ways to become more competitive globally.
And for that, I see a completely different tact. The unions need to spend money globally. They need to be working in countries where this practice is going on. Why not figure out how to unionize Mexico, China, India, whatever? Big Labor's founding priciples are alive and well in these countries. Instead of whining about NAFTA and CAFTA, figure out what's required to assist those people and help improve their wages. Make it more expensive to do business in Mexico or India.
It reminds me of the story I read a while back about a company that was founded in appalachia, where much of the coal mining work had dried up. What did they open up? Call Centers. To compete with whom? Indian call centers? Was it cheaper? No, it was still a bit more expensive than outsourcing to India. But, their service scores were higher than an Indian call center. Is it worth it to spend the additional bucks for better customer service? For many companies the answer is yes.
Unions need to be rethinking things globally. It's not enough to do the reeducation suggested in the OpinionJournal article. It's about bringing the union movement to the people who need it. And they have to pick and choose their places. They need to avoid places that just opened a new plant, and come back in 5-10 years when they have a fighting chance of success.
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