Rant about unions... sort of

Despite having some conservative tendencies (more economic, not so much social), I do see a vital place for unions in fighting for what's good (long term) for workers and stopping injustices against workers and holding management accountable.

... I do get very uncomfortable if unions stray too far from their core mission, lose accountability to their members, get entirely submerged in political action with minimal member benefit that may alienate many members, or get too much into a short-term "us versus them" mentality with management.

... To a large extent, I'd like to see unions actually work WITH management and stockholders in helping keep jobs in the USA, in upgrading the quality of the jobs, and in making companies more efficient by helping them work smarter. To my mind, it does little or no good to fight hard for a wage increase if it means that a company will move jobs offshore, especially to countries where workers have few if any rights. Unions need to help our country compete if we want to maintain our standard of living.

... On a whole different tangent, while we might not agree about so-called "right to work", ideally unions would do an effective, skilled job of selling their benefits to potential members regardless of whether they are in a union shop or right-to-work environment. In other words, even unions that enjoy having a closed shop should hustle and behave as if they're in a right to work environment. If a local has to rely on a closed shop agreement to recruit members, maybe the union leaders aren't doing their job very well.
End rant!