Socialist explains Unions: Pros and Cons

More ppl need to see this

To be fair even a companies board is not there for the efficiency of the company they are only there to make themselves (i.e. the shareholders) more money. We have seen companies absolutely drained by people Jack Welch and GE are a prime example of it. Sunbeam is also another example of this along with countless others.

And also to be fair a Union has far more incentivize to keep a company going than shareholders ever do. Usually the workers have no other place to go; they don't have some golden parachute like many shareholders.

Lex is blind to the realities of businesses and the realities of working class in this country. Income equality is a huge problem that is only going to get worse without some checks in place.

As a former hourly worker, and to all hourly workers out there: stop financing new vehicles for 60-72 months, paying for vacations with credit cards, and get out of debt ASAP. No union or collective bargaining agreement is going to make your life better; those things will only lead to union dues, strikes, or worse, your company shutting down, all of which take money you earned out of your pocket. Only you can make your life better, and it is still possible in the USA despite what many will tell you. Just stop with the financing, stop the excuse making, stop the pity party and get after it.

Dam, so many young people have learned unions are bad which is so sad and wrong. Im old enough to know when we had more unions we had more people getting out of poverty and into the middle class. And the last time there was real wage increases was in 1975, right when the war on unions was starting. Today, less people get into the middle class and it has shrank. Most people are the working poor. People had way better lives and when their were more unions. Even today, the best non skilled jobs have a union-mta, police, fireman, sanitation, laborer, UPS, auto workers, 32BJ-building cleaners, doorman and concierge.
Come on. Why do you think all major sports have a union-basketball, football, and baseball.

Lex seems to not know that other rich countries exist with strong trade unions and high levels of innovation. In fact the Scandinavian countries have some of the highest levels of innovation and also have strong trade unions.

lex sounds so much more stupid when you put him up against someone who thinks hard

I represent companies that have been organized since 1945. A “living wage” is for single people much different than a “family wage”.

You are only "Highly Skilled" if there is scarcity in your abilities. Your bargaining power is only as strong as your ability to be replaced by someone else who can do as good a job as you can. If you need a union to create bargaining power for yourself, your line of work is likely not highly skilled....

a lot of this is him using a lot of words to say nothing. his premises are also garbage

I liked this debate it was so calm and an actual discussion on the subject, other debates tend to just be arguments where its two or more people just yelling at eachother.

Holland n Switzerland kinda got good ideas even Alaska doing well look at where its working is a great philosophy

Kinda depends what business huh

Thanks Lex great guest appreciate you also

If you have a good job, it doesnt need a union. If the job lacks a good wage, benefits and working safety than its good to go union.

Man be actually gets so much right… but then he goes off the rails when it comes to capital. The fact that the state shapes much of capital investment today IS THE PROBLEM. So he’s correctly identifying a lot of negative downstream effects from that, but then his solution keeps in it that very flaw which is breaking the whole system today.

So who is the person or group that is going to make all of these decisions? The benevolent king? The think tank of socially responsible intellectuals? The self righteous "central planners" that have determined ,on their own, that they know better what is good for the masses than they can determine themselves? If not for 200 + years of freedom and capitalism there would be no wealth to distribute? What innovations that have moved the needle for mankind have come from socialist countries?

Employees are no longer incentivize to be loyal and build the empire together. Employees are incentivized to gut every single cent out of their company so that there is no space for unionized companies to grow.

This guy has no idea of what INCENTIVES are… why would someone invest in a company, except without the possibility of taking profits.
Even in his euphoric world, “workers” would be upset that someone is making more than them.

Have strong union have strong poverty.

Employees should never expect to make as much as the owner or managers of the company. There are hierarchies for a reason, but that is why there is an incentive to work your way up and not remained satisfied with a basic entry level job. Either go to school to increase your credentials or gain more experience while aiming for a higher position. Companies should be incentivized to give their employees the ability to move up in pay and skill, otherwise, they may not thrive as an employer. Many times unions charge union dues that it takes a large portion from the employer as well as the employee which should not be the case. Unions should not profit off of the tension that exists between the employee and employer. Regulations should set in place a fair wage and safe working conditions.

3:51 when you accidentally explain perfectly why you don't need unions in a free market

Union buster

These guys have absolutely no idea how unions work lol unions literally just make their employees turn into a bunch of halfass lazy bums. A union company will never be close to being as productive as a competitive paying employer who bases your position and wages on your performance, not solely on your time at the company. I'm in a union and it's a pathetic sight to witness grown men coming up with any excuses possible to do as little work as they can.

My union has been with its company since 1917.

Collective bargaining huh? How’d that work out for the Railroad Union and that paid time off??

Ohh right…..

#RIPUnions

USA have no labor union RIP

PRIVATE sector unions are GOOD while PUBLIC sector unions should be ABOLISHED.

WHAT is a 'living wage'??? These living wage proponents have obviously never a run a business!

State owned banks deciding which companies should receive tax payers money.. yea that will work just fine.

If cooperation became a country it would be China. And this is why unions are important. To democratize the workplace to an extent that there is a balance of power between the working class and the business owners.

Making money is an action. Keeping money is behavior. Growing money is knowledge.😊

Opposing authoritarianism and supporting socialism. They’re the same thing.

Lex illustrate some unions well. As parasites that end up killing the Host Company . Sunkara doesn't tell about the messy reality of those now ex-union members being jobless while someone runs off with their union dues . Yes companies should innovate in more efficiencies but a union is seldom part of that .

Unions only exist to counter monopolies. When not countering state or private monopolies unions are only damaging to society.

It's the relationship of accountability between the policy and the people to which it applies.

People with power will always use it for the benefit of their ingroup.

The challenge is seeing each other as "us" instead of "them."

A set of parameters that balances the need for policy to be set locally with the need for altruism between communities.

I think we should have a grassroots branch of government with veto power that has specific scales of applicability.

Unions corrupt as the grow, just like Agencies, gangs and governments.

People click up and ingroup preferences continue to form.

That's why centralizing power is a fool's errand.

What an utterly useless human. I've heard better political ideas come from my ass after eating taco bell.

Why do socialists never talk about risk sharing as well as profit sharing? If you want to take the same profit as the company owners you must take the same risk as the owners if the company goes bust - your house and all assets. A lot of people don’t have the appetite for that kind of risk in their lives.

A workers bargaining power is directly related to their competency and ability.
Sure, unions have done a lot of good, but for heavens sake Lex, get a morally sound construction veteran on and ask them about the massive monetary and societal costs of union tactics.

If you only talk with "intellectuals" that never receive real world feedback(consequences) from their actions, then you will continue to bathe in dissociated idealism.