Jason Hart (Diary) | | 2
Do forced union dues keep workers safe? The Ohio Education Association (OEA), union campaign arm We Are Ohio, and other labor groups hope to convince Ohioans that workplace freedom kills workers. Ohio union bosses are desperate to keep mandatory union dues in place across the state following the December 2012 adoption of a right to work law in neighboring Michigan.
Confronted with evidence that letting workers choose whether to pay a union spurs job growth, supporters of forced unionism insist every economic factor except workplace freedom deserves credit. Meanwhile, OEA and We Are Ohio attack Ohioans for Workplace Freedom by claiming the group’s proposed constitutional amendment would reduce wages, increase poverty, cut health benefits, and even kill workers.
My Take - This article, while accurate I'm sure, is misleading to some extent. It is true that OSHA and the insurance companies drive safety issues now more than unions, but that statement should force clear thinking people to look at the historical foundation for all of that.
Having grown up in a coal producing area I knew firsthand about the dangerous conditions the miners worked in. My grandfather (who told me many stories about those days) was caught in a cave-in and was crippled for the rest of his life. Cave -ins happen in the best mines, so I am not claiming it was the companies fault, however for many decades the mine owners were amazingly cavalier about the lives of the men who worked in them.
At one time mules were used in the mines to pull the coal cars and some of them never saw the light of day. Because of those conditions some became nasty, and even deadly. But mules were more expensive than men so nothing was done. I may be wrong but I believe it was the unions that gave political impetus for child labor laws.
If a miner died and owned money to the company story owners exploited their children, forcing them as young a five to work in the mines to pay off that debt. A debt to the company store that charged higher prices, and this was a store the employees “had” to buy from, and they had to live in the company town (called a patch). In some places there was only one way in and out of the town and they all had company police to enforce company rules. If you attempted to leave to buy from somewhere else they insisted that you pay your bill at the company store first, otherwise you couldn't even leave. And if they let you go because it was a necessity that the company store couldn’t provide then all of the family couldn't leave.
The unions were always a conduit to socialist thinking, socialist agitators and eventually mobsters, but they could only have made headway in those early years if the employees were being badly abused. And in many areas of industry they were. There is a great deal about unions that I don’t like, but let’s at least understand the history. Tennesee Ernie Ford had a hit song in 1955 called, “Sixteen Ton”. Here were some of the lyrics. You may wish to follow the link provided in the lyrics to better understand the abuses.
You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter, don't you call me, 'cause I can't go;
I owe my soul to the company store...
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