Dean Baker had a good and important op-ed a month ago that I missed at the time, on the fact that the chambermaid in the DSK affair was a member of a labor union—which has now been widely reported—and had she not been protected by the union’s contract “it is likely that [she] might not have felt confident enough to pursue [DSK's alleged assault] with either her supervisors or law enforcement agencies”… Baker underlines the general lack of protection for workers in the US, who can be fired almost at will. Thus the importance of unions. In America and elsewhere.
What do Unions have to do with l’affaire DSK? if the incident had occurred in a hotel in a non-unionized state like Texas, Florida, or North Carolina, the result would have been the same.
If Unions are so wonderful, why do so few Americans choose to join?
From the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:
”In 2010, the union membership rate–the percent of wage and salary workers who were
members of a union–was 11.9 percent, down from 12.3 percent a year earlier, the U.S.
States like NY, are the most unionized, with 24.2%
North Carolina the lowest at 3.2 %”.
“Right to work” states like Texas and Florida, where Union membership is not forced, but optional, are the states with the highest growth rate in America. They are also low tax states, with no State income tax. Triple tax states like Ca, NY & NJ are losing population & losing jobs.
If there is one generalization that can be made about Americans across the board, across all economic, ethnic, religious, racial, & political lines, is that we Americans do not like being told what to do. We don’t much like paying exhorbitant taxes either.