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Letters: What a world without unions would look like

LETTER-writer Nikola Sizgorich says Pennsylvania should enact laws to prevent transit workers from striking and that the workers should adapt to modern realities and changing times.

Would these modern realities be employers who hire only part-time workers so they don't have to offer benefits? Are the changing times now back in the era when employees were routinely abused with no one to stand up for their rights?

Perhaps the changing times mean employers can make any changes to benefits and salaries and employees' only recourse is to quit and find another job or kiss butt and hope they don't get fired?

Mr. Sizgorich's ideas come from people trying to shift the blame to people who are only standing up for themselves. Union members just want to have a good life with fair wages and benefits.

When business says unions are bad, it's because they don't want you to join us in standing up for your rights. They'd rather treat workers like mushrooms - keep them in the dark and throw a lot of manure at them.

Ken Karpinski, Philadelphia

Stop dithering on dredging

Thanks to Gov. Rendell and Sen. Specter, the Delaware dredging project appears to be at hand, although Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden has just asked the federal courts for an injunction to forestall the long-delayed project once again.

The continuing objections are hard to fathom. An independent review authorized by the Army Corps of Engineers identified $24.2 million in annual benefits once the channel is deepened.

The five-year project will produce 1,600 jobs, $200 million in wages and $400 million in revenues. The deeper channel will result in an increase of 2.5 million tons of cargo and produce up to 1,300 good-paying jobs. More than 50,000 people work at the port in family-sustaining jobs with an average annual salary of $43,000.

Also, given our designation as a Strategic Military Seaport, there is significant opportunity for the industry to grow through investment by the Defense Department and commercial developers. That means more jobs.

The time for excuses and foot-dragging has passed. Multiple environmental studies have determined that there is no adverse ecological effect as a result of dredging. And our dire economy dictates that we dredge now in order to create jobs and bolster the sagging economies of the tristate region.

State Rep. William F. Keller, D-Phila.

Drones for Afghanistan

U.S. military drones will be patrolling the water off Somalia in hopes of stemming rising piracy.

The drones are unmanned, eliminating the possibility of crew members being injured or killed, and they are able to carry a dozen guided bombs and missiles.

If the U.S. would use those drones in Afghanistan while searching for al Queda and other insurgents, that can eliminate casualties from IEDs to service personnel now searching for them on foot or in vehicles.

We should protect our personnel in any way possible, and the use of the drones would be an effective way to do that.

Paul Kelly

Philadelphia

Comments   
Posted 06:35 AM, 11/03/2009
mike l
Paul, maybe you haven't heard the news, but we've been using drones in Afghanistan for a few years now.
Posted 07:31 AM, 11/03/2009
nuggett
It would be a great world....workers would work....they would do there jobs and be happy to have them......and the free loaders and the drones and those with the "I exist and I am entittled" attttude would go away........and a whole generation of bullies (called union management) would go straight to hell......
Posted 08:19 AM, 11/03/2009
johnny o
These union morons will never get it. The unions benefit only union members and their hierarchy. They do absolutely no favors for those whom pay their freight, the taxpayers.
Posted 09:20 AM, 11/03/2009
Down in the Basement
nuggett for Mayor... Unions suck...all those who think unions are ruining our nation...rise up and contact your officials...no EFCA...
Posted 10:55 AM, 11/03/2009
Magistra
Only self-employed workers have no worries about the whims of management. The letter writer is correct. Without a contract for working conditions and wages, businesses will do whatever they can to avoid paying their workers, including not offering them benefits or regular wage increases. If not for the Fair Labor acts, the situation would be intolerable. There will be no such thing as loyalty between management and labor. It will always be a cut throat world. Taxpayers already subsidize big business in too many ways to list here.
Posted 10:55 AM, 11/03/2009
Imagine
Everyone deserves fair wages, benefits and a safe work place.
Posted 04:26 PM, 11/03/2009
KevSim
Imagine: $50K to drive a SEPTA bus or trolley which a trained monkey could do is more than fair.
Posted 06:26 PM, 11/03/2009
shrt45
We should send all the drones in Washington over there, they would probably kill them with idiocy and boredom.
Posted 11:01 PM, 11/03/2009
joedog
$50K to drive a SEPTA bus or trolley is insanity and at its root it has ruined the standards and proportionality we enjoyed, as a once prosperous nation.
Posted 04:19 AM, 11/04/2009
Ken K
Paul, perhaps some union members will read your well thought out comments. Perhaps they will start to act responsibly. Well, it's a nice thought, anyway.
Posted 11:02 AM, 11/04/2009
lefty
Letter writer Karpinski assumes that without unions, we'd all be part-workers because it's cheaper for employers. This is a specious argument espoused by dependent-riddled liberals. How could SEPTA possibly operate its trains, buses, etal., with part-time workers? When the Pennsylvania legistlature cancelled Act 165 and empowered a commission to rule the school district in place of a school board, did teachers and non-professional employees lose jobs and benefits? The district used part-time employees for years. The PFT contract, which expired in August, is still in place, yet the union is only a figment of what it once was. Kids still have to be educated. The point is that most businesses outside the public realm are union free. Profit, market share and global competition are the compass which determine staffing and pay.
Posted 01:24 PM, 11/04/2009
psyrus
"When business says unions are bad, it's because they don't want you to join us in standing up for your rights." --- The people are the ones saying the unions are bad. The TWU is a shining example.
Posted 03:32 PM, 11/04/2009
lefty
The Karpinski letter assumes that businesses would turn to part-time employees without unionization. This is a presumptuous and specious statement. How could the transit systems of any city operate buses and trains without hiring trained operators that gain experience because they're full-time employees? At some point, even part-time would ultimately become full-time. In the public sector, you may recall that the Philadelphia Fed of Teachers lost the Commonwealth of PA's right to strike under the old Act 165(??)legistlation that had been on the books until the early 1990's. Since then contracts have expired and been extended with no loss of pay or benefits. Currently, the union is again working without a new contract- with pay and benefits intact. Today, the PFT is only a figment of what it was prior to the State's change of heart; but the all powerful commission that replaced the school board recognizes that even though it could unilaterally punish the union, it wouldn't be in its best interests to do so. Why?? Because the NEEDS of the employer demand that proper staffing is otherwise unattainable. For the most part,private industry is no different. In today's strained economy, employers need qualified, full-time workers in order to produce competitive products. Does that insure against layoffs? No,it does not. Can service-related businesses get away with using more temps and part-timers? Probably so, but the latter is more a product of how our country's manufacturing/ industrial base has dramatically changed. As for Magistra's "...whims of management" comment, there are governmental agencies that protect "rights to work." Outside of replacing an employee with the boss's in-law and a lousy economy, why would management seek regressive action against a productive employee? The Japanese government, industries and employee groups base much of their productivity on COOPERATION and SHARED duties. Unfotunately, in the USA, it isn't as simple.
Posted 03:33 PM, 11/04/2009
lefty
The Karpinski letter assumes that businesses would turn to part-time employees without unionization. This is a presumptuous and specious statement. How could the transit systems of any city operate buses and trains without hiring trained operators that gain experience because they're full-time employees? At some point, even part-time would ultimately become full-time. In the public sector, you may recall that the Philadelphia Fed of Teachers lost the Commonwealth of PA's right to strike under the old Act 165(??)legistlation that had been on the books until the early 1990's. Since then contracts have expired and been extended with no loss of pay or benefits. Currently, the union is again working without a new contract- with pay and benefits intact. Today, the PFT is only a figment of what it was prior to the State's change of heart; but the all powerful commission that replaced the school board recognizes that even though it could unilaterally punish the union, it wouldn't be in its best interests to do so. Why?? Because the NEEDS of the employer demand that proper staffing is otherwise unattainable. For the most part,private industry is no different. In today's strained economy, employers need qualified, full-time workers in order to produce competitive products. Does that insure against layoffs? No,it does not. Can service-related businesses get away with using more temps and part-timers? Probably so, but the latter is more a product of how our country's manufacturing/ industrial base has dramatically changed. As for Magistra's "...whims of management" comment, there are governmental agencies that protect "rights to work." Outside of replacing an employee with the boss's in-law and a lousy economy, why would management seek regressive action against a productive employee? The Japanese government, industries and employee groups base much of their productivity on COOPERATION and SHARED duties. Unfortunately,in the USA,it isn't as simple.
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