In 1984, I joined a greenfield paper mill that was designed on the principles of participative management in Northern Minnesota, strong union country. The key was not that we would keep the union out, but that we would manage in such a way that the workforce would not feel the need to have a third party involved. One of the things our design consultant said has stuck with me for almost 30 years: "Every company has the union it deserves." What a profound statement! This paper mill exceeded the start-up expectations and has run very efficiently for all these years. It is still a non-union site. One of my favorite stories regarding this mill: The pulp mill side of the mill had an unspoken rule that the paper machine would never stop production for a lack of pulp. One night a large pulp transfer pump motor blew up and had to be replaced. The replacement would take 18 hours, but the paper machine had only 8 hours pulp inventory. In order to keep the machine running until the pump was back in service, the pulp mill guys went over to the paper side and started cutting "broke" (broke is the term used for off-quality paper that can be "recycled" within the mill) to be repulped for the machine to run on. If you have ever been in a paper mill, you would soon learn that cutting broke by hand is very hard work. Due to the efforts of the pulp mill guys, the machine was able to continue running until the pump was back in service. In a unionized mill, this would NEVER happen because of the "not my job" culture. In this mill, everyone had ownership in the success of the organization.

Mr. Schwinn,

 The tone of your article is decidedly pro-union, based not only on your comments but also on the reports from your students. Did none of them talk to any one who is pro-freedom? Yes, I said pro-freedom. I see the unions as having gone way beyond their usefulness. I see them as one of the reasons we have the prices we do. Everywhere they go, the costs go up for the consumer. AND....they force people to pay them dues in order to obtain gainful employment in the location or industry of their choice. This is America. We are free. We shouldn't have to pay any body just for the opportunity to make a living. It's a mafia-like business model and many local, state, and federal government policies support and in some cases, implement this for them. One of the issues addressed by Scott Walker in Wisconsin was that the state was collecting union dues for the union through payroll deductions. In any other scenario, wouldn't that fall under RICO and everyone involved be subject to prosecution? He stopped it and made the union collect their own dues.

 Because of the unions, we have many of the laws in place that protect employees and employers alike. My own grandfather worked in the Copper Queen Mine in Bisbee, AZ. This was back before it became open pit and they had to deal with cave-ins. Grandpa had to climb out a hole that he could barely fit his broad shoulders through during one cave-in. He was following the rats out when they started running...always a good idea to not stay someplace even a rat wants to leave. They called for a strike to protest conditions. He was hauled out into the desert along with his fellow miners on a flatbed train car and left to walk back 20 miles through the desert heat by strikebreakers...mainly US soldiers brought in by the mine owmers...they were told that the next time they caused trouble, their families would be with them.

 That's the kind of story you or your students need to look for in your interviews if you want to support the union cause. That was when the unions were needed and since then, they did their job. The workplace in the US is a much safer place these days because of them. The free market will take care of the rest. You don't need unions to address a simple training issue, as illustrated by your anecdote of the southern millwright's (hmmm, any bias about southerners in that little story? Maybe, maybe not...I'll give you the benefit of the doubt). The point is that these stories collected by your students (or those that you chose to share) do nothing, IMHO, to support unions. Including the story about the guy with the sick wife. I have never worked for a union and I have been able to get great healthcare for my family. How about that for an anecdote?

 You said, "If all managers were good at their jobs, there would be no need for unions...". I am not the smartest kid in class, so maybe I am missing something here, but it just seems to me that you're trying to make the point that it is impossible to ensure that all managers are good, therefore we must have unions. In my life, I have not needed a union in any of my jobs. I have had bad managers once in a while, but they usually don't last very long. The free market or Darwinian forces tend to make adjustments all on their own without the need for a work stoppage and picket lines and intimidations and beatings. In the non-union world, the consumer doesn't get hit with increased costs to make up for the loss of revenue that companies face after a strike and the jobs don't go over seas to avoid outrageous pay increases for folks who can't be fired for lousy work.

Jeff Greer

Gentleman you both make some very good points about what can happen with unions but consider some other facts too. I am working at a welding shop that is requiring us to work evryday of the week for up to 12 hours a day but would like to push for more. I am not in an industry that is on a small time frame, like a shut-down work at the papermill, I have worked those with out complaint. The company gives us health benefits, personal paid leave is accrued during each week at a certain rate, and other nice things but they want to work us to death. The night shift is treated as if it was a seperate company working more hours then the day shift. The company also does not really care about safety, there are many concerns brought up but very little is done. The attitude is get the job done no matter what. This is a company that having some presence of some union might be beneficial to the employees and make the company think they can't act like they have slave labor. This shop would not have to be a closed shop and non-members shouldn't have to pay anything. I do agree that unions tend to protect the unproductive employee. When somebody is not working like everybody else they should not be there.

Thank you, Mr. Schwinn, for differentiating leaders and managers: it's a meaningful step forward, to make more people more aware of the badge they wear. As far as Unions are concerned, I'm no "unionist" myself, I've seen too much and too severe messing done by Unions in Italy, and I'm still seeing it. As in any kind of organization, Unions suffer of the manager versus leader disease.

 

Unionization is an indicator of poor leadership.  Companies can offer everything a Union can (and more) except many companies choose not to.  That is what Bechtel taught me in 1977 and largely it has proven true.  

But I have seen Unions provide reliable, competent workers in industries that cannot recruit a temporary workforce (for construction projects) any other way.

As the surviving Unions work on their strategies, they may transform themselves into true partners that verify the competence of their members and assist them with improving their competencies, from wheelwright to project manager for example.