Unions Want To Organize The Unemployed

Labor unions have been developing quite a knack for doing something that makes no sense.  Many years ago, I lived in a city that had a factory that was the lifeblood of the town.  The company in question came to workers saying that things were not good and for the good of the company and everyone's jobs they needed to make concessions and put things together.  The company went on to say that they just couldn't afford to maintain things the way that they were and if nothing happened, they would be forced to leave town.  The union could have worked with the company, but they bolted the table and went on strike.  The company decided to leave town, meaning all of those people lost their jobs.

While that kind of movement sounds bad on both sides, it really does make you scratch your head at the labor union.  While it was a moral victory, it rang hollow for those that lost jobs as a result of the "moral victory."

Now we see another one of these things that labor unions are doing that, according to the 90's song, makes you go hmm.  They have decided to organize the unemployed.  The effort sounds interesting enough.  Get the voice of people who are otherwise ignored heard in government circles.  It sounds like a great idea until you break it down another way.

Labor unions are generally tied up with working people.  If there are people that need work, one wonders if the union could simply help those people find a job rather than help them find their congressman's office.  Imagine that?  A union actually helping people to find work.  The possibilities are endless, if the union would actually do what it was intended to do in the first place, which is stand up for the working people.

Instead, it seems like this move is more about creating another, largely Democratic, voting bloc.  That's all fine and good, but it ends up being another one of those "moral victories" that we talked about earlier.  It rings hollow for the person looking for work because their voice is heard, but their bills aren't getting paid because they have no job.  Many of these people simply want to find work.  They don't want a hand-out and they certainly don't want the government stepping in.  They just want a job.  One would think that the union would know something about that, but I guess it doesn't work that way.