Ryan, you need no invitation, just call to make sure that I am home and have gin (which reminds me, I need to get some).

I will come over for cocktails, whence I receive an invitation. I believe that you and I really aren't that far off in our views of labor. Indeed, it should be noted that we are both pro-labor in the old sense of the word, however, we just see different ways of fixing the problem of the way unions operate today. Perhaps a few gins will get the philosophical side of my brain working, so that I can find a logical solution to the whole mess.
I think Mr. Jeeves and or Queen Victoria are responsible for all of my brillian thoughts!!!
Ryan

Ryan,

You are slowly but surely coming around to see the light. Are you going to come over for cocktails and to have a shirt fitted? Please make sure that your boots are polished!

Seriously, though, is there a chance of the old-style labor movement surviving the move away from a manufacturing economy? The whole structure of the unions is based on the days of fellows (who would have referred to each other as fellas) in soft caps lining up at the hiring hall without resumes and all of that. When they shut down the port, they were not doing it in solidarity with the workers whose jobs were transferred to slave labor in Commie China (Commie China. Commie China. All of you people who think that free markets are just nifty, reflect on the nation that is taking advantage of them the most), rather short term demands. And I bet you that these are the guys who drive home in the suburbs and eat prepackaged food, or go to chain restaurants.

I am afraid that political solutions (short of a young, unknown General in a remote post in North Africa...ah, but that was then) around the model of the old trade unions will not work. We need nothing short of a cultural rebirth. We need to convert people away from the obscene consumption that is so rampant (a TV in every room!). Naturally if we want to convert them from this crap, we need to offer them something else, and that would be a rich sacramental life.

So, you see, it all boils down to evangelization of the Holy Catholic Faith. Anyway, you should still come over, at least for cocktails and to report on what you ate in New York.

Erik,
I agree with you, shocking notion as that is. Unions as they operate today are as corrupt as the institutions as they fight against, I mean does John Sweeney really want what is best for his people. However, do you remember last year when the Longshoremen shut down the West Coast by refusing to offload the ships. This was a true example of what a Union should do in this day and age, with all the technological advancements that are made in the world, we are developing into a society that is going to look like the South Bay, which I am getting out of on July 31, 2004. Big companies making technological improvements for our everyday life, so that we can go to Wal-Mart and buy everything that we need, get home and spend our time in front of the television.
Having experienced this way of life for the last couple of years, I can tell you that this is not a life worth living. It says something when I have to drive two towns over to get a fresh vegetable doesn't it??? I believe that you and I have the same vision for this country, and it starts by respecting the worker and ensuring that he makes a living wage or is at least paid the equal value for his work. This starts with a true understanding of the Labor movement in this country and what it originally tried to win and protect. Remember, originally they kind of looked like Catholic lay confraternities. If all the wage earning slaves would stick it to the man and join one of these organizations we could take back America, much the same way that pro-labor generals took over a few countries some time back. Goodness am I starting to sound like a radical here or just a Kileholtz????...Viva la Revolution!!!

Ryan, first I am also amazed at the coffee drinking that goes on near the orange trucks. You would think with all that stimulation, they would be building freeways above and beyond what the plans call for. I think it must be caffe coretto, as that is the only thing that can account for the pace.

Anyway, the unions are dead and will remain dead until they are not run by entrenched leadership that is more interested in remaining in the leadership than in anything else. I honestly think that the average union president these days would rather his union shrink to ten members rather than have someone else draw a salary and benefits as the president of the union.

I am also wary of closing the borders. The only way we have been able to stem the Anglo invasion in California is by the ample reenforcements that have come up from Mexico. I can think of many Catholic churches that would have had to close if it weren't for the Mexican parishioners. If, by your use of "closing borders" you mean the one between California and Nevada/Arizona/Oregon, well, then we could talk.

"And the Po-lice at the point of entry says,
You're number fourteen thousand for to-day,
And if you ain't got the doh-re-mi, boy
If you ain't got the doh-re-mi,
Better go back to beautiful Texas,
Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee."

Of course without those Oakie invaders we wouldn't have had Merle, nor Buck, so I guess it has been worth it. Also, the Anglos that caused trouble were the earlier wave.

Your points on the dignity of work are good, but they still do not address the inevitability of technological takeover. A union might prevent an existing company from adapting, thus forcing it out, but they cannot stop someone from opening up next door.

Remember the longshoremen? They resisted containers at the Port of San Francisco. The Oakland longshoremen didn't. Guess which port is still and active shipping port?

Of course the Port of San Francisco is not a dead man's land of empty buildings and crime. Instead it is thriving with other uses, and that is the hopeful part of all this change. That is sort of what I am wondering: can we transition the economy the way the Port of San Francisco has transformed?

You raise good points. The unions as they exist in the public sphere these days do not operate as true unions. They are not acting seperately from their masters. By the way every three years of my life the Cal Trans workers add an addition one man drinking coffee for the one man working with a shovel. I believe the ratio now is 7 men drinking coffee to the one man working.
As for the private sector big conglomorates need to be infultrated by Unions and be busted up much in the same way that it happened in the early part of the last century. This can be achieved only when we reallize that the jobs that these people are performing are not below us, the great Americans. Just recently I was speaking with a friend of mine about these issues and he told me that he lived next door to a janitor as a kid. This janitor could afford a house, and was able to put food on the table for his children. No where can that be found today. We need to shrink the workforce by shutting down the borders and allowing our citizens to start working again. When they begin to take on what people seem to consider meaningless wage earner jobs then they can unionize and again become a force in this country, only hurting the bottom lines of the uber rich and not killing companies as a whole. Remember, it is in the best interest of everyone to keep a company running in the black. Viva the worker! Just my 2 cents
Ryan

"However, if the costs can be reduced while adding workers and expanding market share it is a further win win situation."

Well, yes. But I just cannot see companies deciding to add workers unless they absolutely have to. The old trade union method of basically strongarming companies into creating jobs (especially strong in the public sector: what's orange and sleeps eight? A Caltrans truck) is a short term plug that works only until the company shuts down, leaving everyone unemployed. I imagine that it will continue to be a part of the public sector until we have the sense to ban government employees from voting (who else gets a say in choosing both sides of the negotiating table?) or public employee unions are banned. Either way, it is not likely, so we will have overstaffed public works programs forever. I can frankly think of worse things, but then again I am Italian. Overbloated public service is the only thing that keeps certain parts of the country from completely starving, hence the view of the civil service as a wellfare-to-almost-work program is not that bad to me.

However, in the private sector, these things will not work. Pressure must come from consumers, who tend to think with their shortest-term interests in mind. As another blogger put it, "why should I have to pay higher prices so that Mom and Pop can make more money?" Even people I know who are mom and pop business owners will, in the same breath, complain about the big box retailers hurting them, then go out and buy everything from them.

Erik:
You raise a few good points here, but I have a few points of contention. Technology as an answer to providing the workforce for the "new economy" is very problematic. It takes away our ability to control the workforce for the worker and moreover, it makes it very easy for corporate laissez faire types to move service oriented jobs outside of our country. What is to stop a printing company from having one account executive taking orders and shipping them to India on a twenty four hour seven day a week basis? We have to understand that a Catholic understanding of economics protects all workers and their craft, and that a fair business man and model of a business is to pay value for value. Printing is and was a skilled trade and craft, if the technology is available to reduce costs and eliminate workers for the betterment of the company in a cost competitive industry then so be it. However, if the costs can be reduced while adding workers and expanding market share it is a further win win situation.
The service oriented economy is here and it is here to stay. It is something that we all must deal with. Technology will undoubtedly make its way into the service sector as well (take a walk into your local Albertsons and see the automated checkout stands, they aren't far away from all retail spaces). As Catholics I belief that it is far more important for us to protect the dignity of the worker and ensure that he is given a fair days wage for a fair days work.
Gotta get back to my job in the equity based finance industry.
Ryan