Valuetainment - Are Unions Destroying Jobs & The Economy？

00:00:00.160 Unions, are they a net negative to society or net positive to society?

00:00:04.080 I asked this on Twitter.

00:00:05.080 A lot of people say, Pat, unions are bad, they're terrible, look what they're doing

00:00:08.400 to Hollywood with writers and actors being on strike since May, since July.

00:00:12.200 Hey, look what great job unions are doing for their employees.

00:00:14.840 Look at UPS.

00:00:15.840 They got $30 billion now, an average full-time employee at UPS makes $49 an hour.

00:00:20.680 That's $101,000 a year income.

00:00:22.760 Unions are fantastic.

00:00:23.760 So I said, listen, let's take a look.

00:00:25.960 Pros, cons, biggest unions in America, politically, which way do they give their money?

00:00:32.040 We looked at every single election all the way back to 2010 to see how it looks.

00:00:37.360 We looked at union leaders.

00:00:38.440 What kind of money do these guys make?

00:00:40.080 How much the actual membership costs?

00:00:41.720 And last but not least, I just watched the movie Oppenheimer, it was a three-hour movie.

00:00:44.640 Honestly, I think they could have gone on a strike for about an hour of that movie, but

00:00:47.600 anyways, I watched the movie.

00:00:49.200 Three major union leader names I'll give you.

00:00:51.840 One of them, I think you know who it is.

00:00:53.060 The other two, you're going to be like, that guy was a union leader?

00:00:55.760 They were.

00:00:56.760 Having said that, let's take a deep dive in unions.

00:01:02.760 All right, so if you give value out of this video, give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the

00:01:11.000 channel.

00:01:12.000 Let's get right into it.

00:01:13.000 A couple things we need to know, pros and cons about unions and what it costs.

00:01:15.000 Number one, the cost of being part of a union is around 1% to 4% of your salary.

00:01:20.240 If you make 50 grand a year, it could be $500 up to $2,000 of your salary to be a member.

00:01:26.240 Now, why do some people join unions and why do people say, keep it away from me?

00:01:30.720 Because about 10.3% of employees in America are part of a union.

00:01:35.240 Here's the pros and cons.

00:01:36.240 Pros, employees who are part of a union typically make more money than those who are not.

00:01:40.240 Number two, safety protections.

00:01:41.240 Three, job security.

00:01:42.240 Four, a sense of community.

00:01:44.240 Five, promoting equality.

00:01:46.240 Six, protection from unfair dismissal.

00:01:49.240 Cons, decreased flexibility.

00:01:51.240 That means if everybody goes on a strike, you have to go on a strike because you're part

00:01:54.240 of a union, which means you ain't going to get paid while you're on a strike.

00:01:56.240 So you could go a week, two weeks, three weeks.

00:01:58.240 If you're a writer right now, it's almost nine, 10 weeks you ain't getting paid for not

00:02:02.240 doing work because you're part of a union.

00:02:03.240 So you can't work while you're part of it.

00:02:05.240 So that's part of the mandatory strike.

00:02:07.240 Adversarial workplace relations, which means you're kind of like working out of place and

00:02:10.240 you're not supposed to like your boss and your boss doesn't trust you because if they

00:02:13.240 talk about everything, you may go tell the unions, they may come after them.

00:02:16.240 They're walking on eggshells.

00:02:17.240 The dynamics kind of change because you're working with your boss where he's kind of part

00:02:20.240 of the enemy.

00:02:21.240 It's like, well, you know, we shouldn't do union.

00:02:22.240 He doesn't feel comfortable talking to you.

00:02:24.240 And you're kind of like, well, I don't know if I should tell the union what's going on,

00:02:26.240 but I kind of want to work here, but who cares?

00:02:28.240 They're not going to fire me.

00:02:29.240 And it was kind of like being out of DMV, say whatever I want to.

00:02:31.240 I don't care what they're going to say about me.

00:02:32.240 I'm protected here.

00:02:33.240 Number three is union dues.

00:02:35.240 Number four is potential for corruption.

00:02:37.240 Five, seniority over performance.

00:02:38.240 You could be the best working person there, but no, it's about tenure.

00:02:41.240 They reward tenure and how long you've been around over somebody that's really driven

00:02:46.240 to want to compete, which it attracts people that want to stick around and just give average

00:02:50.240 return for work because many times if I do too good of a work, then my expectation increases.

00:02:54.240 So the competitive people almost always don't want to be part of a union.

00:02:57.240 And last but not least, the consumer, the buyer takes a hit because every time they raise

00:03:01.240 prices for pay, the way that company is going to make up for that expense is they have to

00:03:05.240 raise their prices.

00:03:06.240 So you, the consumer that's not part of a union, you're not paying higher prices.

00:03:11.240 So it kind of messes up the company, but it hurts the consumer, which is you.

00:03:14.240 So now let's take a look at what are the biggest unions we have in America.

00:03:17.240 Number one, National Education Association of the United States, NEA, total membership over

00:03:21.240 3 million.

00:03:22.240 This is public school employees, including but not limited to teachers, education support,

00:03:26.240 professionals, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, et cetera, et cetera.

00:03:30.240 Number two, Service Employees International Union, around 1.91 million memberships.

00:03:34.240 This is hotel, restaurant, hospitality workers, RNs, professionals, et cetera, et cetera.

00:03:38.240 Number three, American Federation of Teachers.

00:03:40.240 It's a different union for teachers, around 1.67 million public school teachers, registered nurses,

00:03:45.240 professionals, and others.

00:03:46.240 Number four, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Jimmy Hoffa, truck drivers, warehouse workers,

00:03:51.240 and other trades.

00:03:52.240 Number five, American Federation of State and County and Municipal Employees.

00:03:55.240 Total membership is 1.3 million.

00:03:57.240 This is employees of state, county, and municipal governments.

00:04:00.240 So now, somebody may be watching this. 0.98

00:04:01.240 If you're part of a union, you may be like, well, screw you, Pat. 0.97

00:04:04.240 I like my union. 0.70

00:04:05.240 Cool.

00:04:06.240 No problem.

00:04:07.240 Good for you.

00:04:08.240 But somebody may say, listen, I don't want to be part of a union.

00:04:10.240 I don't want you to control how much I can move up.

00:04:12.240 I want to move up faster than you dictating my speed.

00:04:15.240 I don't want to be part of you.

00:04:16.240 That's why 10.3% of Americans are part of a union.

00:04:19.240 That's why 90% are not.

00:04:20.240 Most of Americans are like, I want to dictate my growth up. 1.00

00:04:23.240 But let's look at these union leaders, these noble union leaders.

00:04:27.240 Let's see what kind of money they make.

00:04:28.240 Now, keep in mind, in America, the highest position in America is a president, commander-in-chief.

00:04:34.240 Okay?

00:04:35.240 We have a man there right now called Joseph.

00:04:37.240 He gets paid $400,000 per year.

00:04:40.240 This president, Joseph Biden, makes $400,000 per year.

00:04:43.240 Let's see how his salary, the leader of the free world, matches to the salary of some of these union leaders.

00:04:50.240 The great Terrence Sullivan, general president of Laborers National Headquarters, makes $663,981.

00:04:57.240 Number two, Patrick Flynn.

00:04:59.240 This is the treasurer or the main leader of Teamsters.

00:05:02.240 His salary, $503,000.

00:05:04.240 Newton B. Jones, president of International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, $491,000.

00:05:10.240 Joseph Senes, executive director of National Production Workers Union.

00:05:14.240 He makes around $487,000.

00:05:16.240 Then you have Michael Sweeney, who is the president.

00:05:18.240 Earlier, I talked about Patrick Flynn, who was the secretary treasurer.

00:05:21.240 But Michael Sweeney, the president of Teamsters, makes $387,000.

00:05:24.240 Slightly less than the president.

00:05:25.240 And then we can go to others.

00:05:27.240 James Hoffa, he was making $381,000.

00:05:29.240 We can go to a bunch of different names.

00:05:30.240 But these union leaders make pretty good money.

00:05:32.240 Some of them make more money than the president.

00:05:34.240 Now, some of you may say, Pat, what's the big deal?

00:05:37.240 Elon Musk is worth $300 billion.

00:05:38.240 Who cares if he's making $600?

00:05:40.240 I'm just comparing a government employee union versus the highest ranking government employee.

00:05:45.240 That's their choice.

00:05:46.240 President Biden could have gone into free market and tried to compete.

00:05:49.240 He could have done that.

00:05:50.240 Would have made a lot more money.

00:05:51.240 But if you choose to be a public government employee, that position, the highest position, only pays $400.

00:05:58.240 These union leaders are making some real good money for a union employee.

00:06:03.240 So next, I said, listen, let's just try to see where the money goes.

00:06:06.240 Is there any kind of political gamification in this thing?

00:06:08.240 Obviously, none of these guys are going to be dirty people.

00:06:10.240 They're noble people.

00:06:11.240 They're fair people.

00:06:12.240 They're probably going to be right in the middle on the way they give their money. 0.80

00:06:15.240 Half Republican, half Democrat.

00:06:16.240 That's how it's got to be, right?

00:06:17.240 I mean, they're going to be fair folks that we're dealing with.

00:06:19.240 So here's what it looks like.

00:06:20.240 2022 election cycle.

00:06:21.240 Dems versus Republicans when it comes down to public sector unions, top contributors to federal candidates, parties, or outside groups.

00:06:29.240 It was a total contribution of $83 million, give or take, party breakdown, 90% Democrats, 10% Republicans.

00:06:37.240 But that's 90-10.

00:06:38.240 So now it's going to change.

00:06:39.240 Of course, if we go further back, it's probably going to be closer to 50.

00:06:42.240 Let's go to 2020.

00:06:43.240 Okay, 2020 Dems versus Republicans.

00:06:45.240 Total contributions, $93 million, a little over that.

00:06:48.240 89% Democrats, and you've got 11% Republicans.

00:06:51.240 Okay, so that's two of them in a row election cycle that's around 90-10.

00:06:55.240 But maybe it's going to change if we go to 2018.

00:06:57.240 2018, total contributions, $56 million.

00:07:00.240 87% Democrats, 13% Republicans.

00:07:03.240 Fair enough.

00:07:04.240 So now Republicans are kind of making some progress the more we go backwards.

00:07:07.240 Let's look at 2016.

00:07:08.240 $66 million, ready?

00:07:10.240 90% Democrats, 10% Republicans.

00:07:13.240 Let's go to 2014.

00:07:14.240 $54 million, ready?

00:07:16.240 92% Democrats, only 8% Republicans.

00:07:19.240 It's going to change eventually, right?

00:07:21.240 2012, $44 million, 92% Democrats, 8% Republican.

00:07:26.240 Let's go to 2010.

00:07:27.240 $25 million, 91% Democrats, 9% Republicans.

00:07:31.240 Let's go to 2000, maybe change it up a little bit.

00:07:34.240 93% Democrats, 7% Republican.

00:07:38.240 Do you think maybe unions are necessary because they're protected by a political party that's getting them the votes and the money?

00:07:45.240 I don't know.

00:07:46.240 I'm just simply reading you reports.

00:07:48.240 You can go do the research yourself as well, but this is what the data tells us.

00:07:52.240 Now, to be fair, it's very easy for me to show you reports that only, you know, maybe favors one side of the argument, not the other side.

00:07:58.240 Let's look at Gallup on whether they approve or disapprove of labor unions.

00:08:02.240 The percentage has got to be high that disapproves, right?

00:08:04.240 I bet 80% doesn't approve or 70%, maybe 90% doesn't approve, but it's actually the other way around.

00:08:10.240 71% of Americans, as of 2021, approve of labor unions.

00:08:16.240 And it's been around that same number since the 30s.

00:08:20.240 So if 71% approves, why is it only 10.3% of employees in America are part of unions?

00:08:25.240 Let's take a look at this.

00:08:26.240 So most companies will do everything they can in their power to fight off unionization, but there are strict laws against that called union busting.

00:08:32.240 Like Amazon, Starbucks, Apple locations right now, like some of the employees are like, well, we should do it.

00:08:36.240 We shouldn't do it.

00:08:37.240 And we go, no, we should do it.

00:08:38.240 And the guys at the top are like, listen, we do not want to be a union company.

00:08:40.240 So there's a back and forth fight that's going on there.

00:08:42.240 But union momentum always increases when times are difficult.

00:08:46.240 The great depression led to the new deal, which created several laws empowering unions.

00:08:51.240 And the national labor union was the first attempt in us to organize a national federation of labor.

00:08:56.240 When labor groups met in Baltimore, beginning on August 20th, 1866, this is an economic perspective on the change to an eight hour day.

00:09:05.240 Back in the days, you could work a lot more than eight hours.

00:09:07.240 And it said, this is too much.

00:09:08.240 We got to get people working less.

00:09:09.240 So now let me give you an ideal profile of somebody likes being part of a union.

00:09:13.240 You don't want to work a lot.

00:09:14.240 You want somebody to dictate your value.

00:09:16.240 And you want to be able to not give your best at a job and still get a steady raise.

00:09:21.240 And, you know, you can talk back to your boss and who cares?

00:09:24.240 They can't fire you because of tenure.

00:09:25.240 And, you know, nowadays, good luck trying to fire a teacher.

00:09:29.240 There's teachers that have done some really, really bad stuff because it's terrible stuff you can read about, but they can't get fired because the union protects them.

00:09:37.240 So you may say, but I like that.

00:09:39.240 That's kind of gives me safety.

00:09:40.240 No problem.

00:09:41.240 A lot of people that don't like unions, again, are those I want to say, I dictate my future for myself.

00:09:46.240 Just like the Gallup poll we ran, no one should be surprised that anybody that gets entitlement programs is going to say, I support entitlement programs.

00:09:53.240 Nobody's going to complain of anything that's being given to them freely to say, no, no, no, this isn't good stuff.

00:09:58.240 Keep sending it my way because I want.

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00:10:23.240 More of these free programs.

00:10:25.240 So there's a profile for people who like being part of the union.

00:10:29.240 But let me give you an idea.

00:10:30.240 Earlier I talked about Hollywood, what's going on with them, you know, the SAG, the writers.

00:10:33.240 Let me give you an idea of what happens when you're part of a union, what you can't do.

00:10:36.240 For example, there's a lot of guests that we were about to have on a podcast.

00:10:40.240 You know what they responded back with?

00:10:41.240 I cannot be on your podcast.

00:10:42.240 Why not?

00:10:43.240 One of them is a very, very famous conservative actor.

00:10:46.240 Email back, I can't work because I'm part of the union.

00:10:49.240 And you know who this guy is.

00:10:51.240 But let me tell you what you can't do when you're part of a union in Hollywood.

00:10:54.240 Acting, singing, dancing, performance stunts, piloting on camera aircraft, puppeteering,

00:10:59.240 performance capture, motion picture work, ADR, looping, TV trailers, theatrical trailers,

00:11:04.240 voice acting, singing, narration, stunt coordinating and related services, background work,

00:11:08.240 stand-in work, photo or body doubles, fitting, wardrobe tests and makeup tests, rehearsals,

00:11:13.240 camera tests, scanning, interviews and auditions, promotional publicity services for workers

00:11:17.240 under the TV and theatrical contract, such as tours, personal appearances, interviews,

00:11:21.240 conventions, fan expos, festivals.

00:11:23.240 For your consideration, events, panels, premieres, screenings, award shows, junkets, podcast appearances,

00:11:28.240 social media, studio showcases.

00:11:30.240 They can't go on a podcast.

00:11:32.240 How crazy is that?

00:11:34.240 So if you like being controlled by the union, it's the perfect type of a membership if it fits

00:11:40.240 your profile.

00:11:41.240 But if you like to be free and dictate your terms and you're going to say,

00:11:45.240 I decide how much I get paid because I'm going to bust my tail, then you're not going to need a union.

00:11:49.240 So look, we just looked at Hollywood, what that looks like.

00:11:50.240 If you're part of SAG or Writers Guild, all that stuff.

00:11:52.240 But how about another industry, auto industry?

00:11:54.240 Detroit was the place.

00:11:55.240 All these automakers were there and then all of a sudden union came and destroyed a once great city.

00:12:01.240 Dearborn.

00:12:02.240 I've been there.

00:12:03.240 I saw what happened there.

00:12:04.240 Conversations with a lot of people.

00:12:05.240 But watch what happened with these guys.

00:12:07.240 Foreign automakers entered the U.S. market in 1970 and hired non-union workers to build vehicles.

00:12:12.240 Due to the savings and labor costs, they could afford to sell their vehicles for less than U.S.

00:12:17.240 manufacturers.

00:12:18.240 This made it much harder for unionized big three automakers to produce competitive cars

00:12:23.240 at affordable prices and they lost significant market share.

00:12:27.240 So obviously in 1970, some of these guys can get away with it.

00:12:30.240 Toyota, Nissan, these companies for decades got away with it and then all of a sudden,

00:12:34.240 like, no, no, no.

00:12:35.240 Boom.

00:12:36.240 We got to get these companies choke hold.

00:12:38.240 Get them unionized.

00:12:39.240 They did.

00:12:40.240 Guess who's the only automaker in America today that's not unionized?

00:12:44.240 You want to take a wild guess?

00:12:46.240 It's one of the most hated guys in the world. 1.00

00:12:48.240 He's evil. 0.50

00:12:49.240 He just bought a company and changed the name to X.

00:12:52.240 How dare he do something like that?

00:12:54.240 Tesla is the only one that's not.

00:12:56.240 And FYI, Philip Morris got a very high score, ESG, with A+, all this stuff.

00:13:01.240 Tesla got a very low score because Tesla's ESG score is bad.

00:13:05.240 They're bad people at Tesla, what Elon Musk is doing.

00:13:08.240 You get the idea what's going on here?

00:13:09.240 Non-union?

00:13:10.240 Union?

00:13:11.240 How much longer do you think until they get a figure hold of these guys who say,

00:13:14.240 we got to make Tesla union as well?

00:13:15.240 I don't know.

00:13:16.240 But if the history tells us the way they've been handling things,

00:13:19.240 eventually it's going to happen to them as well.

00:13:20.240 Unless if Elon fights it off.

00:13:21.240 Last but not least, let's take a look at the history of unions in America.

00:13:24.240 1768, first record of a worker strike.

00:13:27.240 1794, Philadelphia shoemakers formed the first union.

00:13:30.240 1835, black caulkers held a strike at Washington Navy Yard.

00:13:34.240 1866, National Labor Union was created.

00:13:37.240 1867, National Union for Cigar Makers became first union to accept women and blacks.

00:13:42.240 1867, 2,000 Chinese workers on transcontinental railroad protested lower pay.

00:13:47.240 1913, Department of Labor, DOL, was created.

00:13:50.240 1914, Clayton Antitrust enacted.

00:13:53.240 1979, we had 21 million union members and 2021 non-union workers had median weekly earnings

00:14:00.240 that were 83% of earnings of union members.

00:14:03.240 You see that stat right there?

00:14:05.240 That stat gets people to say, well, if I'm part of union, I'm going to make more money, right?

00:14:09.240 Yes, if you are not planning to compete above and beyond everybody else.

00:14:14.240 If you see yourself as a limited person with limited capacity, you could join the union.

00:14:19.240 But if you see yourself as somebody that can improve with access to all this education that's out there,

00:14:23.240 you're like, no, I don't have a limit on how much I can grow.

00:14:26.240 Then no problem.

00:14:27.240 Union's not for you. 0.98

00:14:28.240 Now, if we look at union leaders, like if you were to talk about the first one, it would be Samuel Gompers,

00:14:32.240 who was the first and longest serving president of American Federation of Labor, AFL.

00:14:37.240 So him, this was like 1881 to around 1913, whatever the time, somewhere around that timeframe that he has lasted for a long time.

00:14:44.240 So some people may say, well, listen, if you're a union leader for 30 years, don't you like become like a powerful figure,

00:14:49.240 like almost like a mob boss sometimes?

00:14:51.240 Because if we look at the history of people that became union leaders, a guy named Jimmy Hoffa,

00:14:56.240 you want to know another one?

00:14:57.240 Another guy named Stalin.

00:14:58.240 You want another one outside of Stalin? 0.83

00:15:00.240 Castro.

00:15:01.240 Castro was a union leader.

00:15:02.240 Now, you may say, Pat, you're just picking the evil ones and the bad ones.

00:15:05.240 The evil ones and the bad ones.

00:15:06.240 I'm not doing it.

00:15:07.240 I'm just telling you who was before what they did when they got a lot of power and a lot of control.

00:15:11.240 And next thing you know, a lot of havoc happened.

00:15:14.240 So, yeah, maybe it's good in some cases.

00:15:17.240 Maybe it's good if the government's not involved.

00:15:19.240 Maybe it's good if you're not paying this much money to a political party.

00:15:22.240 I mean, you get some stories that comes out October 1st, 2020.

00:15:25.240 11 union officials charged with racketeering, fraud, and bribery offenses.

00:15:30.240 You would think this is from 40 years ago with some of the mob being connected to it.

00:15:34.240 Pat, this is just 2020 that came out from the Southern District of New York.

00:15:37.240 And we can go through a lot of different stories.

00:15:39.240 I think the intentions starts off good if there's no term limits and you can stay there for too long.

00:15:45.240 There is no difference between a union leader and a person in Congress that's been there for 30, 40, 50 years.

00:15:51.240 It's a membership.

00:15:52.240 You're getting away with doing whatever you want to do.

00:15:54.240 You become some of the most powerful people.

00:15:55.240 It's those people that say stuff like, ah, a president is only four years.

00:15:59.240 We're going to be here for 40 years.

00:16:00.240 Don't worry about it.

00:16:01.240 Guy's going to come and go.

00:16:02.240 It becomes about power.

00:16:04.240 And that's what concerns the other 90% that doesn't yet want to be part of a union.

00:16:09.240 So if you got value out of this video, give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel.

00:16:12.240 And if you didn't watch the video in regards to the strike in Hollywood, there's some crazy

00:16:16.240 data on that.

00:16:17.240 Click here to watch that video.

00:16:18.240 Take care everybody.

00:16:19.240 Bye bye, bye bye.

00:16:20.240 Bye bye.

00:16:21.240 Bye bye.

Valuetainment - August 09, 2023

Are Unions Destroying Jobs & The Economy？

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