The American Dream

On Wednesday, ABC News reported that the National Labor Relations Board had not yet decided whether they will stop the Walmart strikes. "Oh," you might say, "I wasn't aware that Walmart employees were union members." And you'd be right. They aren't. But the UFCW is organizing a picket against the stores.

I'm a bit confused myself. Apparently the union's strong arm euthanasia of Hostess didn't teach any lessons. "We need to stand up for our rights even if it costs everyone else theirs!!!" Apparently, despite all the laws in place protecting workers, Walmart is violating them. No, as it turns out, they aren't. So I suppose if you take a job at a company agreeing to work x hours for y pay, the company is wrong and even immoral for giving you x hours for y pay and you have the right to assault the company and their customers with your complaints.

Seriously, I'm not getting it. I don't recall living in a country where people are assigned jobs at low-paying companies. I don't recall living in a society where companies can prevent you from looking for a different job. So get a different job! Oh, you can't? So the fact that the company doesn't give you the hours you want at the pay you want means that the company is bad?

Maybe Walmart doesn't give its employees the hours they would like. Maybe Walmart doesn't pay them the wages they would like. Maybe Walmart, in its efforts to both make money and remain competitive in the discount market, isn't paying the wages and benefits the employees would like. Does that mean that the right answer is to move the company out of the discount business (and, let's face it, on to going out of business because without giving the best prices in town, who's going to shop Walmart?) in order to meet the demands of the workers? Is it the job of the corporation to accede to the demands of employees, especially when we're not talking about illegal or even immoral labor conditions? If we are going to give the rights to the employees to determine their own wages without concern for the company, why would anyone want to run a business?

Clearly, with all these questions I'm just baffled by the idea. The unions killed Bethlehem Steel and subsequently the city of Bethlehem, PA, because they weren't interested in maintaining the business; they were interested in getting more for themselves. The unions assisted management problems at Hostess to nearly end their existence because they didn't care if the company stayed in business; they were interested in getting more for themselves. Walmart employees don't care if shoppers are inconvenienced or what the company would have to do to meet their demands; they are just interested in getting more for themselves. I suppose it's just a reflection of our national attitude. Take from the rich to those who have in order to give it to me. "Right" is determined by "what I want". "I don't care what it costs everyone else just as long as I get mine." The new American Dream, I suppose.