Ron Paul and Unions

[RonPaulCult]

Does he have a stance on Unions? Just wondering

[quickmike]

Im sure hes ok with unions as long as the govenrment doesnt have a part to play in them. If someone wants to start a labor union, that is considered a private group of people making association to get something done. The problem comes in when unions get involved in policy making. As long as its completely voluntary, and doesnt involve lobbyists, im sure Rons cool witht that.

Thats just my opinoin, but knowing what I know about RP, I would be very suprised if that wasnt his stance on the subject.

[nullvalu]

what's the point of unions? i don't really understand why certain jobs need unions while others don't.. teachers need a union, but professors don't.. technicians need a union but network admins don't.. nowadays unions seem more like just a corporation than anything else..

[hard@work]

what's the point of unions? i don't really understand why certain jobs need unions while others don't.. teachers need a union, but professors don't.. technicians need a union but network admins don't.. nowadays unions seem more like just a corporation than anything else..

Citizen organized labor groups give the worker pool a voice that's much stronger than they would have individually. This enables them to fight for a larger share of the corporation earnings than would be possible if they were individuals petitioning. It is not so much that one group of professionals does or does not need a union so much as if that group can even organize one.

[nullvalu]

Citizen organized labor groups give the worker pool a voice that's much stronger than they would have individually. This enables them to fight for a larger share of the corporation earnings than would be possible if they were individuals petitioning. It is not so much that one group of professionals does or does not need a union so much as if that group can even organize one.

I understand the general idea behind unions.. I just don't understand why aren't there unions for retail workers? or fast-food employees? or computer programmers?

[RonPaulCult]

I understand the general idea behind unions.. I just don't understand why aren't there unions for retail workers? or fast-food employees? or computer programmers?

In America the the freedom for workers to organize and form a union are often trampled by the corporations and the government. In some countries where unions are more protected you will find unions everywhere.

[ThePieSwindler]

I don't have any problem with protecting the right to organize, but syndicalism and legislation protecting strikes from replacement workers is government interventionism that hurts the rights of a corporation. People talk about how big corporations are so bad and evil, but forget that it is those corporations that provide people jobs in the first place, and provide our goods and services that we so love in America for low prices. I am completely against corporate subsidies and corporate tax breaks, but i am also against the whole mentality of "slaying the corporate beast" that so many fall into, especially union types. I don't mind some regulations and such (im opposed to it but its not going to away) on how corporations may treat their employees, but i am wholly opposed to syndicalism(which isnt a huge issue any more), and even to too much restriction on the hiring practices of corporations. They started the business, they provided the jobs, they should have some rights too (but should also NOT recieve priveleges and favoratism from the government, either).

I'm guessing ron is much the same way.

As for unions in areas like teaching, i think when a third party is involved (in the case of teaching, the children being taught), unions are a VERY bad thing. Just look at how hard it is to fire a teacher who is a union employee! Magnet and private schools that hire non-union teachers that actually have to perform to stay hired are vastly superior to the rank and file union teacher. Sure, plenty of union employees are EXCELLENT teachers, but only because they truly have a passion for teaching that comes from within themsleves. There are just as many poor teachers who lose control of a class and give up, and should be fired, but they are allowed to linger due to the strong union support, and it hurts the children. When more interests than that of the workers is at hand, unions can become detrimental to that industry/field/practice.

[Scribbler de Stebbing]

Speaking for myself, although my beliefs are almost identical to Dr Paul's, Freedom of Association is prominent in the First Amendment. But government, especially federal government, shouldn't be in the business of granting favoritism through legislation to one group (unions) over another group (employers) or vice versa.

Freedom of Association also means both the employer and employee get to choose whom he or she wants to associate with, and no one is bound to servitude to the other. (Legally referred to as "at-will" employment."

[RonPaulCult]

Does anybody have any quotes, video clips or voting records related to Ron Paul and unions?

[sickmint79]

as long as you are not forced to be in one ron paul has no problems with them iirc... check out ronpaullibrary.org and look up union / unions.

[specsaregood]

Not to go offtopic too much; but I was searching for Ron Paul's positions on unions a few weeks ago and stumbled into the content in this thread:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=7074&highlight=unions

Read about halfway down.

Also, I don't have my links handy rght now but Ron's position is pretty much what ThePieSwindler and Scribbler said above.

[sendjy]

I don't have any problem with protecting the right to organize, but syndicalism and legislation protecting strikes from replacement workers is government interventionism that hurts the rights of a corporation. People talk about how big corporations are so bad and evil, but forget that it is those corporations that provide people jobs in the first place, and provide our goods and services that we so love in America for low prices. I am completely against corporate subsidies and corporate tax breaks, but i am also against the whole mentality of "slaying the corporate beast" that so many fall into, especially union types. I don't mind some regulations and such (im opposed to it but its not going to away) on how corporations may treat their employees, but i am wholly opposed to syndicalism(which isnt a huge issue any more), and even to too much restriction on the hiring practices of corporations. They started the business, they provided the jobs, they should have some rights too (but should also NOT recieve priveleges and favoratism from the government, either).

I'm guessing ron is much the same way.

As for unions in areas like teaching, i think when a third pand arty is involved (in the case of teaching, the children being taught), unions are a VERY bad thing. Just look at how hard it is to fire a teacher who is a union employee! Magnet and private schools that hire non-union teachers that actually have to perform to stay hired are vastly superior to the rank and file union teacher. Sure, plenty of union employees are EXCELLENT teachers, but only because they truly have a passion for teaching that comes from within themsleves. There are just as many poor teachers who lose control of a class and give up, and should be fired, but they are allowed to linger due to the strong union support, and it hurts the children. When more interests than that of the workers is at hand, unions can become detrimental to that industry/field/practice.


I totally agree.

I do not see how one can be a Paul supporter and
then support policies that give unjust power to unions and undermine rights of corporations. RP works closely with the mises institute, and if you go to their website, you'll notice that unions in its present form is incompatible with free capitalism.

If you think unions are gifts from God and can only do this, then ask yourself why workers in US earn more when workers in Europe are more unionized.

[hard@work]

I understand the general idea behind unions.. I just don't understand why aren't there unions for retail workers? or fast-food employees? or computer programmers?

Organizing a national union for those types of positions would be difficult, and would be fought hard by the employers and in some cases even the employees. You should research how unions are formed, there's a lot of answers there. It takes a lot for a union to be born.

[bbachtung]

I support Ron Paul, and I'm the president of my local.

[ladyliberty]

http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Ron_Paul_Jobs.htm

According to this article the AFL-CIO gives him a 47% rating - does this mean they are ambivalent towards him?

[RonPaulCult]

http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Ron_Paul_Jobs.htm

According to this article the AFL-CIO gives him a 47% rating - does this mean they are ambivalent towards him?

That's gotta be high for a guy with an R next to his name

[ladyliberty]

Found a blog about him too...

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/04/26/share-your-experiences-with-and-comments-about-ronald-paul/

seems they left him out of their poll...

http://www.aflcio.org/issues/politics/polls.cfm