Letter: Unions have lost sight of real goal

Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2007 | 7:05 a.m.

I recently read where there has been a substantial drop in union membership in recent years.

Currently, 12 percent of American workers are union members, down from 20.1 percent in 1983 and 35 percent in the mid-1950s.

I have been trying to rationalize the precipitous drop in membership with the damage certain unions have created over the past several years. Several years ago Chrysler Corp. was bailed out by the federal government. The Big Three automakers are now in deep financial trouble. A good part of their problems are, in part, because of union demands put on these companies. True, the companies should not have given in to the extent they did to meet union demands.

The same situation that occurred in the steel industry was created by the United Steelworkers Union. Hence, the beginning of outsourcing steel began.

I believe the same situation of excessive demands by the National Education Association put on the public school system is creating overall poor performance and poor efficiency.

At one time, before unions were formed, the industry barons, such as George Pullman, were completely in charge of workers who were at their mercy insofar as their salaries and working conditions were concerned. Consequently, unions were formed that brought these problems to the fore, resulting in the good for workers. But then the unions got the upper hand and they ignored the needs of industry, consequently bringing about collapses as mentioned.

I think the NEA should rethink its needs and the overall needs of the school systems to which its teachers are responsible in the learning process.

Clarence Lanzrath, Las Vegas