Tuesday, September 11, 2012


“Teachers unions are having a harder time getting what they want,” according to NPR. Unions are a product of the industrial revolution, a way of uniting workers to benefit from organization. Today unions retain the high costs of traditional organization against the possibility of more opposition. Unions represent the interests of a few against the public. As the public gains power against union interests, unions lose power. Pockets of opposition can organize themselves more easily than ever before, through social media sites and other online venues. These pockets of opposition are not as tightly knit or as large as a union. But their opinions are more easily heard and harder to defeat. They bond in comment sections under newspaper articles, videos, and blogs. They become more than just neighborhood gossips as they reach larger audiences. If unions don’t find ways to incorporate these new voices, the costs of staying organized will be too high to remain organized.

In case you missed the link I'm responding to:

1 comment:

  1. Unions can do with losing a bit of power. The purpose of unions WAS to protect workers. Now, however, union bosses use the dues to push their own agenda, whether or not it reflects the views of the union workers. All too often public unions are becoming a force against the american public that supports them. So my opinion, let them lose a bit of that power, and return to what they were made for.

    ReplyDelete