Unintended Consequences
I was looking at the feminist movement which got me to thinking about a couple other well-intended movements.
Many movements start with the best of motives: unions, affirmative action, etc. What happens that makes them get so messed up???
Look at the auto industry, Michigan in particular. Everywhere else, the economy is up except Michigan. Michigan is a highly unionized state...Everything that goes into the making of a car is unionized (except the white collar guys who get most of the union benefits too). Well, car companies have to pay for the union employees somehow, therefore the price of cars goes up. The unions want more and more and the car companies have to charge more and more. Guys working of the line at GM make way more than someone working with a Master's Degree in a library...way, way, way more. My brother the architect was absolutely incredulus when he found out how much more money his buddies could make at Ford on the line than he could after struggling through hours and hours of college calculus. Granted, neither my brother or myself would never want to work on the assembly line, but now we can't even buy the cars they build! And you wonder why they want to outsource jobs??? Even building a car in Tennessee is much less expensive than Michigan and it is because the honorable idea of the union got carried away.
I am not even going to get into affirmative action. All I know is that if I were a black woman who worked very hard to get into a high level position, the last thing I would want is someone to think that I was there only because I was black and a woman. And I wouldn't want my collegues to resent and disrespect me for it.
Many movements start with the best of motives: unions, affirmative action, etc. What happens that makes them get so messed up???
Look at the auto industry, Michigan in particular. Everywhere else, the economy is up except Michigan. Michigan is a highly unionized state...Everything that goes into the making of a car is unionized (except the white collar guys who get most of the union benefits too). Well, car companies have to pay for the union employees somehow, therefore the price of cars goes up. The unions want more and more and the car companies have to charge more and more. Guys working of the line at GM make way more than someone working with a Master's Degree in a library...way, way, way more. My brother the architect was absolutely incredulus when he found out how much more money his buddies could make at Ford on the line than he could after struggling through hours and hours of college calculus. Granted, neither my brother or myself would never want to work on the assembly line, but now we can't even buy the cars they build! And you wonder why they want to outsource jobs??? Even building a car in Tennessee is much less expensive than Michigan and it is because the honorable idea of the union got carried away.
I am not even going to get into affirmative action. All I know is that if I were a black woman who worked very hard to get into a high level position, the last thing I would want is someone to think that I was there only because I was black and a woman. And I wouldn't want my collegues to resent and disrespect me for it.
posted by Susan at 9:42 AM
2 Comments:
Since I was a librarian married to an architect, I noted some years ago in a salaries almanac that those two professions were the lowest paid for the amount of education required. Neither profession is "essential," and both are often displaced by paraprofessionals who work at lower wages.
It really is hard guiding your kids in career decisions these days. Maybe it always was. I guess I was raised in a home where college was everything. I figured if I went to college, I would have a better job than someone who didn't. Better sure doesn't always mean better paying! My architect brother used to get mad at my engineer dad because he was "overpaid" by the auto industry.
I wonder what he thinks about his wife who teachers at a very exclusive, well-known private school. She gets a huge campus apartment and summer's off, along with her generous salary.
[I know, I'm really the jealous one...it's all about choices!]
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