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Unions help U.S. workers
Letter writer Pat Nolan (5/8) asks, “When will unions learn that they, and they alone, are responsible for ruining the American economy over the past 40 years?” I had to wonder what version of history he has been witnessing. My recollection of eight years of Reaganomics and eight years of George Bush make me think maybe they had more than a little to do with it.
Heaven forbid that the GM workers might be concerned with the fact that GM management wants to alter work rules that they and the union negotiated in previous contracts. It’s not called extortion. It’s called good faith bargaining, Mr. Nolan.
I sure hope that you have never gotten extra pay for overtime, sick days or a paid vacation, or been subject to a 40-hour workweek. I hope you haven’t been covered by a company-sponsored health plan or had to work in a safer work environment.
These are just a few of the things those evil, pesky unions have done for me.
S.A. Kirk
Basehor
Leave it to the uninformed such as Pat Nolan to write wishing ill to the GM Fairfax employees currently on strike. We are just trying to keep what little we haven’t previously given up. No employee is getting rich at GM, and it’s hard to believe how many in the area wish for our demise.Each of our jobs has a direct influence on approximately 12 other jobs in the KC area. If GM were to close the plant, it would be just a matter of time before even Mr. Nolan might realize that he knows or cares about somebody affected.
I invite Mr. Nolan to journey to Oklahoma City and see how that community is doing since the closing of its GM plant.
Mike Thomas
Lawson, Mo.
What unions are responsible for:•A 40-hour workweek.
•Safety rules in the workplace.
•Time-and-a-half wages for more than a 40-hour workweek.
•Child labor laws.
The list is endless.
Guyen Morrison
Kansas City
Trash service cutbacks in KCIt’s a shame we’re losing regularly scheduled bulky item pick-up in Kansas City.
My neighborhood spent a recent weekend hauling large items to the curb because the next Monday was the last scheduled pickup date.
Immediately after the unwanted items were placed on the curb, people started driving by to collect and recycle them. Trucks canvassed the neighborhood collecting steel. College students drove by picking up furniture. People stopped their cars to get garden pots, baby strollers, even my rusty grill.
Most trucks driving by were full to overflowing. Some even hauled trailers. Large piles of trash quickly reduced in size. Everyone seemed happy, and we saved precious landfill space in the process.
Now we have to call to arrange a pickup. The neighborhood will no longer haul everything to the curb on the same date, more trash will be taken to the dump, and the onslaught of free-cyclers will come to a pause (at least I hope it’s a pause).
David A. Young
Kansas City
I recently received a letter from Kansas City regarding the decades-old trash-rebate program the city provided to apartment owners to pay for the trash-collection costs for people who rent in the city.Over the years, as the price of trash collection has increased, the amount of rebate slowly fell behind the actual cost of collection to the point that it covered less than half the cost. Now the city, due to budget constraints, is dropping the program altogether.
This is yet another example of the city discriminating against apartment dwellers who pay the 1 percent earnings tax as well as property taxes via their rent payments to property owners.
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