Happy Labor Day weekend: Varney blasts unions as "the antithesis of freedom" and an innovation killer

. . . so is this a Varney goof or I guess FOX knows that it has no union members watching their shows, just "productivity slaves" who are waiting their chance ascend the productivity latter

Huh. I would say the same thing about corporatism. May truth and freedom be granted to the highest bidder. Not!

he sounds like Lou Dobbs now but on unions instead of immigration.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, this nation's economy continues to sputter--a direct result of union weakening tactics that started during the Reagan years when we started many profitable manufacturers ship their factories overseas in order to secure even larger profits, and countless numbers of other companies start to "right size" their businesses.

Yes, I'm rather fond of unions. I've said here before that my grandfather was coal miner back in the days before the UMW. The "freedoms" Varney speaks of saw him having to go to work as a teen after my great grandfather was killed in a mining accident. He lived in a company town. His "house" (more like a shack) was company owned. Food and essentials could only be purchased from company stores. He literally escaped that life in the dead of night, packing his family and few possessions, and sneaking past armed guards.

That was America before unions.

If not for unions we would not have half the freedoms we do today because we would not have the money or time to have them. The right wants us working for the rich 24/7 with no benefits because they hate the people.

Varney and the lot are nothing but corporate hacks and apologists.

Varney you are living in the 70s. there have been problems with unions in the past ,but as a union member today I can assure you that most unions main focus is on productivity, profit and success for their employers. they know that in this age of globalization ,only by working with management can they be assured that their company can continue to survive. at the same time corporate culture has also evolved to the point that management is always seeking input and ideas from union members in order to implement the practical innovations they suggest.obviously the picture isnt all rosy, but the confrontational attitudes of the past that varney speaks of are thankfully becoming rarer.

In my experience, Mr. Varney, the real innovation killer is sheer size. The larger the corporation, the less able and willing it is to change, for any reason. Also, the larger a company gets, the more likely it will have a hand in shaping the regulations that are supposed to control whatever industry it is engaged with. This merely adds to the inability to change.

An example? All right. GM had the choice, in 1990, between the electric EV-1 and the Hummer. In 1992, the Hummer hit showrooms, and while short term profits seemed like a good idea, the failure to plan long term for the spikes in fuel cost put GM woefully behind both Honda and Toyota in the rapidly expanding electric and hybrid vehicle market.

In short, lack of innovation is a failure of leadership, which is a failure of management and not workers. Unions arguably lower the cost of doing business by making safer workplaces mandatory rather than optional, and the higher wages paid to union workers draws more skilled and qualified candidates, meaning less waste.

Fox Business Vocabulary:

innovation [in-uh-vey-shuhn] n. 1. Utilization of slave wages and hazardous working conditions to ensure an increase in profits.

Unions are the very definition of freedom by exercising their Democratic rights in the workplace. Using their numbers to negotiate better working conditions, benefits and pay. I don't know how this is anti-freedom when it's freedom of assembly guaranteed by the Constitution.

This is going to be the message on the non-news network until after October 2.

And, we care about the unions in Britain why? This is America... stick to the subject, you elitist jerk.

I'm guessing he love to have us go back to the time of paying the workers next to nothing and caring very little for any safety conditions in the work environment. I bet that would really inspire people to innovative!
/sarcasm