Written by: Zach Hammer, The Reserve Clause
I will always remember spending my treasured high school summers sweating away on the assembly line at my family’s manufacturing company. I remember thinking, “What the hell am I doing here? All of my friends are sitting pool side doing anything other than build parts. I need to get out of here”. I knew that I had to create a plan to get myself out of that situation—and quickly. So one night I went home and did some thinking.
“What can I do to better my situation? Sure, I’m only 16, but seriously, $6/hour to sweat my ass off and make parts for a tractor? Yeah, my family owns the company but there has got to be some give here. I’m giving up all of my summers to work in these insufferable conditions (it really wasn’t that bad; I was just a complainer). I deserve better.”
So after hours of thinking, planning and strategizing on what to propose and how to propose it, I had my solution. I was going to start a union! It was fool proof. I would be the sharp, cunning, 16-year old leader of the union and I would lead the Keystone North labor revolution. I had a plan, I built a strategy, and I was ready to march up front to the office and confront my boss (once again, my Mom).
Me: Mom, I need to talk with you for a second.
Mom: Okay, but why are you wearing a suit? (I wasn’t really wearing a suit, but it makes the effect stronger.)
Me: Nevermind the suit (I really wasn’t wearing a suit). I’m here to talk about this situation.
Mom: You aren’t quitting baseball.
Me: I don’t want to quit baseball. I love baseball. Mom, stay with me here.
Mom: Sorry okay. Go ahead.
Me: I think that the conditions that I’m currently working under are insufferable and should be addressed immediately.
Mom: What do you mean? You work for 3 hours, then take a 2-hour lunch/poker break and still get some spending money in your pocket. I’m not sure that I’m okay with you taking Patrick’s money, but that’s his problem. He’ll learn.
Me: You’re missing the point. Mom, I’m unionizing the labor here at Keystone. I think that I deserve more than $6/hour. I’ve worked here since I was 12—either on landscaping or on the line and have never seen a raise. I’m going to picket to let you know that I’m serious.
Mom: You don’t want to unionize.
Me: Pretty sure I do, Mom.
Mom: Well, I’ll give it to you this way. If you are serious about it, you’re fired!
Me: Really? You’d fire your own son?
Mom: Yes. Unions are bad for our business. Maybe one day you’ll take over the company and you will know why.
Me: Okay, well I need my job. I have a large long distance phone bill to pay. I really need to dump my girlfriend.
Mom: See you at home, honey.
Me: Mom, you can’t call me that at work.
Mom: Sorry. Now get your butt back out there.
Here’s the moral of the story—my Mom was right. Unions are terrible for business. And now that we sports fans have had to deal with two brutal lockouts, it’s more apparent than ever. Sure, the NFL labor negotiations consumed roughly 5 months of our lives, but the truth is that there should have never been a lockout in the first place. The single most important day in the lockout was the day that the NFLPA decertified. Once the NFLPA decertified I have to admit that a small part of me thought, “They get it! There will no longer be a player’s union. Finally, a professional sports league will have independent, employees that won’t dig and disrespect their employer and will earn a fair wage and just shut up and go to work”. My opinion is this—pay the players what they deserve. Sure, they make a lot of money already, but their careers are extremely short and let’s face it, the sports are incredibly popular, so why should they not make reap some of the benefits. However, my company makes more annual revenue than the NFL and I don’t make nearly as much as even the league minimum. I’m not complaining and if there ever was a union within my company, I’m sure I wouldn’t have my job very long. I’m fine with that. Sure, I’d love to make millions of dollars, but I’d rather work hard and keep my job on my own accord—not grandfathering my way into a career.
The NFLPA and the owners had their reasons for a lockout; they were legitimate. On the contrary, the NBA lockout is another story. Greed on the players’ behalf that screams greed. These are among the most heavily paid athletes in any professional sport. Now they want more out of a fleeting league. Many teams report losses in the hundreds of millions. Yet somehow, the players don’t believe them and want more money. It’s a shame and as a diehard NBA fan, it saddens me. Why can’t these players just be happy playing the sport they love and making enough money to satisfy them for the rest of their lives? If the owners really want to make money, then the cap number needs to fall and quickly. Something needs to give and unfortunately it won’t. We are in this for the long haul. In closing, we’d better get used to watching a lot more hockey. Oh, I digress.
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