I was traveling this week. I had the good fortune to be invited to a conference in Ft. Lauderdale, and, anxious to leave St. Louis chill behind, I gladly accepted.
Sitting on the plane, waiting for the inevitable flight attendant announcements, I found myself people watching, as I often do in public places. I noticed a number of men getting on the plane wearing Teamsters shirts, hats or carrying logoed briefcases.
One of these union members was trapped for a rather long time in the aisle next to me, so I asked him why so many of his Union brothers were climbing aboard. I was informed of an international conference taking place in Ft. Lauderdale. He was as anxious as I was about getting into the sun and warmer temperatures.
On my return flight last night, a number of Teamsters were sitting in the gate area waiting for the same return flight as me. I began to chat with them about which companies they worked for, how many members they had, and how their conference went.
During the conversation, a man sitting next to me was listening with interest to all of the conversations. At some point, he decided to pipe up. "You all are a bunch of Communist criminals." he says, out of nowhere.
One of the union members I was speaking to, clearly a well-educated, well spoken man, looked quite bemused by this retort. He inquired, a lot more politely than was addressed I might add, why this man felt the way he did.
This man goes onto a tirade regarding how unions have ruined the country, how they've driven the prices of basic goods beyond the reach of the average consumer, and how they've enabled criminals to legitimize their operations with union money.
Caught in the middle of this, I was a bit nervous. Here I am, sitting in an airport gate area with a number of large, sunburnt Teamsters, and the guy sitting next to me is a rabid anti-unionist.
Several of the well-spoken Teamster's companions were clearly not amused by this, and began muttering among themselves and glaring at this fellow sitting next to me.
I wish I had a tape recorder for the discussion that ensued. The two men, clearly firm in their convictions, debated back and forth about the pro's and con's of unions for the better part of an hour. The Teamster had clearly heard most of this before, and was patiently listening to this fellow's tirades, and responding appropriately.
At the end of the conversation, as the harried gate agent was calling our seats, the fellow next to me stands up and walks away without even an acknowledgement or comment to the Union members sitting there.
Looking at me, the Teamster asked what I thought. I told him that I was impressed with how he handled the conversation and that I learned a lot. The man smiled picked up his bags and headed on to the plane, but not before I saw his name tag: James P. Hoffa, Jr.
Lesson learned for me: regardless of what you think you might know about a particular point of view you hold dearly, seek out someone with an opposing point of view to test the veracity of your ideas. You will not only learn something, but it may test your world view. And, that always results in personal growth.
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Comments: 18
It was a really interesting discussion.
I think one of the most dangerous things we can do in life is to close ourselves off from viewpoints existing outside our comfort zone. It's like a self-imposed experience "diet" with only a narrow vision as the reward. Thanks for sharing this unique situation with all of us!
Doing so will assist in making companies such as Wal-Mart a better place to work and shop. Also it will allow a more competitive global work force.
Lee - I'll leave my personal views on the topic out of this, but suffice it to say, I think Mr. Hoffa would love to organize in developing countries and in Wal-Mart. Actually, I think Wal-Mart came up, and that part of the conversation was rather unpleasant, as you might expect.
Heather - Sometimes arguing is talking at a person, like a person might give a speech from a podium. Mr. Hoffa was actually in dialogue with this guy, listening very carefully. I don't think either one of them changed their ultimate opinions, but my world view changed, just a little.
Thanks for reading and responding!
Allan
"I think one of the most dangerous things we can do in life is to close ourselves off from viewpoints existing outside our comfort zone"
Gisela
I find the habit of a closed mind goes along with people who have lazy mental habits, on both sides of virtually any debate you will find a segment of the community who react to the shape, rather than the substance, of an argument.
I believe the beauty of this posting lies in how the debate was so sharply delineated, so quickly. As soon as the 'communist' remark was made.
I also wish you had a transcript of that converstion. The pro of a union is that it prevents rich bosses from hording all the wealth work produces. The con of a union is that it simply moves the level of hording down one level, to that of the workers in the union.
Something needs to change not only in unions but across the board, the comsumer (aka average American) can't be expected to continually pay more and more so that the systems above them can roll on without losing any profits or benefits.
Your suggestion of listening to both sides before drawing a conclusion is a gem. The only thing I would add is that both sides should also listen to the public before they draw a conclusion.
Thanks.
I have worked for a union company and have seen first hand the laziness the union breeds. In a seniority rules workplace the people have no desire to excel because the guy with a days seniority will get the job first. Unions try to brainwash the employees into thinking the union is the only way and all employees benefits are there because of the union. (See Raydene's post above, a classic example). The "us against them" mentality is never good for the company or employees. Unions use a form of legal extortion.
It's a way of being I wish I could imitate. As the mother of a gay child, I am all too ready to punch yahoos in the nose, never mind engage in intelligent dialogue. Sometimes it just doesn't seem worth it, but you never know -- look at the conversation Mr. Hoffa engendered here at gather!
As for unions, what we need today are more unions, not less. I can't understand how white-collar workers accept the idea of working 60 hours a week, the outsourcing of jobs to freelancers (who do not have to receive benefits), the constant push push push, while the guys at the top make obscene amounts of money for basically being idiots. If you can't look to Enron and Polaroid and the thousands of people who lost their life savings while their bosses partied without real compassion, you are fooling yourself about your own future. Unions don't HAVE to be "us versus them". Indeed, when I attempted to organize a union at a discount department store similar to Walmart many years ago, the union organizer told us that the union would work WITH the owners, not against them, because demanding so much that it would put them out of business would not be helping the workers any. And I know, where I work now, the union workers make more money than the non-union office workers. I also know that we non-union people derive many of our benefits as a result of what the union has negotiated for its membership (trickle down?). So yeah, there are problems with unions, but we'd all be working uninsured seven day weeks without them.