How unions get started

Investment Analysis Clubs Macro Economic Trends and Risks
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Twelve employees of an Applebee’s walked out after an e-mail from a corporate franchise exec was leaked, it suggested that higher gas prices and inflation were good for Applebee’s because “most employees live paycheck to paycheck” and so they’ll need a second job and Applebee’s can hire them “at lower wages.”

An Applebee’s franchise group fired an executive who said higher gas prices and inflation mean stores can pay less because people are desperate for any money to make ends meet

An Applebee's franchise group executive said restaurants should pay workers less because rising gas prices and inflation mean people are more desperate to make ends meet. Now he's the one looking for a job. Wayne Pankratz has been fired after his email containing the suggestion was leaked and roundly roasted online.

Pankratz's now-deleted LinkedIn page listed him as executive director of operations of American Franchise Capital, also known as AFC Brands, which owns dozens of Applebee's and Taco Bell restaurants in the Midwest and on the East Coast.
https://www.businessinsider.com/applebees-franchise-exec-fir…

One of the managers at a local Applebee’s in Missouri got hold of the email, printed up a bunch of copies, and posted it around the restaurant before quitting. He was followed by another manager and 10 other employees.

Applebee’s is very sorry.

Meanwhile in New York the first union at an Amazon warehouse was voted in last week; the union President is a former Amazon warehouse employee who was fired for “advocating a union.” Another Starbucks fell last week right here in Knoxville, notable because unions are not well regarded in Tennessee.

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The original wave of unionization was in the early 20th century, when workers were exploited to the point of starvation.

My grandmother, a Socialist her entire life, told me about Jewish women in the garment trades picketing in NYC. My grandfather told me that workers slept in 3 shifts in the same bed in flophouses and had a saying in Yiddish, “Sleep fast, we need the pillow.” My mother walked the picket line during the NYC teacher’s strike of 1968, supported by my father’s income. My dad, an electrical contractor, was anti-union (though not rabidly) due to the many costly tricks pulled by the IBEW on employers (which Jeff could tell you about) but he supported my mother’s action.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_teachers%27_stri…

Today would seem to be a more ideal time to unionize. In the 1920s, workers had no safety net and were on the brink of starvation so a strike could literally devastate families. Today, low-paid workers have food stamps, Medicaid and unemployment insurance as well as the Earned Income Tax Credit. They won’t starve if they lose their job or go out on strike. Employers are searching for more workers (especially skilled workers) so would be more likely to accede to demands.

I think that many young workers simply don’t know about the advantages of unionization. One of my relatives of the Millenial generation asked on Facebook for advice on whether to vote for unionization, since his cannabis shop was evenly split. I told him about several benefit of unions, including the defense against exploitation like forced, unpaid overtime.

I’m surprised that social media has not led to a wave of unionization in service employment. Maybe the benefits of unions to workers needs to reach a critical mass.

Wendy

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My Jewish family in the garment trade in London similarly were socialists.

The divide on this board really comes as mom and pops start to invest in equities in the 1980s and beyond. There relatively small savings leverages people away from being part of the working classes. This of course holds very little water and is mostly a dream to strike it rich.

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“I think that many young workers simply don’t know about the advantages of unionization. One of my relatives of the Millenial generation asked on Facebook for advice on whether to vote for unionization, since his cannabis shop was evenly split. I told him about several benefit of unions, including the defense against exploitation like forced, unpaid overtime.”

there is also the downside of unions:

Promotions based upon ‘seniority’ not performance. You can be outstanding employee - but the lazy bum next to you was hired two months before, so he becomes your supervisor.

Pay raises - the lazy bum next to you gets the same pay raise when the contract calls for it. You get the same, even though you are 6x more productive, don’t take 20 minute breaks to sneak in a cig or pot break every hour…

Poorer performance of business. Going ‘by the book’ all the time. Nope, I can’t make a copy of this - have to call a ‘copy clerk’ to come, pick up the piece of paper, make a copy, then disappear.

I looked at several ‘union’ type jobs as an engineer at ‘union shop’ places. You work on a project, but can’t touch the prototype. Only the technician can do that. Move than lead from here to here - he had to do it. Oh, and if you needed to move a 5 pound instrument from one bench to another - you had to call a ‘equipment mover’ to come and move the instrument from one bench to another. Might take an hour or two. that after you filled out a form to get it moved. Yeah, real pain in the butt. Most of those companies aren’t around 20 years later. they got eaten up by the competition.

For ‘factory’ and ‘warehouse’ jobs there may be some reasons…but heck, Amazon here starts folks at $16 or $17/hour with health benefits, college tuition benefits. If you are a lazy bum you don’t last long.

As for a small ‘cannabis’ shop…they run up their prices too much…the illegal sellers get a bigger advantage - meaning less sales…and now there is the threat of ‘artificial THC’ - synthesized from hemp…that might blow the ‘retail’ cannabis market to heck. Why buy pot when you get high on a vape pen full of (not regulated) synthesized THC? Produced for 1/3rd the cost. Or less. Probably sold at your 7-11 shop around the corner.

https://cen.acs.org/biological-chemistry/natural-products/De…

Not only that, but it seems some of the "CBD vape pens’ have some THC in them as well.

t.

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Meanwhile in New York the first union at an Amazon warehouse was voted in last week; the union President is a former Amazon warehouse employee who was fired for “advocating a union.” Another Starbucks fell last week right here in Knoxville, notable because unions are not well regarded in Tennessee.

- Goofyhoofy

Yeah, and Jim Cramer is preaching the End of the World because of the Amazon Union vote. Cramer reminds me of Rick Santelli and Joe Kernan - all higher caste rogues whose “analysis” and opinionating is highly suspect since the 1980s:

https://twitter.com/PlugInFUD/status/1510455486780350470

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p.s. I don’t know if any METARites caught his outstanding look at the global supply chain mess from the WSJ. Deep in this video is where it really takes off: fulfillment of orders and last mile delivery.

Wait until you see how Amazon employees are treated like disposable Dixie Cups:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KtTAb9Tl6E

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Applebee’s is very sorry.

Sorry they were caught.

As posted here before, without unions, recent low level wage gains can be taken away as easily as company paid pensions and retiree medical benefits were taken away.

One of the managers at a local Applebee’s in Missouri got hold of the email, printed up a bunch of copies, and posted it around the restaurant before quitting. He was followed by another manager and 10 other employees.

In 89, Radio Shack decided to cut store manager’s pay, a lot. Managers squawked at the district meetings. The DM’s response was “if you don’t like it, turn in your keys”. Almost every manager quit over the next 2-3 months. Unfazed, a couple years later, the company cut salesman’s pay, a lot. They could always find more gullible people to believe the promises, and be sucked along for a few months, before they caught on to the program and quit.

Steve

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