Comments on: Updated: NYT Tells Unions Will File 60-Day Notice To Close Boston Globe http://paidcontent.org/2009/05/04/419-boston-globe-threatens-unions-with-closure-notice-unless-midnight-deadl/ The economics of digital content Fri, 13 Dec 2013 18:54:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: David Lewenz http://paidcontent.org/2009/05/04/419-boston-globe-threatens-unions-with-closure-notice-unless-midnight-deadl/#comment-69457 Mon, 04 May 2009 15:03:49 +0000 http://paidcontent.wp.gostage.it/2009/05/04/419-boston-globe-threatens-unions-with-closure-notice-unless-midnight-deadl/#comment-69457 The bigger issue we are facing is the fact that the world is flat, and uneducated workers are going to be on the same playing field as our foreign competitors. Unless we undertake a massive re-education of our blue-pink work force we face the unchallenged fact that our country will not recover from this massive recession. Not only are we ill prepared to match our foreign competitors in solar, wind and fuel cell, but we lack a trained work force to enter these competitive industries. China is set to over take the United States on many levels of technology, Battery technology is at the for front.

Can we retain newspaper printers, packers, delivery drivers into technology fields? As in most fields workers tend to find jobs in areas of comfort level acceptance. In this recession these jobs do not exist any more.

]]> By: Tom http://paidcontent.org/2009/05/04/419-boston-globe-threatens-unions-with-closure-notice-unless-midnight-deadl/#comment-69456 Mon, 04 May 2009 10:02:23 +0000 http://paidcontent.wp.gostage.it/2009/05/04/419-boston-globe-threatens-unions-with-closure-notice-unless-midnight-deadl/#comment-69456 Not long ago, I remember reading an article about the resurgence of Big Labor. Membership was up, the Democrats were coming to power, and there was an expectation that Card Check legislation would tip the balance of power from individual union workers to union leadership. But what we see now is the exact opposite: The companies that the unions have fed upon are starting to close their doors and, along with them, the UAW, AFL/CIO, Guild, and countless other unions are being forced back to the bargaining table due to looming bankruptcies. There's plenty of blame to go around here. The unions blame corporate greed. The companies blame wage inflation and unreasonable contract demands from unions. But, you know, it was just a matter of time. You can't operate companies where the bulk of your revenue goes toward union pension benefits — and the union leaders who expected the gravy train to go on forever actually screwed their union members in the long run. And the worst news? Foreign competitors are poised to eat our lunch. Americans need to come to terms with the reality that a high school education doesn't justify $45 per hour. Foreign competitors are doing more for less, and we can no longer pretend that the product quality produced by our workers is better. It isn't. The newspapers are in a different position in that their primary work product is intellectual — not nuts and bolts and machine screws — but they also need to come to terms with the new reality that most people will receive their news electronically, not in print media. We're seeing a massive change here. And it's hard to accept change. But it's going to happen, regardless of what we do.

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