We’re all above average
There’s a “common wisdom” argument about trade unions protecting incompetent workers and dragging down everyone else. I hear it all the time. The person making it usually presumes they’re the ones being dragged, rather than the one that does the dragging. But can they?
It’s a little like that public opinion poll one liner: “74 per cent of people polled consider themselves above average drivers”.
How can the frustrated union member be sure he’s not the one who his siblings are out protecting?
Maybe he’s getting on in years and there are other people on his crew with fresher skills or stronger arms?
Does he really want what he’s asking for – a chance to “stand on his own” or “leverage his skills” exclusively for his own benefit?
Because he might leveraging his own skills on a bad day when right in front of his boss he makes a mistake.
Or maybe he might find himself standing on his own in front of a newly acquired machine he doesn’t know how to run, when someone willing to work for less taps him on the shoulder.
Competence is a fluid thing, after all.
