Not sure what a union would have done in this case. The problem is near term cost of inputs vs long term contracts with fixed revenue.
I’m not saying it would be bad for this to kick them into forming a union, only that it wouldn’t have solved this problem unless the union had an education campaign to explain why excessive tariffs are bad.
This!!! I don’t actually expect our K thru 12 education system to inform the average people about macro-economic policy impacts. This is about being gullible, hearing what you want to hear, refusing to listen to opposing opinions with an open mind, and hero worship.
So if there’s anything to blame on our education system (and society culture at large) it’s a lack of critical thinking education and an excess of magical thinking education that emphasizes blind agreement with authority.
Yup, that’s reasonable too.
But like, that makes it a lumpy salary and not a bonus if it’s an entitlement without a reasonable low floor. Are there union contracts that actually dictate it like that?
Setting aside for a moment the understandable and reasonable belief that owners will try to fuck labor, a mandated cost divorced from the broader company financial performance metrics, sounds like a way to ensure bankruptcy. Even without this tariff nonsense there are real and honest cases where costs can skyrocket and a company has to adjust and that really does can little to nothing for the bonus pool (or other labor cost) without incurring a lot of financial risk.
Again, not an argument against unions, 100% support organized labor, but at some point math is math.