After a long battle with technology, "Michael Legel" >, an earthling, wrote:
> A union provides a huge benefit to employers by providing ONE point of
> negotiation for all employees. No longer does the boss have to deal alone
> with the barrage of complaint, grief and just plain whining of employees. The
> union also helps to shoulder that burden and provides a convenient scapegoat
> at times. At one time pattern bargaining also provided a level playing field
> in wages, but with the demise of unions everybody now gets the same low wage.

I worked one place where unions provided their 'huge benefit' to the
employer by providing SEVENTEEN POINTS of negotiation spread across
the employees, thereby meaning that there were 17 sources of
grievances, where "agreement" requires that each of the (competing!)
unions decide to agree.

It was _not_ evident that it led to any diminishment of the "barrage"
of complaints.

I'd have to agree that the unions could use one another as scapegoats
when needed, though...
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God is dead. -Nietszche
Nietszche is dead. -God