Why doesn't Caleb Williams have a MUT card?

CNIZZOTE said:

In economic terms - they call that the free rider problem (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/freeriderproblem.asp). People benefit from the benefits negotiated for them by the union but refuse to be members of the union. It's garbage.

I don’t want to get into the ethics of what happens without unions in a world full of exploitation, but the value of unions varies by case. Apart from the safety advancements that are attributable both to unionization and also to decent non-union employers, unions are little more than a mechanism that in practice reduces the value of an employee to an average of all of the employees within their class. If I excel at my job, I don’t get better opportunities within certain union schemes, while the scrubs in the same department that ride free calling in sick or bailing on work just less than would allow for firing may have better opportunities just because they’ve been around longer. I think you have to acknowledge this fundamental flaw of many unions long before you argue that people are getting a free ride because independent lines of employment have an established standard that they can negotiate against.

Besides, the NFL Player’s Association totally sold out non-veterans in their post-2010 wage scales. Draft selection shouldn’t determine a player’s value over three years. There are late-round picks that vastly outperform top-ten picks, and their earning capacity over their career is vastly diminished, especially in cases of injury early in their career.

phatalerror said:

I don’t want to get into the ethics of what happens without unions in a world full of exploitation, but the value of unions varies by case. Apart from the safety advancements that are attributable both to unionization and also to decent non-union employers, unions are little more than a mechanism that in practice reduces the value of an employee to an average of all of the employees within their class. If I excel at my job, I don’t get better opportunities within certain union schemes, while the scrubs in the same department that ride free calling in sick or bailing on work just less than would allow for firing may have better opportunities just because they’ve been around longer. I think you have to acknowledge this fundamental flaw of many unions long before you argue that people are getting a free ride because independent lines of employment have an established standard that they can negotiate against.

Besides, the NFL Player’s Association totally sold out non-veterans in their post-2010 wage scales. Draft selection shouldn’t determine a player’s value over three years. There are late-round picks that vastly outperform top-ten picks, and their earning capacity over their career is vastly diminished, especially in cases of injury early in their career.

Unions are much more than a “mechanism that…reduces the value of an employee” to other employees within their class. I think what you are referring to is seniority – which is not a part of every union. However, unions are limited to non-supervisory personnel – which is just part of the labor law in the US. In other words, being a supervisor – eliminates you from being in a union. So, employees are free to advance all they want to be a supervisor or a CEO – or whatever irrespective of any union. The union’s primary function is to allow the employees (non-supervisors) the opportunity to bargain for wages and terms and conditions of employment – including safety, which is a pretty big deal. In the NFL, we would not have free agency if it was not for the union. Obviously, the value of anything varies – unions included. There is a common misconception about unions - that you are always protected from discipline – which is not true. Unions just normally bargain for due process in disciplinary decisions so that the employer has to actually have some proof you violated a work rule. Most states are “at will” – which means that you can be fired for any reason. So, for instance, if you are in a union and are accused of stealing – the accusation cannot get you terminated. You have to have notice of the accusation and an opportunity to be heard – 2 rudiments of due process. In a non-unionized workplace, you can be terminated if your employer thinks you stole something even if you did not. So – yeah, unions are a lot more than organizations that hold good employees back.