Union-proof your business - fire all your employees!

If it weren't for unions, we'd still have 7 day work weeks, child labor, dangerous working conditions, etc. etc. When businesses have all of the power, the best solution for the working man is to join together with other workers. This is, of course, just what the business owner does not want. He doesn't want the people who actually work to produce the wealth he enjoys, to share more of that wealth. Fair enough, but he may either lose skilled employees that took long periods to train, or he may help to drive down wages far enough that people can't even afford to buy the products he makes, which is part of what's happening right now.

Wow.
In Australia you would be over your head in legal costs, you can't just be 'fired' here, thank goodness. I think I would rather deal with a union than spend the next 3 years in court for wrongful dismissal cases. But I understand in some countries it's different.
In Australia it is illegal to fire someone because they wanted to join a union, or to discourage your employees joining.

Do unions cause headaches for employers? Yes they do.

It's my firm belief that if big companies were not accountable to their employees in some way, they would not look after them. Large cooperations try to get the best workers they can, for the least amount of money they can. Unions often protect workers in situations where their employers are being downright thuggish and unfair about pay or benefits.

Circumstances and industries differ of course. But if you are an Australian employer and you are treating your employees fairly, and paying them the amount you should, you have nothing to fear from a union - in fact, you just won't hear from them.

Personally, if I owned a big business, i would prefer my employees joined a union. Why? It makes me accountable - and if disgruntled employees can't or won't talk to me, at least they will talk to someone. It is far cheaper to give people a pay raise, or improve safety standards, than it is to sit in court for years & be door-stepped by the press abotu why I treated my employees so badly.

Employers have a bigger responsibility than just to generate profit. They also I believe, have a social responsibility to their employees. The big multi-national co-operations that ignore this to make an extra dime are always in hot water with one union or another & it's great they are held accountable. Corporate greed is held in check by unions, as well as some employment laws.

The only responsibility for any company is to turn a profit. You must have a business confused with a charity.

I don't believe I do have a business confused with a charity. No company can survive without profit, that's true - their profit enables them to pay wages, for starters. I do believe that there are moral and immoral ways to treat employees and so does the law. The theory you were suggesting, in practice, would land you in court or on 60 minutes being hauled apart by a journalist.

A point I think you've missed perhaps, is that employers who treat their workers badly end up with a host of problems stemming from poor employee morale. Stealing, unproductivity, sick days, 'go-slow' work practices, damaging company property - are all common in organisations where people are badly treated. So is eventually, not being able to hire anyone without paying an arm and leg for their labour, because their reputation for how they treat employees is so bad.

It makes good business sense to treat employees well - and it is only employers who treat employees badly who have any issues with unions.

I'm not sure if you own your own business, but I'm assuming you must have worked for someone else at some stage - were you treated well and paid fairly?

What about your friends and family - are they treated well and paid fairly in their current jobs? I wonder if you would support that they would be fired by their employers, for no other reason than it was just easier. It's obvious that you consider employees to be disposable - people you get your pound of flesh from and then get rid of. Doesn't sound nice when you put it that way does it?

It's a way to run a business, sure. Personally, I couldn't sleep at night.

Nope, never owned my own business.

If they don't feel they're being treated fairly, go somewhere else.

Where I got it

Profits are not calculated until after the payroll is taken care of. Also, without happy employees, no company can survive, being that, if there is no one to keep up with demand, then customers are no longer happy with service/product, and will stop coming to your place for that. Thus, no customers, no profit. So... to get a profit, it is the companies place to make sure that it's employees are willing to work, and give out their best to the customer, so that they will return, and give the company their money.