"Without a union, the boss could just fire you like that!"
I hear this line of thinking frequently from pro-union types.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Union representatives do not have the mindset or the viewpoints of a businessman.
Those who seek a profit, no matter how cynical or venal, are not just going to fire someone because they were ten minutes late.
On the contrary, employers need to make sure that they hire and keep their staff, for training takes time and money, and businesses cannot thrive as long as they are hiring and firing staff arbitrarily.
Wal-Mart has an established reputation with its workers, men and women who do not complain about unfair working conditions, as much as outside unions, whose influence are waning, would contend.
During the Christmas Season 2012, most of the protestors outside of Wal-Marts throughout the country were unaffiliated union mongers, while very few workers from Wal-Mart bothered to demonstrate along with their "labor brethren".
Unions argue from ignorance, having no full understanding of the costs which employers must absorb when hiring people. Furthermore, the notion that unions maintain high wages ignores the declining job opportunities, nor does this argument take into account the raising rates which emerge when men and women are willing to work, then work their way up.