On Sun, 02 Dec 2007 13:56:29 GMT, Matt Whiting
wrote in :

Larry Dighera wrote:

Today, anyone able to swing a hammer is a carpenter. Anyone with a
paintbrush is a painter. Etc. Painters used to attend five years of
schooling, before they were journeymen. They knew how to do
EVERYTHING.... Today?

They knew how to do everything that was traditional, but seldom the
newest technology.

I can only speak of the IBEW. In Los Angeles, the IBEW has provided
classes on fiber-optic cable splicing and solar generation. I believe
those examples sufficiently refute your assertion.

Times change. Craft guilds wane. The world is a poorer place without
knowledgeable craftsmen. But in today's world, economics is king.
Noble thought and sincerity are anachronisms. I'm happy I lived in
the age I have. I'm not so sure the future will be as nice a place,
but the exponential progress of technology is almost magical...

I'm a large fan of skilled craftsman also, but that is entirely
unrelated to unions as they exist in the USA.

It may be unrelated to many unions, like the Retail Clerks, or
Teamsters, but I believe what I wrote is true of building trade
unions.

Unions often fought technology and progress and that didn't help
their cause.


Doubtless, there are a significant number of unions that use their
power to threaten rather than protect. That is disappointing.

In any event, I think there is merit in studying construction trade
unions as a model for airline pilots.