Labor Unions should be abolished.

I am well aware of the burden of proof for the affirmative side. Talking about evidence? Just read! Mr. Debater, please present your arguments clearly and orderly. Give your own points with evidence. It leads higher prices for consumers. It always amazes me that some people just can’t seem to grasp the concept that if you raise costs on businesses the prices they charge consumers for services will go up. For example, Unions Caused FedEx Prices to Soar. FedEx and other overnight air carriers were subjected to strikes in 1997 that resulted to price increase of their service. Another, Friedrich Hayek argued that the effect of union activities to influence pricing is potentially very harmful, making the market system ineffective. By causing wage increases above the market rate, unions increase the cost to businesses, causing them to raise their prices, leading to a general increase in the price level When labor unions negotiate higher wages, it may be considered a victory for the employees, but what really happens when money is redistributed through raises and promotions? The money distributed as a pay increase comes from a company’s contribution margin. This is the cash a company has left over after its expenses are paid from its gross revenue. Let’s take a look with real numbers. If a company makes a total of $100M, it may pay $90M in expenses like salaries, wages, taxes, etc. This leaves the company with $10M profit margin, which is typically reinvested in projects to grow the company or partially paid out in the form of dividends if the company is publicly traded. This typically leads to stores raising the price of their goods to keep up with the extra “costs.” It leads to job losses. High union wages that exceed the competitive market rate are likely to cause job losses in the unionized sector of the economy. Also, those who lose high-wage union jobs are often reluctant to accept alternative low-wage employment. Between 1970 and 1985, for example, a state with a 20 percent unionization rate, approximately the average for the fifty states and the District of Columbia, experienced an unemployment rate that was 1.2 percentage points higher than that of a hypothetical state that had no unions. To put this in perspective, 1.2 percentage points is about 60 percent of the increase in normal unemployment between 1970 and 1985. Further, Milton Friedman, advocate of laissez-faire capitalism, believed that unionization (as well as the minimum wage) frequently produces higher wages at the expense of fewer jobs, and that, if some industries are unionized while others are not, wages will decline in non-unionized industries. By raising the price of labour, the wage rate, above the equilibrium price, unemployment rises. This is because it is no longer worthwhile for businesses to employ those laborers whose work is worth less than the minimum wage rate set by the unions. In today’s modern society several factors have changed, unions are more of an economic hindrance than a beneficial big brother. The typical working conditions have improved dramatically, business competition is fiercer than ever, and technological innovation is continually evolving. Unions sought their highest level of activity in the 1950’s, however; today it is less than nine percent. There is one factor that stands between businesses employers and union agents that has not changed, and that factor is the economic forces of supply and demand in the labor market. http://cwhitaker.hubpages.com... http://www.chronicleonline.com... http://www.bbc.co.uk... http://www.thorschrock.com... http://en.wikipedia.org... http://money.usnews.com...