General disorganization

Mike at Okiedoke has a thoughtful piece on the decline in union membership in Oklahoma, now down to 86,000 or so. Losses in manufacturing jobs and the state's right-to-work law are the usual suspects, though the state government does its part: the recent appointment of the ever-surly Patrick B. McGuigan, former editorial-page editor of The Oklahoman, to a deputy Labor Commissioner position, would seem to bespeak hostility toward working folks. (McGuigan, quips Mike, is to worker rights what Michael Jackson is to children, a comparison I hope is purely superficial.)

I've carried a union card; I've carried a picket sign or two in my day. There's a lot of that old labor vs. management distrust still out there today. But I can't help wonder if maybe the union as we know it is the wrong vessel for change, especially when they keep coming up with stuff like this:

Which, were I running a production line, would strongly suggest that I run it with men just to gain that 3-percent added efficiency.

(With thanks to Ravenwood's Universe.)