Andy's Nuggets of Wisdom: Take a Hike if You Go on Strike

Andy checks in this week with some thoughts on work stoppages and strikes. Editor's Note: Andy sent me a separate nugget on Wednesday night, and I deemed it too graphic for the RPR. Hey, I'm not here to censor anyone's thoughts, but we have to keep things semi-clean on this blog. Believe me, Andy provided some humorous comments, but a little too risque for this forum. We'll keep it at that.
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Since my first nugget I sent yesterday got denied by the ratings board, I'm gonna take another stab at it. Tonight's topic: Strikes. While strikes have been a common device used by unions for many years, I have to argue that they are ineffective. First off...yes, they do work in getting the attention of the owners/bosses, which will lead to new contracts or whatever they are striking for. In light of the recent strikes by the NHL players, the metro workers in NYC, and now the government workers in New Jersey, it doesn't seem like any of these groups are learning from the previous goups' debacled strikes.

Let's look at the NHL. This strike was about as useful as a poopy flavored lollipop. It made the players all look like greedy bastards, and ruined some of the aging players' careers by having a whole year off from competitive hockey. In the end, the players received less than they would have if they would have agreed to the deal the owners presented. Because the strike was damaging to the reputation of the players and the league, the players and owners compromised significantly on issues, whereby the players accepted less money, a lower salary cap, and allowed the owners to make out like bandits.

As far as the transit workers, that was just stupid. Pretty much the same thing happened with the NHL. The workers went on strike, then were turned into Public Enemy #1 in the city. This was just genius. Think about it. Would you want to piss off millions of New Yorkers who are freaking crazy, and won't think twice about kicking the crap out of you? How about thinking about your kids too? Sure, we all want more money for your kids, but money isn't gonna mean much to your kids when their friends' parents won't allow them to be invited to their kid's birthday parties. Talk about scarring your kids for life. So the workers went back to work without a contract and allowed time to pass with negotiations and they got one done.

Now it is a little bit different situation in New Jersey. The government told the workers to stay home because the governor and the legislature could not agree on a budget. This is a little different from the other ones, but it still makes no sense. Why in the world wouldn't the government just tell the people to keep working at the current conditions. I highly doubt that there are going to be slashes in the government worker area of the budget, so why are you pissing off the people that put you in office? A good way to ruin your political career is to make unpopular decisions. This is just another example. Someone please tell me how any of this makes sense.