At the moment I am employed, but as Ireland is in recession at the moment there is reason to be concerned. I want to know the opinions of people here on this, that if I where to lose my job, would it be morally acceptable to sign on, considering I have paid taxes ! Or given that I don’t believe there should be an income tax, refuse too. This would mean me moving back home, living under my parents etc etc.
Go anywhere else you can first, don’t get hooked on welfare and do your best to avoid it all together. It would be immoral on your part, but most of the blaim lies with the original thieves. Don’t be a burden to your parents though, support them any way you can. That’s my honest and sincere advice
Great advice thanks.
My mate has recently signed on, I’ve tried getting him looking for more work, but he’s a lazy so & so. He lost his job after just one week by sleeping in. Pisses me off.
Also one more question, We’re a small enterprise but one of the lads at work is talking of joining a union, If this starts to progress, what shall I do ?
You should not feel remorse or guilt. You paid and the clowns running the government who are giving out other peoples money so you might as well get some. Morally you are in the “Tragedy of Commons” where the person who gets there first and takes the pot wins. So you have every right to take the pot as much as some other slug.
That having been said, I do not recommend taking unemployment benefits unless you have a good reason to do so like your child will starve or you will default on your loans. I took unemployment benefits after leaving the military and ended taking the same dead end slightly above burger flipper at the local mall anyway after the unemployment benefits expired.
You also have the story that you have to sell to an employer later. Is it easier to sell? 1. I was laid off from my job as my company went bankrupt so I immediately got a temporary job and started looking for employment… or 2. I was laid off from my job as my company went bankrupt so I looked for a job while on unemployment for a short 8 months until I started working at a temporary job.
Absolutely do not join. You will only turn up the go bankrupt speed. I have found that unions exist to help their workers by creating bureaucracy. Bureaucracy and small are a combination that spells bankruptcy. I have seen with my own eyes how figting a union can be a dangerous proposition. So you have to decide how vocal you want to be against it. If you do get to vote or however the law in Ireland is, and the union is accepted then I recommend IMMEDIATELY start looking for other employment.
If you work for a large private entity, then I recommend asking to move to a management or technical position outside the union, most companies will be thrilled to oblige you or move you to a different facility. You job security is less that that of the contracted union employees but your work experience will be much better and your room for advancement will be much better.
If you work for the government or other organization using force and violence to get revenue then it does not matter either way.
Thanks Bogart. I will of course start looking for work immediately if things go south here. There are jobs around, these lazy feckers just have to open their eyes.
On the issue of the Union, we are a small private company with 11 employees, so I guess I’ll have to start looking for a new job if union talk materialises.
What will happen if I refuse to join ?
For such a small company I assume that the union won’t make that much of a difference, feel free to join it just don’t support it, if it tries to go begging to the government however, get out.
Ok cool
I have only seen large companies and government school employees deal with this and in both cases the results were not good for anybody. The folks who love their freedom to contract with employers were shunned by their friends and treated the same as the union employees. I have seen with larger organizations people who spoke out against the union have “accidents” where they had tires flattened on their cars and in one case the windshield broken. I have no idea if this kind of thing would happen in your case.
Remember you may find yourself very alone in this process. There is no free lunch. You are giving up rights to freely contract with your employer over wages and benefits to work under a contract. So you are no longer Bob the techie guy, you are employee 123456 under contract expiring yy/mm/dd. In my experience working for a tiny company with 150 people world wide, the owner walked up to me and asked: How many weeks did you work with so and so? You were not due a travel bonus for that time but you earned it. I received $1750 that I was not due. That will not happen under a union contract.
Again, the advice is still the same, look for employment elsewhere. There is no good that can come of this. Small companies exist because they have less bureaucracy than large companies. Unions are bureacracy generating machines that will smother a small or even in cases here large companies. The USA has several examples where unions literally ran their employers out of business.
If my co-workers joined and I refused, I predict tension. To be honest I can see the attraction to join, our employer is a bit of an asshole, the others aren’t happy being asked to do homework with no extra pay. I’m a principled person, I understand why unions are bad, I feel it would be best to leave if it does come about. Thanks for your insight guys, interesting to hear some first hand experience.
I’ve been following Mises daily for quiet some time now, and the blogs make for some interesting reading, but up until now have avoided a fully blooded book. So yesterday I started with Hazlitt’s Economics In one lesson - very good. AE just gets more and more addictive the more I learn.