Unionizing UFC

[Strychnine]

The Reebok deal was bad for the fighters sponsor income. Unionizing will also force the UFC to open their books disclosing costs and profits.

Dont know if unionizing is the correct path. Yet the fighters do need bargaining power.

I agree.
I think that the fighters do need something in their favor.

 

[DGT4NOW]

With expenses getting higher and higher to employ full time workers corporations look to part time employees. Look to things like Obamacare and wage increases for the answer for this. Although that is a topic for a different thread.

I think the biggest issue is the lack of "middle" these days
You almost have to be a big business or a family owned small business with nieces & nephews working for you.
It is getting harder & harder to sustain a small-medium sized business
My online business has ONE employee - me & I do decent, but I have no desire to expand because of all the fn red tape & legalities that would make it impossible to do

 

[DGT4NOW]

If you mean America, sorry brah, corporate greed/control and welfare scammers are what's killing America. Do you homework.

First off, America is not 'dying', so nothing is killing it, but I am 100% with you about welfare scammers.
as far as big business goes ... it is the same as unions ... some are helping & some are hurting.
The idea of unions & big business are both fantastic ... the reality does not equal the idea(l)

 

[hadrian999]

I wonder if any of the big name guys would sign on or if it would only be the scrubs and has beens

 

[j18lee]

With expenses getting higher and higher to employ full time workers corporations look to part time employees. Look to things like Obamacare and wage increases for the answer for this. Although that is a topic for a different thread.

Yeah, probably don't want to get into a full blown discussion on this, but I am really curious how you would connect this to unions killing this country when unions are SO weak compared to the past.

Also, you do realize that corporations are making all time high profits right? That the stock market is at an all time high and that executives pay have jumped a huge amount over the past 10 years?

If you own a business and you're making more money than ever, would you really want to share it with your employees when you can hire cheaper labor? If you would, then you're a really nice and generous guy and probably not a CEO or business owner.

 

[lebenize it]

I think the biggest issue is the lack of "middle" these days
You almost have to be a big business or a family owned small business with nieces & nephews working for you.
It is getting harder & harder to sustain a small-medium sized business
My online business has ONE employee - me & I do decent, but I have no desire to expand because of all the fn red tape & legalities that would make it impossible to do

Walmart and Amazon taking over while they get exemptions from everything that is killing small business. May have something to do with campaign contributions but that is all I will say about this topic in this thread.

 

[DGT4NOW]

Walmart and Amazon taking over while they get exemptions from everything that is killing small business. May have something to do with campaign contributions but that is all I will say about this topic in this thread.

There are many reasons
Online (like you mentioned Amazon) has killed brick & mortar more than anything has.
Who goes to a neighborhood store anymore?

 

[lebenize it]

Yeah, probably don't want to get into a full blown discussion on this, but I am really curious how you would connect this to unions killing this country when unions are SO weak compared to the past.

Also, you do realize that corporations are making all time high profits right? That the stock market is at an all time high and that executives pay have jumped a huge amount over the past 10 years?

If you own a business and you're making more money than ever, would you really want to share it with your employees when you can hire cheaper labor? If you would, then you're a really nice and generous guy and probably not a CEO or business owner.

I never said Unions are killing the country. Must have been someone else.

You do realize corporations must increase profits every year to keep stock holders happy? If you do not make me money as the CEO then I as a stock holder sell my stock. If you do make me money more people buy the stock(Stock market goes up). I make more money. CEO gets more money. That is a breakdown in a nutshell how the real world works.

 

[j18lee]

First off, America is not 'dying', so nothing is killing it, but I am 100% with you about welfare scammers.
as far as big business goes ... it is the same as unions ... some are helping & some are hurting.
The idea of unions & big business are both fantastic ... the reality does not equal the idea(l)

The guy is spot on, it is corporate greed and welfare scammers that are hurting the middle class. I'd venture to guess that if we talk about pure dollars pulled away from the shrinking middle class, I would think corporations have pulled a lot more than welfare scammers have.

You're also right that big business and unions both abuse their power. The big difference in 2015 is that big business has WAY more power now than unions so they cause a lot more problems than unions. Maybe it was the reverse in the 50's and 60's when unions were out of control powerful.

 

[DGT4NOW]

The guy is spot on, it is corporate greed and welfare scammers that are hurting the middle class. I'd venture to guess that if we talk about pure dollars pulled away from the shrinking middle class, I would think corporations have pulled a lot more than welfare scammers have.

You're also right that big business and unions both abuse their power. The big difference in 2015 is that big business has WAY more power now than unions so they cause a lot more problems than unions. Maybe it was the reverse in the 50's and 60's when unions were out of control powerful.

One of the big reasons why big business has more power in 2015 than unions is due to union greed.
I am speaking as a whole & in general.
Unions were almost crippling some businesses & refused to give anything back to try & keep the companies alive
So businesses found ways around the union to survive & now say "fuck unions"
Neither side is absolute in blame nor absolute in altruistic ideals.

 

[j18lee]

I never said Unions are killing the country. Must have been someone else.

You do realize corporations must increase profits every year to keep stock holders happy? If you do not make me money as the CEO then I as a stock holder sell my stock. If you do make me money more people buy the stock(Stock market goes up). I make more money. CEO gets more money. That is a breakdown in a nutshell how the real world works.

Unions are killing this country.

Yeah, it was some other guy I was responding to, and I think you responded to my response so I thought it was you.

You're absolutely right about the basics of how stocks/corporations work. The question is how are things different now than they were 20 or 40 years ago. That's where you will find the problem. The system is being used differently now by corporations/CEOs than it was back then when the wealth was more shared.

The difference I believe is the availability of cheaper labor in this connected global market which allows corporations/CEOs to keep far more of their profits now and give less and less to their workers. I think it is hard to argue against that.

 

[lebenize it]

There are many reasons
Online (like you mentioned Amazon) has killed brick & mortar more than anything has.
Who goes to a neighborhood store anymore?

My family came from Italy and started a business of "neighborhood stores".8 grocery stores located in southern CA. We unionized back when that was the good thing to do for your employees.

Employees complained and and my grandfather decided why should his employees be paying union dues for something he can do without the union and more importantly without union dues. Most of his employees agreed that they wanted to be done with the union. He fired everyone. Got rid of the union and hired those back that wanted to continue employment without the union.

The Union paid strikers to stand in front of our stores for over 2 years. Eventually people got tired of dealing with these strikers and we went under.

 

[Baba Ghanoush]

Unions are nothing but leeches on society. They were helpful decades ago, but with the advent of modern work laws all they do is demand a cut to your pay check.

You people are delusional if you think they'd make anything better for the fighters. Big name fighters are going to stay away from it like the plague.

 

[CTYankee]

How is that possible?

Union membership and power is at all time low while corporations are richer than ever and have power to cut benefits and hire more "part time" workers who work 38 hours and outsource to India and use H1B1 cheap labor (there are no unions to stop them). If unions are killing this country, wouldn't they have been killing the country in the 1950s and 1960s when they were the most powerful?

No. Membership was much higher but they were reasonable and less powerful then. Recent laws have given them much more power.

I have been in unions. All they cared about were keeping bad workers on the job and expanding membership rolls to get them more dues paying members.

They didn't give a crap about member pay or rights. I got disenfranchised pretty quickly and became a fair share member which is a big scam in and of itself.

My wife quit her job to take care of her dying mother and got a stipend from the state because it was cheaper for the state than paying a full time healthcare worker. They made her join a union (without telling her) and started charging her dues. She complained and they said it was to make sure she had fair working conditions (in her mothers house) she sued along with thousands of others and years later won. The union told the court that it would be a hardship to pay the money back. The court agreed and told them they could keep all of the money they took.

 

[yermajesty]

Why do YOU hope so? What difference does it make to you what the fighter gets paid?

Unions are for people with small minds.

I hope so to see Dana's reaction. I'm not a fan of Union's, it's more of a stick it to Dana mentality for me.

 

[lebenize it]

Yeah, it was some other guy I was responding to, and I think you responded to my response so I thought it was you.

You're absolutely right about the basics of how stocks/corporations work. The question is how are things different now than they were 20 or 40 years ago. That's where you will find the problem. The system is being used differently now by corporations/CEOs than it was back then when the wealth was more shared.

The difference I believe is the availability of cheaper labor in this connected global market which allows corporations/CEOs to keep far more of their profits now and give less and less to their workers. I think it is hard to argue against that.

I would venture that things are not too different from back then. We just have social media blasting things like CEO pay and company profits all over facebook. So much of this shaming of big business has a lot to do with winning votes come election time. I think that is one reason it is being blasted all over social media.

 

[Rygu]

First off, America is not 'dying', so nothing is killing it, but I am 100% with you about welfare scammers.
as far as big business goes ... it is the same as unions ... some are helping & some are hurting.
The idea of unions & big business are both fantastic ... the reality does not equal the idea(l)

Ok I didn't mean dying, I guess I should have said killing the middle class not the entire country my bad.

Now I am not a union nuthugger, I see the pros and also the cons of unions. To me though the pros outweigh the cons sometimes including here. Take Walmart for instance. Lets say they unionized tomorrow, and they forced a contract for higher wages, more full time positions, guaranteed hours for part timers, benefits etc. Now Walmart could bite the bullet, keep their prices the same, but just profit less (they would still profit LARGE). Chances are they would raise prices a fair bit aiming to make the profits they're used to making. All companies aim to profit obviously, but the ratio of CEO average total yearly income compared to the average person in America is the highest in the world by far. That's pretty much just greed.

 

[Mondo Freaks]

MMA already has trouble getting the best athletes in the world. If the current fighters went on strike, think about all the D-levels that Dana would use to replace them. Unionizing is a bad idea imo.

 

[DGT4NOW]

My family came from Italy and started a business of "neighborhood stores".8 grocery stores located in southern CA. We unionized back when that was the good thing to do for your employees.

Employees complained and and my grandfather decided why should his employees be paying union dues for something he can do without the union and more importantly without union dues. Most of his employees agreed that they wanted to be done with the union. He fired everyone. Got rid of the union and hired those back that wanted to continue employment without the union.

The Union paid strikers to stand in front of our stores for over 2 years. Eventually people got tired of dealing with these strikers and we went under.

Sorry to read man
The Union ideology is fantastic ... the implementation though can be as corrupt & as bullying as any major company.

Re: UFC
Unionizing could really hurt the fans more than they realize.
Prices will go up & there will be less fighters under contract & less outlets for fights.

 

[lebenize it]

MMA already has trouble getting the best athletes in the world. If the current fighters went on strike, think about all the D-levels that Dana would use to replace them. Unionizing is a bad idea imo.

Unionizing comes with some harsh realities that people are willing to over look because they think Unionizing is sticking it to the UFC.

These same people will cry when those harsh realities come to be.