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Comment by apstats | Hacker News Reader

Modern unions have no spine and their leaders are in the game to enrich themselves it seems most times. This seems great for the rail union.

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The principal-agent problem is literally the most counter-intuitive problem to have. I suspect, ironically, it would be best to overpay leaders and combine that with term limits. If you're set for life after working for a group for 5-10 years, you have little reason not to do your job well.

Every time i see US house members sleeping in their offices because they get paid so little for so much power, i shake my head at the utter obvious expectedness of the causal corruption that happens in Washington.

> Modern unions

What's your definition of "modern"? It seems like most unions these days are doing a much better job than, say, Jimmy Hoffa's time.

Interestingly, the intermingling of organized crime and organized labor was a pretty symbiotic relationship. Crime Syndicates need an above-the-board way of targeting people and companies that step out of line, which the unions provided by stopping work. The unions need an under-the-table way of dealing with scabs, strikebreakers, and uncooperative management, which the mob provided with violence.

Unions seeking out parallel power structures separate from the dominant government is a direct consequence of the government actively siding against labor at every turn.

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