Just When I Thought

Tucker Interviews the Teamsters President

I grew up in a union region. The best man at my wedding was union. I was moderately pro-union until I actually worked with them. The main pillar of the union tent is “seniority”: by definition a relationship based concept. Unions don’t think about providing an excellent service to their customers. They think about extracting everything they possibly can from who they define as an enemy. Unions don’t think “if the company does well, the union does well”. They think “if the company does well, that profit belongs to us”. (Ironically, folks who steadfastly argue that the union’s only job is to advocate for the worker are the same folks who steadfastly argue that a US president who focuses on Americans first is very, very bad for doing so.)

I listened to Tucker Carlson’s interview with the current Teamster’s president Sean O’Brien. He is a pretty intelligent guy, and made the “union case” in a cogent manner. I started thinking “Maybe the union mentality is changing.” Nope.

During the interview, Tucker ventured into the Amazon issue. This would have been a perfect moment for O’Brien to place the union in a principled stance. You know, the usual pablum about “protecting the worker”. As most people know, unionizing Amazon would be, by far, the biggest victory in union history. The Teamsters have a hard-on for Amazon. They want Amazon SOOOO bad. And it’s not just the employees the Teamsters want, they want all the contractors too. Yes, we all also know that Amazon really tightens the screws on their employees and contractors. So you can make a good argument that Amazon’s management practices are why unions developed in the first place.

So when Tucker broached this subject, I expected O’Brien to launch into the politi-speak of “nobility of cause, rewarding contributions to company profit, protecting the worker”. These are the principles upon which the union movement was founded. Instead, when asked by Carlson “What do you want to do with Amazon”, O’Brien said “Bring them to their knees.”

THAT is relationship based ethics. It is also a great example of why relationship based ethics usually result in destruction. (Anyone remember the car company Saturn?”) When you go into a negotiation with the attitude “I’m gonna bring you to your knees!”, the folks on the other side of the table are going to respond in kind.

If you approach negotiations from a principled perspective, it changes the dynamic completely. Who can argue with “We want to make sure workers are treated fairly.” It moves the negotiations from the personal level to the issues level, and fosters the engagement of the intellect, instead of the emotion.