Since the early 1800s companies in the United States have been
forming unions, unions which have fought for safe working
environments, fair wages, health care and reasonable work days.
The history of unions in this country stems back to shoemakers
in Philadelphia fighting for fair wages in 1806 to carpenters in
Boston in 1825, and children in the textile mills of New Jersey in
1835, fighting for the right to not have to work longer than 10
hours in a day while still earning the same daily pay.
And at this time in history, there is likely no union in this
country, larger than, older than and more relevant than the United
Auto Workers Union; formed in Flint, Mich. in 1935.
Some of what the UAW — according to its Web site has over
513,000 active members and more than 575,000 retired — has achieved
through collective bargaining inlcudes:
*The first employer-paid health insurance plan for industrial
workers
*The first cost-of-living allowances
*Job and income security provisions
*Comprehensive training and educational programs
So when we look at this great history of unions which have
fought so hard to give blue-collar workers a fair shake, I think it
is only fair to take a look at professional sports unions and
declare what an utter disgrace and absolute joke they are.
With the country facing a record deficit and the banks being
handed a somewhat unpopular $700 billion in bailout money this past
October, I find it a tough pill to swallow that with all the
problems affecting the majority of the American public and those
people that are in desperate need of money, on Feb. 26 the National
Basketball Association accepted $200 million from JP Morgan and
Chase and Bank of America to help cover operating costs in roughly
half of the NBA’s 30 cities that are “losing money due to the
economic recession.”
Why is this so hard for me to swallow?
For one, the 2008 U.S. Olympic Redeem Team was funded half of
the said amount the NBA currently owes by none other than the
league itself, while 15 NBA cities were falling behind the
8-ball.
Isn’t it great to see the gross mismanagement of big money by a
major corporate enterprise like the NBA be forgiven like this by
our banks?
I am quite sure indeed Kobe Bryant and Lebron James could not
afford to fly from L.A. and Cleveland to the team’s practice
facility in Las Vegas, and I am 100 percent positive they could not
have funded their own flights to Japan or taken care of their own
accommodations in what has historically been an amateur competition
of the world’s best athletes who traditionally stay for free in
Olympic Village.
My irk could also have something to do with the current salary
situation in the NBA, which equates to an average of $56.8 million
per team, and breaks down to an average income of $5.2 million per
player.
So here is my congratulations to the players union of the NBA.
Way to not let them touch your income. You are clearly worth every
penny.
The union could have made an unprecedented move, come forward
and agreed to take a 10 percent pay cut across the board leaving
them with a meager $4.7 million per player to put the ball in the
hole half as well as the last generation of NBA players, who
averaged just $575,000 20 seasons ago.
However, these so-called professional athletes seem to be well
above having to live like the rest of this country, which is living
in the all-to realistic world of pay cuts, layoffs, hiring freezes
and raise freezes.
The result of this? I hope it alienates every fan out there the
way it has me.
I have played the game of basketball as long as I can remember
and my first memories of watching it date back to being 3 years old
and standing in front of that famous first meeting between Magic
and Bird while my family was on vacation in Nagshead, N.C.
I can honestly not tell you the last season I didn’t attend an
NBA game, be it in Detroit, Los Angeles or Denver, but I can tell
you I have no plans to pay my hard-earned money to watch any for
the rest of this season and most likely for next season as
well.
When players, that are supposed to be serving as role models for
our younger generation, and have been anything but in recent years,
spurn yet one more opportunity to act in a manner that is unselfish
and that Americans could both learn from respect and relate to, I
for one want no part of their world.