From p23 of the February 2003 HARPER'S: "From a research note circulated in November by Morgan Stanley to its North American clients. At the risk of encouraging the ghost of Joe Hill to come back and haunt us, we suspect investors should avoid heavily unionized industires today more than usual. From a long-term perspective, unionized areas have not been market-leading industries, and today heavily unionized industries stand directly in whatever the opposite of the sweet spot is. Consistent with our "buy the 800-pound gorillas" theme, nonunionized companies competing in heavily unionized arenas probably stand to accrue large realtive gains. What does history suggest about investing in heavily unionized industries? Avoid them. While the recent carnage in stock prices and brouhaha over excessive options issuance has kept investor focus squarely on the incredible shrinking tech sector, folks may be looking in the rearview mirror when it comes to where risks lie today. Yesterday's options problems in technology may be a lesser evil than tomorrow's pension and health-care funding requirements in rust-belt industries. In all kinds of respects we are living in a brave new world, but a decidedly old-world phenomenon - unions - may weigh on some new-world issues in the year ahead. Look for the union label...and run the other way" There is so much wrong with this I don't know where to begin. "Lesser evils?" "Brouhaha" over "excessive stock issuance?" The reductionism to get investors to ignore the theiving man behnd the curtain is both objectionable and dishonorable, and ought to be fucking criminal.
There's nothing wrong with it if you are an investor. What they speak is true, and while pro-union people might disagree with it it's still true.
there are all kinds of investors - I am one - and for me, this is all kinds of wrong. Tell me more, not less, about faulty option issuance...don't try and submit that its "in the past," because its not, not even close... To try and shift the focus to industries where the workers have hammered out fair deals, and thus are not as exploited, and then to encourage the investor to ignore that investment takes place in a context... It shows how this "war" has taken the focus off of investigation, punishment and reform in the financial sector.
Most unions operate in traditional factory-based industries. Most of these industries have maxed out their market potential. The stock performance has nothing to with unions.
You could make an argument the General Motors' stock is in the tank because of their pension fund debt (due in large part to their union commitments). edited for spelling.