Would You Accept?

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

Yes I am a union man, I grew up in a union family and have been a member of three different unions during my adult life. That said, lets talk about the brother(and sister)hood of officiating.

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NBA officials are officials just like every other basketball official that officiates in this country, Canada, and else where in the world, and I am not about to take a job away from one of them just to feed my ego while they are trying to maintain or improve their working conditions.

Let me tell a true story:

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MTD, Sr.

Great story, and a great example of when to stick together. But that one had a good reason to boycott/strike that tournament.

Not all situations have such good reasons. I prefer to judge each situation than blindly follow just because of a membership to a certain group. There are plenty of examples of union leaders effectively killing a company's ability to remain competitive and ultimately causing them to either lose business since they can't compete on product price or to take their business elsewhere (or close completely) leaving all those workers who got a little more money without a job at all. Holding a company hostage until they pay more may be called collective bargaining but in reality, it is not much more than extortion.

There were some recent teacher's strikes out here. I had zero sympathy for them and anyone else striking when our economy is in such horrible shape with so many people out of work. What ultimately happened is the teachers got their raise and, to make the budget balance since there was no new money, they laid off a number of newer teachers (which are usually the good ones that still actually teach). Great plan! Those teachers all sacrificed a few of their own for a few more bucks.

As for your assertion that officials shouldn't do something that hurts other officials....good luck with that one. It happens everywhere all the time as people try to climb the ladder. I've been thrown under the bus by more people (at every level I've worked) than I care to count.