Obama To Walk Picket Line

I was just reading a story about Barack Obama is in Des Moines today and is courting the labor vote.

Democratic Senator Barack Obama is telling union activists he would walk a picket line as President if organized labor helps elect him in 2008.

I am not an Obama supporter, but is he really serious. He is saying that he would use the office of the President of the United States, as a weapon against any company that may be in a dispute with its' workers. That seems a little heavy handed to me.

My father was a union worker when he worked for John Morrell's Meat Packing Company and the union did do much to make working conditions safer. However, after my father was gone from there, the company gained control once more, and took away many of the gains that had been made. They then began hiring "immigrants" that they could pay about half the wages as union workers, so there is a need for some union protections. My problem with unions has always been that they overreached and damaged many of the companies they were employed by; such as the auto workers, airline employees, and even meatpacking workers, to an extent.

I have always been on the management side of things, so my perspective is one of trying to be fair to my employees, but still have a profitable company, so that we all had a place to work. I had to deal with union issues on a few occasions, and I felt that the unions were not really offering the employees much, for what they would give back in dues to the union.

I know that we have had a pretty powerful supporter's of Big Business, in Bush and Cheney, so maybe a little turnabout would be fair play, but whoever is in office should use their power sparingly, because without the companies being able to make a reasonable profit, there will be no jobs, and then what good would it be to be in a union then.

I am curious, and would like to hear from any union workers, or management personnel, about your views on Obama's offer to walk a picket line as President, and I thank you in advance for any comments you may have about this.