Sam -- Thanks for your note, you raise a number of interesting ideas. Let's imagine that Smith Realty becomes a union shop. What is it that the agents want that they now lack? Is there a cost to such demands? If yes, can the broker raise rates in the marketplace? Competition drives down rates generally. In my area, for instance, a major firm raised its rates unilaterally -- and quickly retreated because consumers were going elsewhere. Let us agree that both brokers and salespeople need to make a profit. In today's scenario, salespeople can move to the agency which best meets their needs while brokers cannot increase their rates. A careful look at brokerage revenues will likely suggest that brokers make the most money per transaction from their least productive agents -- the ones with the lowest splits. So, in an odd way, productive agents are the least profitable for a firm but non-productive agents don't bring in enough business to support the brokerage. It will be interesting to see if a union shop does well in Canada or elsewhere. Right now, I am not convinced that unions will be successful. If union shops became common, I suspect most brokers would work only with their most productive agents, offices would be far smaller, there would be less to administer, and association memberships would decline. All the best. Peter G. Miller OurBroker(r)