Unions are almost exactly that! Finally somebody who sees whatunions are all about. Private owned industry with economic control over the industry in the hands of a government or union. There really is no incentive to produce or pull your weight when you are a union member because it is near impossible to reprimand or fire poor performers.

 

the reality of it all..........strike is BAD for both sides,,, hope it works out soon!

 

Excellent post.

Unions (for the most part) are there as the "Ying is to the Yang".
Unions came into being because of unfair policies against labor.
Look how many ditched American shores to move to 'tax protected' or 'tax favorable' countries.
Prices remained the same, company bottom lines soared...500 more out of a job.
Good for Management and the shareholders tho....

And, it really IS a strike. Obviously, some don't get it.

 

No, I won't go in today and offer to take a pay cut. I prefer not to work for somebody else, I am self employed. I negotiate each development contract I have based on CAPITALISM. How much can the market for software engineers bear. Six years ago software engineering companies were able to charge 130.00 to 150.00 dollars an hour for developers. Now, if we get 60.00 per hour we doing great. Now, if unions ran software development then ALL of us will be out of work because ALL development will be sent to India because the Unions will still want that 130 to 150 dollar rate if not more by now, they don't understand fair market competition. Unions remove from the equation the basic hinge pin of capitalism. It removes competition, with out that there is no incentive to do better, be more economical etc...

Yes I remember when we didn't have unions and we had unsafe work environment and sweat shops. But you are also forgetting that back then we didn't have labor laws, the Department of Labor, Health Departments, OSHA etc... Those are some good things that came out of Unions, but now safety and labor are such that Unions aren't necessary anymore. Unions have nothing to do with sweat shops or unsafe work conditions anymore and haven't for probably 30 or 40 years.

My parents owned four tool and die welding plants in Michigan and one time the Argon bottles were not chained to the wall at one of the plants. An OSHA inspector came in a closed the #3 plant right there. Took us four days to get the plant back opened. Get this, #3 was a union shop and the Union could care less about the security of the gas bottles or the safety of its employees because it never did or said anything about the unsafe storage of the bottles. So who looked out for the worker? The Union, NO. OSHA did. The thing of it is, the chains were there it is just that the plant foreman didn't make the employees use them. He got the plant closed for four days and we couldn't fire him because my parents made a mistake and left him an hourly employee so he could still belong to the union.

Because of the Death of the auto industry in Detroit we had to close the business all four plants. Even as expenses rose and overallGROSS income dropped the Unions wanted more money out of my parents for the welders. Some of the welders quit on their own the rest of them voted to kick the union out of the shop and negotiated wi

 

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Unions are almost exactly that! Finally somebody who sees whatunions are all about. Private owned industry with economic control over the industry in the hands of a government or union. There really is no incentive to produce or pull your weight when you are a union member because it is near impossible to reprimand or fire poor performers.
[/quote]


Hey Bud you gotta wake up. To make the generalization that all unions are bad is ludicrous. I've been an IBEW member for 17 years. If it wasn't fot the IBEW working conditions on jobs would be marginally safe at best. I'm usually the foreman and have had crews of 40+ electricians when the project is large enough. Most of the union electricians thatI hire out of the hall are highly skilled and trained to do there job with pride and craftmanship and when they are not I fire or lay them off if they do not pull their own weight.
I've seen first hand the horrible work that the non-union RAT electricians try to pass off asa quality job. A goodamount of the time I go in and fix thework that theRATS had no clue how to d0.I am a highly skilled union electrician andyes I demand a high rate of pay and benefits.I amconstantly taking courses to stay cutting edge in the industry.

Atleast there are no ILLEGALS onunionprojects. The work is done by AMERICANS.

 

I have got to vent about my job. I am employed by a non-union trucking company. A "family" owned organization where every great niece and grandson has hundreds of thousands of shares of stock. I get two weeks of vacation a year. I use it quickly during summer, taking especially Sundays so I can enjoy the day with my favorite riding partner, my wife. Well,a while back, I get called into the main office at my terminal and the personnel manager hands me a write-up for calling in one Sunday when I had a personal emergency at home. He made a big deal out of the fact that I used up my vacation time in three months and "you used your time on nine Sundays". Get this, this company takes your hard earned vacation time if you happen to get sick and uses it for your sick time. We have had guys that wiped out their vacation because they had the flu for a few days. Now, two weeks ago, I get called into the operations managers office and get a final write up for not reweighing enough freight. This is a laugh. They are wanting everyone to re-weigh freight and if it weighs one pound more than the bill of lading says then we are to put into the computer as a re-weigh. One pound so they can bill you, the customer, for the money. I never was a supporter of unions but working here has changed me. H-D 's corporate office isn't making the company a dime. They are all sitting on their duffs drawing huge salaries, while the guys that are making the products are the ones who deserve to make a good portion of the profits.

 

Unions are almost exactly that! Finally somebody who sees whatunions are all about. Private owned industry with economic control over the industry in the hands of a government or union. There really is no incentive to produce or pull your weight when you are a union member because it is near impossible to reprimand or fire poor performers.
[/quote]


Hey Bud you gotta wake up. To make the generalization that all unions are bad is ludicrous. I've been an IBEW member for 17 years. If it wasn't fot the IBEW working conditions on jobs would be marginally safe at best. I'm usually the foreman and have had crews of 40+ electricians when the project is large enough. Most of the union electricians thatI hire out of the hall are highly skilled and trained to do there job with pride and craftmanship and when they are not I fire or lay them off if they do not pull their own weight.
I've seen first hand the horrible work that the non-union RAT electricians try to pass off asa quality job. A goodamount of the time I go in and fix thework that theRATS had no clue how to due.I am a highly skilled union electrician andyes I demand a high rate of pay and benefits.I amconstantly taking courses to stay cutting edge in the industry.

Atleast there are no ILLEGALS onunionprojects. The work is done by AMERICANS.

[/quote]

EXACTLY!!!!

 

Glidermike Where you from Brother?
IBEW local # 102 New Jersey.

 

Sorry I should have scrolled down some more
Duh

Battle Creek

 

I've worked union jobs, Interantional Brotherhood of Operating Engieers, and non-union jobs. If a company offers competative wage and provides decent benifits, why pay union dues to the union tonegotiate the same? If the employerdoes notmeet your expectations, find a different employer. I'm an individualist, I can do it on my own.
I don't need a socialist orginization to allow me to work. The union never got me a job, I always found them on my own because of my skills, conacts or reputation. If I did not find the management or the "deal" to my liking I changed employers.
Hell I even started my own business so I could work for the best boss ever, my wife!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!