| Author | Message | ||
     Dennis_c |
I will start with the UNIONS gave your week ends off you used to have to work through them. Go back 100 years and see how you were treated. Lets hear more good things about UNIONS only | ||
| Kenm123t |
Dennis My Grandfather was at the battle of Blair Mountain When the Gov used Curtiss Jennys to drop bombs on the Miners and Union Organizers. My Grandfather helped the United Mineworkers get started. Black lung claimed my great uncle In later years Grandpa quit saying it wasnt about the Miners any more. He finished his career in the Steelworkers union engineering chlorine gas generators. Steelworkers were once the highest paid workers in the world but they raised prices too high and off shore producers took over, JFK's presidential platform included references to the decline of the steel industry due to unions strikes for money that was in 1959. Unions have done great things in the past. The problem is the workers dont run them any more they are run by Professional Union BOSSES. Look up Richard Trumkas career and how he worked at a mine the minimum time to be elected to a position in the United Minerworkers. Rank and File memebers are heal hostage to these snakes. What changed with the Demos and unions Bobby Kennedy and Teamsters were at War it ended with thier and Hoffas death. Looks like they decided to pay off the Demos this time and avoid the bloodshed. | ||
| Sifo |
They have unionize our nations teachers providing the highest quality of education at all levels of our public schools. At the same time the cost of education has been greatly reduced. No other country can compare to our system of education. | ||
| Gsilvernale |
ROFLMAO | ||
| Nm5150 |
I have to chime in here.I am a member of Local 798 Pipeliners Union and it is the only union I have ever been in and I must say when we had our big boom they sold some books to people that didn't really get our way of life but we exist only because we can lay pipe faster,safer and with less repairs than any other group in the world.Do we get paid well?Yes.Do we have benefits?Yes.We also have about the best training facility in the world in Tulsa and we travel all over the country working our selves out of a job as fast as we can to try and make the contractor money so they will hire us to do the next job.If you look at the hourly cost a non union contractor is cheaper but if you look at the insurance and repair costs it is cheaper overall to use a union pipeline contractor.You can also factor in the line delivering product sooner so it starts making money sooner.So I when I figure in the work the contractor is getting by using union labor and the cost to me and my family to travel and live on the road most of the year I don't feel bad at all about the wages and benefits I recieve.Don't know about other unions personally. | ||
| Aesquire |
I suppose it depends on if the Union in question is a political entity, ( Big Education ) a group to protect possibly exploited workers, ( Big Hotel, Mining ) or a version of a guild offering a path into a skilled job. ( yours ) Now all Unions are going to be some combination of these things. I wonder if there is a correlation of how corrupt the Union Management is depending on which of the above they most are? Venn diagram? | ||
| Sifo |
Is firebombing a hospital a good thing? Plenty of other good too... http://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/07/nyregion/hospita l-strike-s-violence-increases.html
And the union spokesman claims the other side is trying to use intimidation. Right!  | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
and i thought this was about unicorns, dang | ||
| Danger_dave |
Unicorns play leapfrog very well - till it's your turn. | ||
| Slaughter |
See - this is a good thing the nice Union does. Kind of a Public Service Announcement  (Message edited by slaughter on September 25, 2011) | ||
| Reepicheep |
Looks like the sign wasn't done by the writers guild either... Dang Non Union Sign Shops. | ||
| Pwnzor |
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| Just_ziptab |
The good thing about unions is they operate just like our government.........roll models for us all...........  | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
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| Reindog |
Unions can be wonderful. Two weeks ago, we had a family reunion in San Francisco for the unveiling of the headstone of my deceased mother-in-law. We stayed at the Hyatt Embarcadero where we had made reservations months ago. Well, the lovely union pulled a strike at 4AM on the day of our arrival. We had to endure the jerkiest of jerks blaring bullhorns at us from literally three feet away when we entered and left the hotel. They were attacking the customer which is pretty silly as they fail to comprehend where their paycheck comes from. The strikers have 100% health care and a raise. I have 0% sympathy for these idiotic goons. | ||
| Kc10_fe |
Union guy here. Proud of my work and my pay. Skilled trades should never be lumped in with the likes of the SEIU. Skilled trades is whats left of the guilds from the past. Brickies, Masons, Tapers, Glazers, Tin knockers, Miners, (cough Carpenters), Hot and cold pipe fitters, HVAC, plumbers, Electricians, Machinists, Iron workers, & Elevator folks like me have put in on average 4+ years of school and 6800-8000+ hours on the job to learn the trades. Thats a minimum of just scratching the surface for some of our trades. The SEIU does not represent who or what we are or accomplish. Some guy who has chosen to accel in life by sweeping a sidewalk or changing light bulbs for $10 bucks an hour can never represent what the skilled trades have created in the past 140 years. They court illegals which pisses me off to no end but thats another argument. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I do believe that unions provide a good service when the union operates on behalf of its members. The problem is when union leadership takes from its members and uses these hard earned resources to hoodwink its members and advocate for laws and policies that are diametrically opposed to the true benefit of the union's members. I have always wondered why union members allow the leadership to play footsie with illegal immigration. How can inviting and legalizing millions of illegal workers into your economic system to drive down wages be good for union members? | ||
| Kc10_fe |
 This is work folks. Some of our largest critics dont have the balls to even put their head or foot in the hoistway to look downor up. From empty walls to 1500FPM elevators. | ||
| Rich |
They send me a check every month, just like they said they would for the years I worked. | ||
| Davegess |
There are good ones and bad ones just like companies and people. We would not have the current protections for workers without them and I gotta think that as they get squashed we will begin to see some of these protections go away. That said I think the major industrial ones like the UAW have not gotten the word that the goal is to make the company more competitive so you can kick the other guys butt and have a bigger pie to split up. They are stuck in the 1950's in many ways. | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
KC10, one of our employees is doing some work at your International Union office today.  | ||
| Reepicheep |
Nice succinct summary Mr. Gess! | ||
| Xl1200r |
I do believe that unions provide a good service when the union operates on behalf of its members. I agree. I think there are good ones out there, but in many places they are either no longer needed (why does a desk jockey at the state need union protection?) or refuse to stop shooting themselves in the foot (UAW). The ones which exist to promote their trade, their workers and the skill of those workers and actively seek to improve the quality of work being done get my praise. The ones who strike because they can't keep Cadillac health insurance at no cost to them in a bad economy for their desk job at Verizon get no sympathy from me. | ||
| Jayvee |
I work for the County in a non-skilled office job, we're sort of 'forced' to join the Union in order to work here. So I get no sympathy from me... | ||
| Strokizator |
Hey Kc10, do you ever get used to that stuff or do your nuts tighten up every time you look over the edge? I remember the "old days" in the sprinkler trade. No zoom-boom, scissors lifts or safety harnesses. No thinwall pipe either. Back then it was scaffold boards that flexed like a trampoline, kicker boards tied off to bar joists and heavy-as-hell sch.40 8" threaded mains. Chain tongs and compound wrenches. You had to be tough back then, brains were optional. The old joke about employment qualifications was a size 48 jacket and a number 2 hat. Lots of good guys in the union then (and still) but also lots of guys who weren't so good but made the exact same wage. That's my main beef. | ||
| Cowboy |
A man should be paid what he is worth no more noi less. he should be able to decide. | ||
| Blake |
Dave, >>> I gotta think that as (unions) get squashed we will begin to see some of these protections go away. I'm genuinely curious what necessary protection garnered by organized labor do you perceive may be at risk? | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
5 day work weeks 40 hour work weeks 8 hour work days overtime pay | ||
| Crusty |
I've held many different jobs in various occupations; some were Unionized, some were not. Some of the Unions were really good; some were a joke. I'd point out some of the good things that I've experienced directly; but on Badweb, I'd be called a troll and a liar, and numerous people would jump to point out the fallacies in my statements. I really dislike kangaroo courts. | ||
| Ulynut |
My "Union" surprised us with a 30% pay cut, and at the same time, increased monthly dues by $5.00. This month, the B.A. just got his new Escalade delivered, compliments of the suckers..I mean "Union" membership. He needs a $65,000 Cadillac though. I mean, you can't drive around in an Escort or anything can you? |
