Since I blog about work alot, not the most popular threads since most folks seem to prefer straight politics, I've always had a running concern about how specific to get so I'm usually fairly vague for obvious reasons. Now I've had two jobs in my life that had major unions behind them, the dues always go up of course and there is the endless politicking for Democratic politicians (I'm beginning to think my union is socialist) and so I've come to two conclusions. Unions are corrupt and they don't help you. Now as the story goes back in the day one union for food workers was having trouble with the funds, going under and the very food company they were always at odds with at the negotiation table bailed them out instead of letting them go under......hmmmmmm......Now if you ask most workers do you work in a better workplace environment with good morale because of your union they always hesitate and pretty much the only thing they can come up with are those automatic raises you get even the slackers (and that's ANOTHER problem). Now I've seen folks whom the manager didn't like, he or she is on the firing line for whatever reason (manager ain't getting laid, whatever) and there has to be a union meeting set up of course before they can fire you and the union instead of fighting for the worker practically rubber-stamps the decision of management. As my friend says about unions, priests and lawyers you go to them with a problem or issue and they have this retarded clown look on their face - "I can't help you" - and though I've been pro-union my whole life I'm beginning to think we'd be better off without them. Went to a shop steward once with a legitimate issue and he warned me against pursuing it - "Joe's gonna cut your hours if you do" - but I was only discussing it, hashing it out because, well you're the shop steward buddy. Sure you will always have injustice and unfairness in the workplace but when the union doesn't care or backs up the management side instead of hearing out and fighting for the lowly worker you know something's up, something ain't right and it's a sage piece of advice I proffer to others before pursuing something know what you're dealing with. Hell they might all be having sex with each other and the rightness or wrongness of an issue may be as plain as day to YOU but cha'know. Oh doesn't matter if you're black either, not in the world of thuganomics. You simply want more bang for the buck and you can do without that socialist newsletter you get every month.
What are your thoughts on unions? (soapie must have a few)
I abhor the collective but then why ask me? Let George McGovern tell it like it is:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nrtw.org/blog/liberal-icon-george-mcgovern-08082008
Voting is an immense privilege.
That is why I am concerned about a new development that could deny this freedom to many Americans. As a longtime friend of labor unions, I must raise my voice against pending legislation I see as a disturbing and undemocratic overreach not in the interest of either management or labor.
The legislation is called the Employee Free Choice Act, and I am sad to say it runs counter to ideals that were once at the core of the labor movement. Instead of providing a voice for the unheard, EFCA risks silencing those who would speak.
The key provision of EFCA is a change in the mechanism by which unions are formed and recognized. Instead of a private election with a secret ballot overseen by an impartial federal board, union organizers would simply need to gather signatures from more than 50% of the employees in a workplace or bargaining unit, a system known as "card-check." There are many documented cases where workers have been pressured, harassed, tricked and intimidated into signing cards that have led to mandatory payment of dues.
Under EFCA, workers could lose the freedom to express their will in private, the right to make a decision without anyone peering over their shoulder, free from fear of reprisal.
There's no question that unions have done much good for this country. Their tenacious efforts have benefited millions of workers and helped build a strong middle class. They gave workers a new voice and pushed for laws that protect individuals from unfair treatment. They have been a friend to the Democratic Party, and so I oppose this legislation respectfully and with care.
To my friends supporting EFCA I say this: We cannot be a party that strips working Americans of the right to a secret-ballot election. We are the party that has always defended the rights of the working class. To fail to ensure the right to vote free of intimidation and coercion from all sides would be a betrayal of what we have always championed.
Some of the most respected Democratic members of Congress -- including Reps. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, George Miller and Pete Stark of California, and Barney Frank of Massachusetts -- have advised that workers in developing countries such as Mexico insist on the secret ballot when voting as to whether or not their workplaces should have a union. We should have no less for employees in our country.
I worry that there has been too little discussion about EFCA's true ramifications, and I think much of the congressional support is based on a desire to give our friends among union leaders what they want. But part of being a good steward of democracy means telling our friends "no" when they press for a course that in the long run may weaken labor and disrupt a tried and trusted method for conducting honest elections.
Now I'm not coming at this from your libertarian/soapie POV since as I've said I've been pro-union most of my adult life. I'm coming at this more from a personal angle, what I've seen and heard on jobs proudly boasting unions. What I've concluded is (a)unions are corrupt and (b)they don't help you. I've seen too many cases of workers with legitimate gripes or who were gonna be fired and the union didn't fight for them the way unions should but seemed to be in collusion with management. I'm with you soapie on the card-check matter but I'm sticking my ladle more into the stew here saying why unions suck in everyday workaday matters. In short unions are overrated.
ReplyDeleteVery well. I can give you a flurry of personal and legitimate reasons why they suck. Here goes:
ReplyDelete- They breed mediocrity. Where's the incentive for the best worker on the line to put in 100% if Joe Jackoff isn't pulling his weight?
- As much as they proclaim to assert fairness for the worker and the rights of the workers, they collectively strongarm and squash the hell out of the employer who gave you the damn job to begin with.
- They place demands before production. This is why they are becoming exceedingly bankrupt. This is why the Iron Range in Minnesota, the Steel Industry in Pittsburg, and numerous areas of what used to be the auto market in Detroit, are virtual ghost towns today.
- They demonize the effects of business interests in politics while denying their own influence and tactics of the same.
- They work tirelessly to put initiatives on local ballots intentially in "off" election years with the full pursuit of getting their own members out to vote for said initiatives so that they may restructure their own contracts.
I despise them to such a degree that I'm almost willing to support them wholly in the hopes that they will literally implode upon themselves only to rise up against the very government bureaucrats that promised them everything just as they did in Greece. And when they do I'm going sit here on my pedistal with a big fat grin because I'll have seen it coming from a mile away.
When I get my union newsletter in the mail I browse through it quickly and if you can put a cap on it it's socialism. They use your dues to support Democrats and Democrats only the hell with the way you feel. I want to hear from others who've had unionized jobs and what they thought of their own unions. Did you ever go to a union with a legitimate issue and not have it resolved to your satisfaction? Have you seen others fired that shouldn't have been because their own unions chose to not back them up? Is your union corrupt and bear in mind that corruption can be so sophisticated that it's subtle, you may not even notice it. I've been treated well on non-union jobs and not so well at the unionized jobs. Did I say they're overrated?
ReplyDeleteNever worked under a union but of course they like socialism, there is no incentive in unions or in socialism to work hard, everyone thinks they just deserve to be compensated for showing up.
ReplyDeleteWell I shouldn't have said "everyone" because I know you don't think that way, Z-man, but you get my drift?
ReplyDeleteGetting back to that commercial food workers union that was bailed out by the very food company they were always at odds with at bargaining time, doesn't make sense and it points to organized crime. A company that's always having budget problems might be paying off the mob. Those 1-800 numbers you see posted in some workplaces if you see unethical or unlawful conduct, the problem is a company cannot investigate itself and so again you have the need for an outside judgement. That shop steward that didn't want to hear me out on my issue, well that's fine just give me my dues back. Anything becomes corrupt over time and unions are no exception. They have outlived their usefulness.
ReplyDeleteAs I've been talking about here maybe unions don't have much power to stop the boss from unjustly firing someone, at least the unions in my experience didn't but this begs the question: if you're having about 7 bucks for union dues taken out of your paycheck every week and you get fired well at least without a union you could have kept those weekly 7 bucks. Unions are a racket. They create jobs for people in offices, they become a special-interest for the Democratic party and the dues that are taken out of your paycheck you could at least fill up the car with gas and go out to eat.
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