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lol you don't think these stores use strong arm tactics? Why do you think they get everything they want? Cause they are the MASTER of strong arm tactics.
Any Walmart store that wants to start a union is shut down plain and simple. That is how they crush any uprising and use these examples to scare the sheeple at the other stores.
Can you give an example of where a WalMart crushed an uprising? I am not saying it never happened but I would like to read about an actual situation.
This is a fascinating question, and I may as well share my own experiences:
1) Good unions: ASPEP is a collective bargining group (similar to a union) that protects the rights of engineers at several companies. I have friends that are a part of this group, and they have done their best in combating corporate greed and standing up for the workers.
2) Bad unions: Years ago, my brother got a summer job at a local grocery store. To do so, he had to join their union and pay the union dues... but the union made it very clear that he would get NO benefits from being part of the union until he had been there 1 year. This is a great scam since the union dues cut into an already poverty-wage job AND the union doesn't have to do anything to earn these dues since most workers - particularly teens at summer jobs - won't be there for a full year!
3) Crazy opinions about unions: At my most recent employer, there were several unions that protected the draftsmen and shop workers, while the engineers had no union protection (which is typical.) The company had trained the engineers to hate the unions and blame everything on them. Keep in mind that the union was somewhat successful in protecting its people: the senior union members didn't have to give up their 6th week of vacation when they reached 30 years (unlike the engineers), the union member's healthcare costs went up at a slower rate (unlike that of the engineers), and so on.
But, the company's brainwashing was successful, and the engineers all hated the union even though it wasn't the union who was taking their vacation, their benefits, and eventually their jobs.
Rambler123: Bad unions: Years ago, my brother got a summer job at a local grocery store. To do so, he had to join their union and pay the union dues... but the union made it very clear that he would get NO benefits from being part of the union until he had been there 1 year. This is a great scam since the union dues cut into an already poverty-wage job AND the union doesn't have to do anything to earn these dues since most workers - particularly teens at summer jobs - won't be there for a full year!
I don't think this is true. Where I work the union has to represent even workers who aren't in the union. I doubt that the union could legally tell a dues paying member they'd get no representation.
Also the benefit of being in a union are increased pay and better benefits. The union can't deny someone those benefits only the employer can do that.
Rambler123: Bad unions: Years ago, my brother got a summer job at a local grocery store. To do so, he had to join their union and pay the union dues... but the union made it very clear that he would get NO benefits from being part of the union until he had been there 1 year. This is a great scam since the union dues cut into an already poverty-wage job AND the union doesn't have to do anything to earn these dues since most workers - particularly teens at summer jobs - won't be there for a full year!
I don't think this is true. Where I work the union has to represent even workers who aren't in the union. I doubt that the union could legally tell a dues paying member they'd get no representation.
Also the benefit of being in a union are increased pay and better benefits. The union can't deny someone those benefits only the employer can do that.
I believe it is entirely true. I have never heard of a union representing people who were not in that union. That is not very fair to those who are and who paid their dues.
When I worked for the insurance company that paid health claims and for Unions, the first thing we had to do when a claim was submitted was to look up the amount of hours the employee had in his/her bank.
If they did not have enough they did not get health benefits. But they had to be union members to work at their stores. The idea is that if people worked the right amount of hours one month, their union dues would allow them to be entitled to coverage. If they fell below those hours, they couldn't get benefits but if they kept up their dues, maybe next month they would be eligible again.
In any case, they had to be in the union and had to pay dues every month. That's just the way it worked. And while the employer did contribute to the health insurance, it was the unions that made the payments through union funds along with the employer contributions. The unions made the rules.
Sometimes the employers would deliberately hold off on hours the employees could work to keep down their part of the expense but their employees still had to pay union dues.
I believe it is entirely true. I have never heard of a union representing people who were not in that union. That is not very fair to those who are and who paid their dues.
When I worked for the insurance company that paid health claims and for Unions, the first thing we had to do when a claim was submitted was to look up the amount of hours the employee had in his/her bank.
If they did not have enough they did not get health benefits. But they had to be union members to work at their stores. The idea is that if people worked the right amount of hours one month, their union dues would allow them to be entitled to coverage. If they fell below those hours, they couldn't get benefits but if they kept up their dues, maybe next month they would be eligible again.
In any case, they had to be in the union and had to pay dues every month. That's just the way it worked. And while the employer did contribute to the health insurance, it was the unions that made the payments through union funds along with the employer contributions. The unions made the rules.
Sometimes the employers would deliberately hold off on hours the employees could work to keep down their part of the expense but their employees still had to pay union dues.
Yes, does happens, and it's not fair to the dues paying members. In every place I worked, where joining the union was voluntary, I was told that even if I turned down being in the union, the union would by law have to represent me in any disputes with the employer.
Well, what you describe isn't employer provided health insurance, it seems like it is union provided health insurance.
In that situation, it makes sense you'd have to join the union to get their union provided health insurance.
Yes you are right, I misspoke. The employer tried to keep hours down so they wouldn't have to pay whatever employee benefits for which they were responsible. But you are correct in that the health benefits came from a union trust fund.
Isn't it terrible how some unions are able to protect people's jobs, make sure they get $12,000 worth of a bonus after they claimed bankruptcy and were bailed out by the government & tax payers? BUT YET , our teachers Unions can't save their jobs, or stop mandatory furlough's,etc...?
Some teachers being forced into early retirement but with all benefits being taken away?
It is terrible and happening right now, today. Headline in our paper.
The UAW should be ashamed of their greed and their whining, but then again, it worked, they got what they wanted..,
In the mean time, teachers, who help our children are loosing their jobs, schools are closing & programs are being cut.
Isn't it terrible how some unions are able to protect people's jobs, make sure they get $12,000 worth of a bonus after they claimed bankruptcy and were bailed out by the government & tax payers? BUT YET , our teachers Unions can't save their jobs, or stop mandatory furlough's,etc...?
Some teachers being forced into early retirement but with all benefits being taken away?
It is terrible and happening right now, today. Headline in our paper.
The UAW should be ashamed of their greed and their whining, but then again, it worked, they got what they wanted..,
In the mean time, teachers, who help our children are loosing their jobs, schools are closing & programs are being cut.
Enough people want to buy cars to give the UAW bargaining power. Not enough people make enough to pay taxes and support teacher's wages. Maybe if everyone was represented by the UAW, we wouldn't have this problem
It's pretty simple actually. There are X amount of people who need x amount of money to live. Otherwise those X amount of people not makng X amount of money will be sucking off everyone else. Case in point all those hispanic families breeding like rabbits having 5 kids on minimum wage jobs!!!!! So in the end all this crap fighting over unions this and unions that really means frock all. Look the corporation has been raping the worker in America for the last 50 years. If worker pay has kept up with corporate profits and CEO pay no one would be sitting around complaining. But it hasn't. And you're a moron if you think this isn't all by intentional design. The US labor markets have been engineered at the highest levels, in the classrooms and backrooms of American universities to be what they are today. The result? the destruction of solid middle income medium skilled jobs. All of the once well paid medium educated workers are now being relegated to competing for higher income higher skilled jobs with the need for more education or they are reduced to becoming lower skilled lower paid workers. It's intentionally and insidiously designed competition into the labor markets. And who benefits? The big business colleges and universities, governments, CEOs and corporate profits.
Hence there is even more need for organized labor now than there has ever been. Problem with organized labor is it has succumbed to the same type of elitist level corruption and bribery government has. Unions maintain balance between labor and capital.
Hell even if shareholder profits were rising along with CEO and corporate profits I might rethink my position on unions. But even shareholders are getting hosed and plundered at the economic stake by corporate greed. Unions were the back bone of the middle class in this country. NO one can deny that fact. Germany has some of the strongest unions, especially auto, in the world and their CEO's make a third of what their American counterparts do. And last time I heard despite all the eurozone hoopla they are one of the west's economic powerhouses right now.
Enough people want to buy cars to give the UAW bargaining power. Not enough people make enough to pay taxes and support teacher's wages. Maybe if everyone was represented by the UAW, we wouldn't have this problem
Last time I heard, didn't taxpayers foot the bill for the government buyout?
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