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The problem with unions is that they served their purpose at one time, but today are largely unnecessary. Pro-union types will say that if unions were to vanish we would be back working 14-hour shifts in unclean, dangerous conditions for slave wages, as if those working non-union jobs today find themselves in that situation. We have government regulations in place today to protect all workers from those types of working conditions.
They're not afraid of that; they're afraid of losing their unrealistic salaries and benefits, like toll collectors making over $60k or police officers retiring with pensions in their 40's.
I'll save you some time and quote the most important reason unions are still needed.
Quote:
The McAteer report dedicates an entire chapter to the "lack of air: issue. The team discovered that poor -- even absent -- ventilation was a chronic problem. Management didn't respond respond to complaints, and sometimes did worse.
For example, section foreman Dean Jones came home practically every day complaining there wasn't enough air, his wife said. He told his bosses about the problem, but action was never taken. When Dean finally took matters in his own hands and shut down the section for lack of air, this is how his boss responded.
Chris Blanchard called the dispatcher and told him to tell Dean if he didn't get the section running in so many minutes he would be fired. Being fired was a scary prospect for a man whose 14-year-old son had a serious illness. "Chris Blanchard knows that my son has cystic fibrosis, he knew my husband needed the insurance and would have to work," [Dean's wife] said.
No matter how much better you are at your job than the next person, your compensation is the same.
That just seems wrong to me.
You are WRONG about compensation, in a union shop there are many ways a better worker gets compensated, first off it puts the person on the fast track for a higher paying management job with better medical plan and other benies, don't forget what ever the union member gets lower management always get something a little better while upper management well they get hundreds of thousands in stock option bonuses besides their six or seven figure salaries and they don't even have to do a good job, why don't you complain about them.
Other benies for the "better worker"
Better job assignments, more advance trainning
more overtime opportunities
less likely to get reprimanded for vialation of company policy for instance returning late from lunch etc.
Asking for a vacation day for tomorrow when you are suppose to give a week's notice no problem.
There are many ways that a person's performance gets rewarded in a union shop, just as a person that does not meet the supervisors expectations will get dumped on.
I wonder....do you ever really know what you are talking about? I have seen no evidence that you do.
Well, FOX or Breitfart isn't going to give you any supporting information on that, so I can see where you may not be aware, but there is quite a lot. There have been mutiple publication of report finding for a long time. Here's just one. Feel free to ignore it if you like, or, , do some research.
Key points:
-1300 fed safety violations 2005 - 2010
-Union membership from 120k in 1978 to 15k in 20010.
I see a correlation between diminished unionization increased executive pay, decreased safety standards, and decreased standards of living across an entire industry.
But that's right...unions are the bad ones hurting people and serving no purpose today...
Would this have happened w/ a strong union presence in place? But that's right... corporate overlords rock.
Wife and I were traveling in Kentucky recently. We went up into Butcher Holler to see "the coalminer's daughters" home. We visited and had a nice talk with her brother at Webb's store. He gave us a picture of the dismal working conditions the miners worked under. The 'artwork' on the side of a home on the way in gave me an idea, a miner on his hands and knees crawling thru the mine. When asked Mr Webb said that was life in the mines, most of the veins of coal were less than 3' in height, their whole work day was spent crawling. The vein in this holler was well below the creekbed and they all lived with the thoughts of a flood.
When you put the wellbeing of shareholders' profits ahead of the wellbeing of the workers producing those profit we will need unions.
Let me add examples of unions you would normally miss... NRA, AMA...
Don't forget ALL the major sports leagues have unions. I guess stories about bankrupt players living with their job related disabilities like Iron Mike Webster should be ignored, too.
Wife and I were traveling in Kentucky recently. We went up into Butcher Holler to see "the coalminer's daughters" home. We visited and had a nice talk with her brother at Webb's store. He gave us a picture of the dismal working conditions the miners worked under. The 'artwork' on the side of a home on the way in gave me an idea, a miner on his hands and knees crawling thru the mine. When asked Mr Webb said that was life in the mines, most of the veins of coal were less than 3' in height, their whole work day was spent crawling. The vein in this holler was well below the creekbed and they all lived with the thoughts of a flood.
When you put the wellbeing of shareholders' profits ahead of the wellbeing of the workers producing those profit we will need unions.
This is so true. I'm waiting for someone who calls unions useless & unfair to respond to this report. I'd love to hear how they justify this.
Unions also hold the good/best employees back from negotiating better pay and benefits for themselves.
What gives them the right to do that?
Because you're wrong. I've had several jobs where the employer paid me a premium to work for them. The union pay scales are minimums, an employer is free to pay more and many do to retain good workers.
People that are against unions usually never had a union job or just worked at one for a short period of time not long enough to realise the need for a union.
Others work in fields where they really do not have the issues that require a union so they have a hard time figuring out what good is a union.
Living in Northern Virginia outside of D.C. I know alot of people that have these six figured jobs working for the government/military or for a contractor that has a government/military contract, so they have a difficult time figuring out why people need unions or the plight of everyday people, the war economy has been very good to them.
Last edited by ted08721; 02-21-2012 at 09:52 AM..
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