Whats your take on Unions?

[JLM]

You were raised as a Nazi fascist ally who ran like a girl when the commies came a knockin'. We know how easily you are intimidated.

I'm not suprised the hard nosers gave you hard time because you couldn't pull your own weight.

I never saw a "hard noser" who could pull his own weight. One hard noser I did know was born in Germany or Poland in the 1930s, whined continuously about how our managers were screwing us (why would a guy work for a company like that?) and compared our "oppressive" conditions to that of the ovens of Auswitz and Birkenau. :lol::lol:

 

[YukonJack]

I never knew the term "hard-noser" but I met them in person, when they slashed my tires on the company parking lot, when I proudly did their job as "scab" during a strike.

Were they ever pi$$ed off when the Company replaced the slashed tires for me. Free of charge!

BTW, the job I and other "scabs" did, saved the contract with the customer and saved the jobs of the righteous dudes on the picket line.

 

[JLM]

I never knew the term "hard-noser" but I met them in person, when they slashed my tires on the company parking lot, when I proudly did their job as "scab" during a strike.

Were they ever pi$$ed off when the Company replaced the slashed tires for me. Free of charge!

BTW, the job I and other "scabs" did, saved the contract with the customer and saved the jobs of the righteous dudes on the picket line.

I remember being called a "scab" years ago when I crossed a picket line to pick up my mail. I guess I was remiss in not reading Trudeau's Charter of Rights to see if in fact that was one of my rights. :lol:

 

[Machjo]

I think the main problem I see with unions is that they're so... divisive.

Ironic, isn't it.

 

[JLM]

I think the main problem I see with unions is that they're so... divisive.

Ironic, isn't it.

Absolutely- just the fact that their rights superceded my right to receive my mail in a timely manner (which could be important for such things as perserving my credit rating) makes my blood boil.

 

[Machjo]

So what could we replace a union with that would truly be unifying rather than divisive?

I don't necessarily know the answer myself, but I think John Stuart Mill was on to something with his idea of economic democracy, which would promote collaborative decision making between workers and management rather than divisiveness. This divisiveness just make a mockery of the very word 'union'.

 

[DaSleeper]

I remember being called a "scab" years ago when I crossed a picket line to pick up my mail. I guess I was remiss in not reading Trudeau's Charter of Rights to see if in fact that was one of my rights. :lol:

In '75 I was part of the paper workers nationwide strike that lasted five months, what a lot of people don't know was that this strike was brought on by the Canadian industry to bring up the price of newsprint by creating a shortage...that strike was so friendly that the the company I worked for even agreed to pay the the "package" (Medical and life insurance etc.) for the duration of the strike if we did an orderly shutdown and cleaned-up before leaving the premises.:lol:
Since I had inside information that the strike would last 5 to 6 months, I up and left town and went to work for a pipeline company.... While working for them that winter...the Super asked me to grab a pick-up and go to a nearby town to a paper-mill to pick up a piece for a "dozer" that had broken down.
I made him aware that I might not be able to cross the picket line
When I got to the mill and saw the picket line... I stopped and went to have a chat with the strike captain and explained my predicament....he was also aware that that was a bullshyte strike...told me he was letting me through but I would have to buy coffee for the boys. Just as I was getting in the truck, another truck was coming out of the mill yard and we transferred the dozer part to my truck.
Before delivering the piece I made a small detour to a liquor store to pick up a forty ouncer and brought it back to the picket line with an apology <wink> that I couldn't get any coffee.
Sometimes a little diplomacy works better than being hard nosed

 

[taxslave]

Let's hear your story or is it going to be about how you spent 20 years apparently trapped in bondage living a shiitty life?

You wish. Not all of us have a crappy life like you. Biggest bitch is the inability of unions to be flexible to work locations. One size does NOT fit all. What works in town does not work in camp situations. Like OT. UNion insists we must get OT after 8 hrs. and most DT after 10. Now this works well in town but when you are in a camp and they won't let you work more than 9 snd then you get to sit in camp. I would rather work 11 or 12 at straight time and make more money since it is not like you have a life in camp.
A union logging camp I worked in like most had two shifts of mechanics. Seniority got you onto days. As a result day shift wound up with lifers and night had a constant change over. As there were more on nights we forced a vote for changing shifts. The oldtimers on days told both the union and management that if they had to go on nights they would do even less work. Both caved and so we never got our shift rotations. I left shortly after.
The dealer ship branch i served part of my apprenticeship in got busy enough that we needed to do an afternoon shift. We worked out a deal with the branch manager that afternoon shift would start at 1400 and 1200 on friday. Silly bugger went to OK it with the union and they said no because then all the other branches would want the same deal. Needless to say we made night shift not work out so well.
I don't have a great problem with the concept of unions, I grew up in a union logging camp. But they are far too rigid in their thinking on lots of things like seniority and promotions and job descriptions and piecework. When I was contracting there were many times I wished a union on all my competitors.