Whats your take on Unions?
- Thread starter Johnnny
- Start date
Unions have helped bring about a lot of good things:
-Shorter work weeks
-Better pay
-Better benefits
-Safer working conditions
To name a few.
I guess we can go back to the days of the company store(like the Wall Mart model), but I think in the end you end up with a much more impoverished society. Spreading the wealth around makes sense because if more people have greater buying power the more robust a market place is. Unions help do that.
-Shorter work weeks
-Better pay
-Better benefits
-Safer working conditions
To name a few.
I guess we can go back to the days of the company store(like the Wall Mart model), but I think in the end you end up with a much more impoverished society. Spreading the wealth around makes sense because if more people have greater buying power the more robust a market place is. Unions help do that.
There is not much wrong with Walmart, they serve a purpose in that they provide simple to produce items at a cheap price. If you want paper clips, picture frames, work sox go to Walmart and save some money. If you want crown jewels, you might want to check out the jewellers first. Why should people get ripped off on things like paper clips, picture frames and work sox?
LOL the majority miners at inco just sit around on there ass's all day and the union protects there jobs. Out of 8 hour day they work 3 hours...
When i took the geological technologist program at cambrian , all the mining techs were bragging about how easy they are going to have things.....
i dont like that
When i took the geological technologist program at cambrian , all the mining techs were bragging about how easy they are going to have things.....
i dont like that
Labour laws and people speaking up for better conditions helped unions get establised..Unions did good in the 70's ..no more ..They have no power .The rules are in place..Companies know all the loop holes...
your right Johnny ....You do a good job ..prove your worth ..You will get what you ask for.(with in reason)Union or not
your right Johnny ....You do a good job ..prove your worth ..You will get what you ask for.(with in reason)Union or not
It's a good thing human rights weren't left to you to work out GF or we would still be in the early industrial revolution period and our children would still be filling coal trucks in the dark at two thousand feet for sixteen hours a day or in the cottin mills at four or five years of age, seriously, or sold to a ship at age twelve like my grandfather.
That open door you're fond of opens from the inside only and only when you get an invite, that person in there is trained to screw you softly so you don't even know you've been violated, and you walk away with a great big smile on your face because she's wispered in your ear that you are just the sort they've been looking for and they have plans for you, all you have to do is wait patiently and keep up, or improve, the good effort for the team, and when he tells you the same thing next year it woks just like the first time and if you ever do catch on to the rubber chicken there is nothing you can do but get on your knees again and again.
One of the inherent problems with union pay is that everyone in a certain category gets paid the same money, no matter what they produce for the employer. The theory is good - everyone has a comfortable and decent wage.
However, the reality is that not everyone works at the same level of productivity. There are going to be some people that look for ways to get out of doing hard work, and yet their pay is still part of the company's expense line. And the rest of the company has to take up the slack to make up for the portion of the employee's pay that is producing nothing at all.
This happens in non-unionized companies too. The difference is that the non-union company are free to use a pay for performance system that will reflect different levels of performance through differences in pay increases. It's kind of a "you get what you pay for" setup. If done well, this keeps the company's expenses more in line with their results and thus, makes for a stronger company that can continue to employ people.
We'll pay more (if and when that happens) Why cross that bridge now? No sense in borrowing trouble. When it happens we all might be dead.
Uh, where would the competition go? Are you concerned about a monopoly on consumer goods like paper clips? Don't worry...there are enough entrepreneurs out there who love competition like big, unwieldy retail giants...
Yup and the workers only have to fork over for WCB, income tax, etc. instead of having union dues sucked out of them as well.
The competition won't go anywhere; at present, Zellers and Canadian Tire are working hard to be just like WalMart.
Well Gee Anna...yes, those other deductions are certainly there alright...part of the cost of "having things taken care of" for us, right? :-|
Yup. I see unions a bit like insurance companies. It's what I meant by "businesses". You fork over all those premiums (dues) and if nothing ever happens, what have you gotten in return? Nothing. And you've probably gone on strike a few times, so you're out that much more. Dumb. lol
Ironically, when I toured one of the paper mills on the Island, the operators was just sitting on their asses all day. Reading a book, playing solitaire. Why? Because if they weren't, it means they're fixing something. And if something needed to be fixed, paper wasn't flowing. So, in essence, the less work you see them doing means more money is being made... LOL.
What?... Union or not .There's always talk.Whether your in the loop or not...Depends on the place you work ...Although in a union there's more people in the Gossip/telephone line..You remember sitting the circle in kindergarden and having to whisper in the ear of the person next to you ..It's never the same message you sent when it comes back...
I prefer to be straight up and cut through all the B.S. and middle people ..Get the answer.The solution ..Help Solve/trouble shoot the problem ...Demand it if necessary (with repsect)..
Get it right from source...
I think you should read some of my posts before sending me back to Pre industrial times
For/with/by the people (and 4 those who have no voice..The weak /poor and forgotten..I'm an artist 1st )
Anyway ...Unions have made themselves redundant and irrelevant with the creation of technology ..
Green/clean tech ... remember ..?
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I have yet to see a union that isn't in bed with management. At least to some degree and in most cases, close to 100%. In the last negotiations, the union did basically nil. They make big promises on what they are negotiating for such as - chairs for cashiers to sit on, baggers for over half the time on till, cashiers to be allowed water to drink at the till (currently we are not allowed to have a drink of water with us at the till (human rights issue?), a time clock was to be placed as close as possible to the lunch room. What we received out of all of this (and the list I have quoted is a very very small portion of what they said they were asking for) is - first of all, myself and many others lost our right to an expected raise of 25 cents per hour upon attaining 520 hours of work. We were right near the border of their cut-off date and they simply zeroed out those work hours and we had to start from scratch. Due to carpal tunnel surgery, it has taken me a year to make up the hours again so only in about the last month did I receive the raise I should have but it's now based on a grid so - instead of 25 cents per hour, I received 15 cents. So, I'm being paid 10 cents less than the 25 cents I should have received about 11 months ago. On top of that - once you have been off work a specific amount of time (medical or otherwise) they take your medical away from you. If you do not maintain 22 hours of work per week, you lose your medical and you must work at least the 22 hours for 3 months before you qualify again. Every April everyone gets 50 cents per hour raise but there is a ceiling per pay grid. With the major cuts in hours that are happening, I will never work enough hours to reach that ceiling. The time clock (2nd time this has been negotiated) has never been installed. Where my break time should begin and end when I get to the lunch room, it instead starts when I leave my till (un-like all other workers in the store). So - if I am on any shift that is less than 8 hours, I get a 15 min. break. That's 2 min. to get to the lunch room and 2 back. About 3 min. to use the washroom leaving about 8 min. to eat a meal depending on the time of the day a person is taking their break. I don't do well at trying to cram a meal into myself in 8 minutes. Other than a few cents raise, we received nothing the union was asking for. We are over-worked and under-paid. Those of us on a lower pay grid get less medical coverage than the higher grids (old employees who have been with the store for over 20 years) but - that said, we still get pretty good medical coverage. Any meds I need are free. They paid $1500.00 toward my dental (that coupled with my husband's plan who paid about the same) meant I paid out only about $140.00 toward my bill. I won't fare so well with glasses but I still get a break from both sides. My glasses will still cost me about $250.00. They started at $585.00 There are good and bad things but just not lots of good things.
I can look at it and say that without the medical plan and without union dues, I would have paid about the same right? My union dues are $1212.00 per year so that's only a saving of about $300 in reality for dental if I did not pay union dues.
I can look at it and say that without the medical plan and without union dues, I would have paid about the same right? My union dues are $1212.00 per year so that's only a saving of about $300 in reality for dental if I did not pay union dues.
Good message vanisle ...They give it to take it away..Companies threatin to take it away ..Unions work to get more than they know they can ..They settle on the law..The standard of living ..Which is declining in Canada ..Union or not...
No extra wages or benefits when all is payed/ equalled out..
Better without a union
No extra wages or benefits when all is payed/ equalled out..
Better without a union
