ironeagle, sorry to hear about what happened to your dad, i don't think anyone likes to hear about stuff like that. i hope he gets his retirement.
I'd like to address the "protecting lazy workers" thing. like i said in my last post, Yellow, Roadway, C.F., and A.B.F. were all making record profits, even competing against non-union carriers, until this recession. how can unionized carriers do this if we are all "lazy".
i helped to organize U.P.S.Freight, and after they recognized the union, i would go into there break room and answer questions, explain the contract to the workers, ect..... anyway, while sitting in there, i got to hear there pre-shift meetings. they would talk about there production, damages, load volumes, ect.., i was shocked. they weren't even close to what we were running. that got me to thinking of when i worked for a non-union outfit. it was unorganized. a supervisor would pull you off of a job to go do this or that, so he would look good to his supervisors. this doesn't happen where i work now (unionized carrier). your left alone to do your job, and at the end of the day, we get a lot done!
the general public thinks that being union means your lazy, not so. we set the standard for wages, benefits, and working conditions. so we have to be the best to compete with non-union carriers. otherwise we would have gone out of business a long time ago!

Little D go to a UNION Steel mill or a Car Plant were ONLY AN FREAKING ELECTRICAN getting 50 bucks an hour can change a light bulb or a laborer can move a piece of lumber that is blocking a crane that has stopped all production. I had to get a load at US Steel in the mid 90's and take it to DSM and it was booked HOT aka RIGHT NOW there was a piece of timber cribbing that had fallen and blocked the crane from being able to move I told the FOREMAN that I could move it he goes you do I will blacklist you and your comapny from ever getting loads here and in this company again. In the meantime they called for a laborer to move it 7 hours later one showed up. I ASKED HIM WERE HE HAD BEEN FOR 7 HOURS HE SAID ON HIS COFFEE BREAK I ALSO RECORDED IT AND THE FOREMAN SAYING I COULD NOT MOVE THE PIECE OF TIMBER THAT WAS PREVENTING THE CRANE FROM LOADING ME UP TO SHOW DSM THAT I WAS TRYING TO GET THERE ON TIME AND NOT SCREWING OFF. I FINALLY GET LOADED AND GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE AND HEAD TO DSM IN BLOOMINGOTN NORMAL IL GET THERE AND FIND THE PLANT SHUT DOWN AND THEY HAD BEEN FOR 6 HOURS. MITSUBISHI MOTORS TOOK US STEEL TO COURT AND WON A JUDGEMENT AGAINST THE UNION AND THEM SAYING THAT ANYONE COULD MOVE A PIECE OF WOOD TO GET TRUCKS LOADED NOT JUST A FING LABORER. BTW the United Steel Workers had to pay DSM 750 K in fines since it was their foreman that shut down the auto plant because he refused to use his brain and hands saying it was not his job instead of his fat union butt to move a 12X12 to keep a plant running. BTW how does it feel to pay HOFFA over a million a year plus BENEFITS when he has done nothing for the TEAMSTERS but cost them members. The only reason he can say he grew the Union is he merged them with the RAILWAY WROKERS hoping to get his MOB BUDDIES HANDS ON THEIR PENSION FUND however he forgot that it was handled by the Fedreal Goverment.

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Until the so called President Shows the Nation HIS TRUE Birth Cert NOT A CERT OF LIVE BIRTH I will not consider him My President.

So I have a question and I am not being a smart ### just wondering.If you have a Union can you have a vote to remove it with this law also? I was a member of USW for 5 years,PACE for 10 years,OCAW for 3 years,IBEW for 10 years and will NEVER join another Union UNLESS I get hired at a Union company.The only thing I have seen is protect the workers that WON'T save their own jobs by doing the ##### job.I have all ways hired in for a job not a position. But iuf there is a Union at the company that i hire in with I want to be able to vote on a contract I have to work under. All tho I have never seen a contract that REALY helped the worker.But that is the voters fault vote no and go on strike.Hell sometimes it is the only way.

You have to understand Unions are BIG business now. Chck out the mergers on Unions over the last 5 years. And there is NO oversight of this by ANYONE. It's all about the money now. Everyone is out to merge and build the Money up. Look at the last contracts of Union workers and look at what the Union PROMISED were strike issues. They were going to "hold the companies feet to the fire" over retirees health coverage!See a strike? NOPE. Wage increase! 2% (WOW) what was the cost of living? OH forgot the signing bonuses,$2500.00 and then taxes are taken out. Anyone want to figure it up? This was the USW contract with the OIL COMPANIES! Think back oh around 8 monthes ago or last year what did the companies make? RECORD PROFITS! Keep your money and invest it.

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So 3 union workers do the work of 5 non-union workers,...Yet many think union workers are lazzy????

Well I guess one needs to have dreams.

A very basic barometer of productivity and work place cohesion and adaptation would be Union automakers= HUGE BAILOUT. Non Union automakers= NO BAILOUT. Case closed

I believe the statement was in reference to the policy of the current Admin requiring stimulus payments to be at Union scale. Hence the same money that could employ 5 non-union workers will only employ 3 union scale workers.

As far as work ethic goes we all know how hard it is to get rid of the boat anchors in the crew at a Union shop versus a Non-Union one. I mean as a example the Union rank and file in the teachers unions are chalk full of all kinds of pervs, Marxists and trans-continental socialists. Then you got the top heavy UAW which has seen much recent reward for their years of political ball playing.

But I have yet to hear any of the Union supporters thank the mostly non-union taxpayers for keeping their butts employed through Government subsidized interference in the free market.

I read another post about Unions competing with non union outfits? LOL
Without political payouts unions would be reduced to the public sector only by now.

If Unions can Compete then why are they a dying breed that needs Government to keep them around? Why does every industrialized country with systemic unemployment have large Unions?

Got a bunch of people with their heads in the sand or they have been brainwashed by their local. Take your pick but they surely are not seeing the writing on the wall.

As a former gm line rat I was involved with a few time studies,someone would complaign about being over allocated, union/management would time the person to see how long process took,all you had to do was dog it and usually they removed some work from you.Overworked yea right!!

My x father in law worked the line at Chrysler
He said his job was so easy he could work 15 minutes and take the rest of the hour off
Now not every job is that easy but it gives you a flavor for how things are done

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but it gives you a flavor for how things are done

Yep they keep the bar low, and god help anyone who tries to raise it. Been there, done that.

The union pr is worker safety, benefits, and fair treatment. But the fact is that thats about 20% of what they care about. The other 80% is PAY. The more they can get for the least effort, the better. They see a job that take 2 people to do they want 4 doing that job because that means more dues. And more dues means more political influence.

Now these same yahoo's that went around bragging about how good they had it and laughed at the rest for allowing their evil employers to subjugate them by actually paying them based on productivity and worth to the company. Are now they are standing around crying about their lost jobs and want us to bail them out. Because by god, they are ENTILTED!.

I see nothing has changed...still blaming unions on the auto bailouts when, in fact, it was the company's failure to produce a vehicle the public would purchase. Non union company not requiring a bailout signifies they have a management team that is capable....JMHO.

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A friend and I get into this union nonunion debate sometimes he’s a union carpenter. I do agree with him that the unions did help raise the wages for everyone and when they started the unions did have there place, but like a lot of other things corruption and greed took over. If everything gets unionized which is what he union wants the cost of living will go through the roof. For example take a gallon of milk if you unionize everything from the person sucking out of the cow to the person bagging it at the store that once $4 gallon will be about $30 a gallon. I’m all for people making as much as they can but at some point in time common sense needs to takeover. Take the auto industry. I would agree that the companies are in part to blame, what the companies should have done was told the union to go and pound sand when they came in demanded higher wages. As far as the auto companies not making vehicles that Americas don’t want I would like to see proof of that. Judging by the vehicles I see on the road here in Vegas I would say that Americas like America made vehicles just fine.
One more thing, if the unions care so much about the workingman then why are they pushing for an open vote? Why do they continue to go out and get more people to join the union when they don’t have the work for the people they currently have. And why when you tell a union organizer that you’re not interested they keep pushing and can be extremely rude.