Originally Posted by bigblue19
Yep, and none of it is sustainable. Just ask your former brothers in the Auto, Steel, Textile, Airline, Mining and now Trucking etc.. Industry's.

Is there any Union members that can explain to me why Capital Hill does not allow any Unionization of their employees by law if it is as American as apple pie?

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Bah don't worry...Barack promised us that he would not hire on any lobbyist onto his team.....*cough* other than the 17 that have been on there since he made that promise *cough*. Nothing to worry about!

It's the same hypocrisy they complained about with Bush and Gang being revisited.

He tells everyone in his campaign speeches that they should spread the wealth and learn to live at a lower standard of living. Yet now wants to spend trillions of dollars to get everyone to spend and maintain what the country has become accustomed to. A high standard of living on borrowed money. It's madness.

""Is there any Union members that can explain to me why Capital Hill does not allow any Unionization of their employees by law if it is as American as apple pie?""

Not sure EXACTLY why, but it kind of relates to the Golden Rule, "He who has the gold makes the rules!!!". My guess is that enough legislators voted to enact this on the premise that "unionization would inhibit the employees' ability to execute their duties and compromise the operation of the legislature"??? I guess it was a Republican controlled Congress at the time...LOL!!!!! They are not the only part of the federal government that has prohibited unionization, though.

Public employees are not afforded the same rights as private sector employees under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 as amended by the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, nor the Railway Labor Act of 1926. Therefore, legislation or executive order for those agencies that fall under the executive branch can be put forth to prohibit unionization of the various auspices of the federal government. State governments also have this power, as some have already done so, of course, mostly if not all of these are the so called "right to work" states. "So called" because if you work under the Railway Labor Act, the state's "right to work" laws can not apply to you, so either you join the union or you get CUT!!! Also, if public employees have a union, they also don't have the right, and are often prohibited from a strike.

I would suggest not trying to figure out the ins and outs of labor law because it is so damn confusing and often contradictory, and you also have to take into account rulings and "precedents" set by the National Labor Relations Board and the courts, which also carry weight. All of this and nobody follows it anyway!!! Hell, my Teamster local had to hire full time, on staff legal counsel to assist in their battles!!!

Just my $.02. Teamsters Local 174 Heavy Construction

BTW, on the EFCA, I'm not real gung ho for it, but not against it. I wouldn't want to be thought of as drinking "corporate" America's kool-aid, though.
Hell, my current company actually chose to use and likes its' unionized work force and is the healthiest financially I have ever worked for. Even the unionized railroads were showing some signs of life. I was expecting the worst with my new job after many awful years in only non-union aerospace component suppliers to Boeing and Airbus that paid below industry standard for "skilled" machinists and were still laying off and going broke because of incompetence and lack of qualifications of their management. Only saving grace was that cheaper domestic and foreign labor markets were unable to produce certain critical components with an acceptable degree of quality and conformance to specifications to satisfy the likes of Boeing and Airbus.

So much for the lack of a unionized work force being the solution to all of the problems American business faces this day and age...hell, the mortgage industry, banks, and Wall Street brokerages didn't need unions to put them under either,they figured out how to do it on their own and even get tax payer dollars to bail their sorry, unethical, greedy butts out...LOL!!!!!

But then again, I'm just a truck driver, so what do I know??? Teamsters #174 Heavy Construction

actually most tier 3 and tier 4 US Gov. workers are unionized...


about 590,000 of them.

(AFSCME - and UI/GW)

Yea, there are a few hold outs though, like the TSA or Homeland security to name a couple, oh and George W. did issue an executive order to de-unionize DOJ a few years back. Mostly, anything to do with national security, sensitive information, intel, and stuff like that will have union prohibtions.

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this on the premise that "unionization would inhibit the employees' ability to execute their duties and compromise the operation of the legislature"???

Well it is not a "premise", but fact. Anyone in business could look back at the Air Controllers strike and see that the Unions believed they could endanger the safety of millions and muscle in on more wage and benefits for their fee payers.

So it is easy to determine that, the mere presence of a adversarial organization with a clear sense of entitlement versus performance will inevidibility compromise your business. It is a daily occurance in both the public and private sector. They ask businesses what is the factors that hold back the growth of you business or the ability to reduce spending in local government? At the top is always the cost of Union labor in both monetary terms and performance. Getting 50 cents of performance for every 1 dollar spent is what has sunk most Union dominated concerns.

Now they are going to reward these fiscal failures with billions in prop ups, bail outs, thank you money or what ever you want to call this stimulus. Yet make it easier for cheaper labor to infest are shores. Kind of counter productive IMO.

Just my opinion...PATCO going on strike did not endanger the safety of anyone....unless you were a pilot willing to fly without tower clearance, or an admin willing to hire unqualified scab labor.

The failure of ALL unions not going to the aid of PATCO, joining in their cause, was a blow to all working families....Reagan only used a loophole available since the 30's to fire the strikers....at the time unions represented approx. 35% of the work force....today you're looking at 8%-11%...depending upon the profession.

You mention a clear sense of entitlement...how dare the working man want to stay even with cost of living and raise their kids out of poverty...cheap labor did not infest our shores...it was borne from within third party contracting...Three years ago WalMarts did 18 BILLION dollars of trade with China...our daily visits to WallyWorld promote the nations largest employer to continue to thrive.

"Getting 50 cents of performance for every 1 dollar spent is what has sunk most Union dominated concerns."....I would love to read your source documentation on this one. Most union jobs have liveable wages because of what is brought to the bargaining table during negotiations. Meaning this...if Co. A has no money for a decent wage, benefit schedule, and retirement package..it would not bring "it" to the table., and the Union representing that Co would not ask the "world" if they had accomplished their homework and understood the true state of the Company's fitness.

...........just my opinion....God bless.

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I don't think I'm FORCING anyone to do anything by supporting my local union.I live in a State that gives me that right freely.That freedom has come at a price.Blood ,sweat,and tears.You can't convince me that my rights haven't been EARNED.Your free to think its all about you.However, your only fooling yourself if you believe thats what United means.I'm just sayin'...

I guess Im not really sure where to go here, lol. Since you responded to alot of what I said, which was all about Card Check and my views towards it. Your reply didn't seem to take to task, anything I was saying...just a general rant?

My comment on force was that with card check, you have to sign your name on a voting card for the union. You will be required by law to sign your name and make it public to your workers, the union, the company...everyone how you voted. This encourages harassment from all sides by making it publicly known information about how you voted.

If you are pro union and vote them in...and the union doesnt get the required votes...then the company will find legal ways to pay you back.

If you are anti-union and voted no, and they DO get in...that will be remembered. If they didn't get in...now they know who DIDN'T vote for them.

We all arent United. The country may call itself the United States of America, but that doesn't mean the values and beliefs of one state carry to the next. How long should a state remain in the Union if the government itself no longer listens to the voice of the people? They just passed a huge stimulus today. The most spending we have ever done. Yet...an 1100 page document was released last night and voted on this morning, meaning your elected officals would need to read at about 700 words a minute, not counting actually comprehending the bill. Who do you think actually read it? 63% of the bill is just spending money. Obama again reneiged on his promise to the public, giving us time to review it. Over 50% of the money won't be used until AFTER 2011!
Pelosi today in a news conference stopped short of washing Obamas feet in praising his getting this bill passed so quickly. Now will be more in debt than ever before. Our credit rating will most likely be downgraded.
My rights were bought by the blood, sweat and tears of this countries forefathers who created its constitution. The fact that that piece of paper is being brushed aside by our elected officals makes me wonder what country we are really even in.

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"You Americans are so gullible. No, you won’t accept Communism outright. But we will keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you finally wake up and realize you already have communism. We won’t have to fight you; we’ll so weaken your economy that you will fall like over ripe fruit into our hands."
Former Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev

I'm afaid you've missed my point.So I'll be more clear.Man can not serve both God and money.A man is a slave to whom he serves.God is love.Love is not made perfect in fear.So fear is not love.If God is love,then who do you serve,if you live in fear?I don't live in fear of the card check because I put others before myself.Who else do you know that put others before themself.Did this person die so that you can be free.It is not good for a man to think more of himself than what he is.A man can not be estabished through wickedness.What is concealled in the darkness,will be made known in the light.Are you starting to see what I see at all?It's fear that has been left behind.Hope that has arrived.It comes as no suprise that fear will try to extinguish hope.Read what you wrote,then read what I wrote.You'll see that I'm not ranting.