Unions- good or bad?

[Guest]

I am pro Union.

Why?

[Srbyam]

I'm not saying the Union is bad it's just that in someplaces it's gotten corrupt.

[Guest]

I have been self employed for over 30 years, put up my own money for investment to get started,made my own way without being babysat by a union. I personally know many people who were union workers, have heard all their stories about how they have screwed up and been "saved" by the union. If they had been my employee, their arse would have been gone. Heard how many times about guys clocking in and out for friends, guys playing cards on company time, machine repairmen sent out on a job and not being able to do the work and laughing about another repairman having to be sent out to finish the work. When an employee is protrected by a union he/she is more likely to be not so careing in performance as one who knows their work depends on keeping a job. I will agree that unions have helped considerably in safer working conditions, but they have overstepped their bounds in other factors. I have always felt that if a person thinks they are better than what they are being paid, then get your butt out the door and sell your abilities to another employer. Don't just sit back and say "pay me more, or strike" ! The things I have heard from union people would not have been said if they were not true.

[Guest]

I was a Union Big City Worker for 22Yr, In that time it Protected: The lazy, poor performance,weekends and holiday call-outs.sleeping on the job,drinking on the job workers. Todays Unions ask for more & more. that drives Jobs to over seas.jmo
I'm Retired for 33yr in Fl. the land of almost NO Unions and every buddy works, with a very GOOD pay check!

When NAFTA was passed, many jobs left America and the reason for that was many employers were fed up with union demands for pay scale. The more they had to pay in wages and benefits, the more they had to charge customers for goods produced, and that greatly affects sales, sales affect profits and profits affect staying in business. More union people need to learn and understand more about how businesses are managed, not just how much they can force them to pay wages and benefits !

[rock rat]

I'm pro union too, though I've never belonged and started my own company. Unions raise wages and make work safer.
Without unions you are at the mercy of your employer. You work there 30 years then get laid off. My wife is Union, I read her contract carefully.

She gets a pension, paid days off, paid sick leave, vacation, personal days, good hourly. Can't be fired without very good reason. Great health care.

[Buckshott00]

I think Unions can definitely serve a purpose, but I think that by and large they have widely over stepped their bounds.

Everyone sells something to get by in this world. Unions sell labor, in exchange for selling their labor.they're supposed to offer some sort of protections as a group so that people are not taken advantage of. However, protecting the lazy, the negligent, those who put others in danger, getting greedy so that only the lawyers and people at the top get rich.

Btw, those "Thank Unions" signs that float around. Most of those are pretty highly embellished. They like to say they're responsible for that stuff, but it's a bit like saying I'm responsible for deep space exploration because I pay taxes that fund NASA.

[FirstBubba]

I think Unions can definitely serve a purpose, but I think that by and large they have widely over stepped their bounds.

Everyone sells something to get by in this world. Unions sell labor, in exchange for selling their labor.they're supposed to offer some sort of protections as a group so that people are not taken advantage of. However, protecting the lazy, the negligent, those who put others in danger, getting greedy so that only the lawyers and people at the top get rich.

Btw, those "Thank Unions" signs that float around. Most of those are pretty highly embellished. They like to say they're responsible for that stuff, but it's a bit like saying I'm responsible for deep space exploration because I pay taxes that fund NASA.

"...Unions sell labor, in exchange for selling their labor.they're supposed to offer some sort of protections as a group so that people are not taken advantage of. ..."

Close Bucky.
Unions sell the labor of "others", much like pimps sell prostitutes. Asian gangs sell protection.
...and remember: "Those who trade personal freedom for security deserve neither."

[406sean]

Unions had a place in time. They no longer serve the purpose that they set out to. My main gripe with unions is the fact that they support political pundits with member dues without any input from members. Our system is set up as a free market system which I truly believe in. Believing that, I think that the market will determine the best outcome through wages for the job being done as well as benefits.

[FirstBubba]

I'm pro union too, though I've never belonged and started my own company. Unions raise wages and make work safer.
Without unions you are at the mercy of your employer. You work there 30 years then get laid off. My wife is Union, I read her contract carefully.

She gets a pension, paid days off, paid sick leave, vacation, personal days, good hourly. Can't be fired without very good reason. Great health care.

Union peddles the idea that they are "fair"!
Don't believe the Constitution guarantees "fair". I DO t want "fair". I want equal opportunity...and that can't be purchased at a "union hall"!

[357]

I'm pro union too, though I've never belonged and started my own company. Unions raise wages and make work safer.
Without unions you are at the mercy of your employer. You work there 30 years then get laid off. My wife is Union, I read her contract carefully.

She gets a pension, paid days off, paid sick leave, vacation, personal days, good hourly. Can't be fired without very good reason. Great health care.

Unions don't pedal fairness they pedal safety and the power of a group of people to leverage their labor to get as much as they can. I can't think of anything more free market.

[357]

I have been self employed for over 30 years, put up my own money for investment to get started,made my own way without being babysat by a union. I personally know many people who were union workers, have heard all their stories about how they have screwed up and been "saved" by the union. If they had been my employee, their arse would have been gone. Heard how many times about guys clocking in and out for friends, guys playing cards on company time, machine repairmen sent out on a job and not being able to do the work and laughing about another repairman having to be sent out to finish the work. When an employee is protrected by a union he/she is more likely to be not so careing in performance as one who knows their work depends on keeping a job. I will agree that unions have helped considerably in safer working conditions, but they have overstepped their bounds in other factors. I have always felt that if a person thinks they are better than what they are being paid, then get your butt out the door and sell your abilities to another employer. Don't just sit back and say "pay me more, or strike" ! The things I have heard from union people would not have been said if they were not true.

so you have a bunch of second or third hand hearsay and nothing else to contribute?

[357]

Me?
Union sold my job down the river...nationwide!
The company started by buying out the union "chair", next was the General chair until my craft just no longer existed....again....nationwide!
So don't talk to me about "union protects my job!"!
Union people aren't god's, they're greedy, money mongering human beings that will slit your throat to save their own useless hides!
That said, I really couldn't care less about "private sector" unions.
"Public sector" (SEIU) on the other hand....

What was your craft?

[357]

I'm pro union, my family has been unionizing for generations. Some of the first union actions in New England had a member of my family working on it. Do i think unions aren't worth a damn? If they weren't worth anything then big business and well paid pension guaranteed politicians would not be after them.

[357]

I'm not saying the Union is bad it's just that in someplaces it's gotten corrupt.

that is the problem with any organization they get too big for their britches and then nasty corruption happens. it's a shame

[FirstBubba]

I'm pro union too, though I've never belonged and started my own company. Unions raise wages and make work safer.
Without unions you are at the mercy of your employer. You work there 30 years then get laid off. My wife is Union, I read her contract carefully.

She gets a pension, paid days off, paid sick leave, vacation, personal days, good hourly. Can't be fired without very good reason. Great health care.

"...United States v. Enmons, 410 U.S. 396 (1973) is a controversial U.S. Supreme Court case which held that violence, if carried out in furtherance of a labor union's objectives, does not violate the law according to the extortion and robbery provisions of the federal anti-Racketeering Act of 1934 or the Hobbs Act. ..."

Unions don't "pedal" anything!
They "peddle" protection for workers.
Union goes on strike.
Union guys walk a picket line. Union fat cats who called the strike sit in the union hall, draw full wages while strikers dig dues out of starvation strike wages!
Where was that "union protection" when Jerry Lowe murdered Eddie York for crossing a picket line?
Where was "union protection" when the striking union thugs in Alaska damaged a transformer station, leaving residents without heat and lights?
Where was the "union safety" when striking union thugs shot up transformers to keep non-union workers from doing their job?
Just keep your freaking union!