More Union greatness

[olevetonahill]

New Jersey town to Ala. volunteer utility crew: Don’t help with Sandy unless you’re unionized

They dont want yer help If aint a card carryin Union Member, Idjits.

http://news.yahoo.com/jersey-town-ala-volunteer-utility-crew-don-t-053500307.html

[okie52]

Good gawd.

[cleller]

Pretty logical union way of doing things.

[LiveLaughLove]

Where is Obama to stop this? Christie?

They said NO red tape in the clean up.

This is exactly the ridiculous crap that would never allow me to vote democrat.

[olevetonahill]

Where is Obama to stop this? Christie?

They said NO red tape in the clean up.

This is exactly the ridiculous crap that would never allow me to vote democrat.

This exactly why Unions should go the way of the DoDo bird.

[badger]

at least some of the crews aren't deterred and are going to other disaster areas to help.

it's news like this that give unions a bad name. make em honorary union members and let them help!

[KABOOKIE]

at least some of the crews aren't deterred and are going to other disaster areas to help.

it's news like this that give unions a bad name. make em honorary union members and let them help!

If by "honorary union member" you mean contribute $100,000 to the union coffers and we'll let you work on probabtion with limited access then, the Union bosses aggree.

[Tulsa_Fireman]

UNIONS RAPED MY TRASH CAN

[olevetonahill]

UNIONS RAPED MY TRASH CAN

Them Bastages

[Tulsa_Fireman]

UNIONS MADE MY ANUS PREGNANT

[olevetonahill]

UNIONS MADE MY ANUS PREGNANT

Now Thats just going too dayum far

[StoopTroup]

I seen a Union run over a guy just because they saw a cut on his arm scab over..

[C&CDean]

In 1930, America needed labor unions.

In 2012, America needs labor unions like a fish needs a bicycle.

Unions are a plague to our society. They've done far more damage than good over the past couple decades, and are directly to blame for the labor problems in this country today. DIRECTLY. They're crooked as hell.

If you like fat, lazy union punks who spend their days swilling bad coffee and eating fat pills while raping their rank and file like Johnny Wad Holmes on Rock Hudson then by gawd the union is for you. Keep sending those dues boys and girls. Guido and Vito gotta eat too.

[diverdog]

Where is Obama to stop this? Christie?

They said NO red tape in the clean up.

This is exactly the ridiculous crap that would never allow me to vote democrat.

Okay which one of you suckers is going to face down Tony Soprano?

[olevetonahill]

In 1930, America needed labor unions.

In 2012, America needs labor unions like a fish needs a bicycle.

Unions are a plague to our society. They've done far more damage than good over the past couple decades, and are directly to blame for the labor problems in this country today. DIRECTLY. They're crooked as hell.

If you like fat, lazy union punks who spend their days swilling bad coffee and eating fat pills while raping their rank and file like Johnny Wad Holmes on Rock Hudson then by gawd the union is for you. Keep sending those dues boys and girls. Guido and Vito gotta eat too.

Agree, They have far out lived their usefulness

[StoopTroup]

1930 euphemisms to Union Bash have out lived their usefulness as well.

Time for an upgrade.

I'm not sure why folks who don't work or run a business are so damn passionate about how bad Unions are. It's like the boy who called Wolf. Or in Dean's case....he forgot he wasn't getting paid to Union Bash after he retired.

Honestly....if people didn't want to work for one....there are so many States that are Right to Work. They don't have to pay dues and if they want Union Protection they can ask for it. It's the best of both Worlds. Look at just how many States are Right to Work yet many of them have Unionized Work Forces that aren't forced to join them. I think it really makes a cry for Unions killing America a very difficult thing to sell to reasonable thinking people.

Now if you read a little History....you can see why Laws were changed and why the Unions still exist and why the Rich that run huge Companies like Walmart have employees convinced that they will lose their minimum wage jobs if they Unionize as the Owners will shut down the Company. I guarantee the Owners might not like their employees Unionizing but their greed and fear of being poor will keep the doors of Walmart open for decades to come.

http://www.redstate.com/laborunionreport/files/2011/06/Right-to-Work-State-Map.gif

I am in no way bashing or promoting Unionism. I'm not paid to do either one and I have zero contact with people who promote or are against Unions.

I just don't understand much of the outrage from people who have never walked a picketline or crossed one for a job.

[pphilfran]

In a perfect world...

Unions are not value added
Unions will not magically turn a crappy company into a quality company
Unions will not increase wages in an environment where there is excess supply of unskilled employees vs demand....

[StoopTroup]

Definitely not a perfect World. I think the guy that was nailed to the cross made that loud and clear.

[Jersey]

principles are principles

[diverdog]

Agree, They have far out lived their usefulness

Someone should tell UPS.

[rock on sooner]

I gatta weigh in on this one....in the early 70's I locked horns with a union
steward in a unionized warehouse in Kansis City (major dept. store where I
was a buyer). Huge promotion was a dept store warehouse sale with truly
crazy prices..buyer's staff (me and an assistant) had to set the thing up in
just a few hours and need manpower to pull down merch and unbox it, I
displayed it,got it working (big ticket stereo/tv) and priced it. Come four
o'clock (actually 3:55...5 min to get to the time clock to punch out on time)
EVERY F***** stopped. Wouldn't help with jack...union rules. Well, my
assistant and I left at 2 in the morning with it set up and ready to go. I
talked to warehouse management about the issue, they said they couldn't
do anything or the union would strike. I've been anti union ever since and
am a Dem. I think they've outlived their usefulness. (Quick to point out,
though, that some MAJOR businesses...Walmart, Target to name two actively
teach anti union activity). Oh, I should point out that I solved my problems
with that union steward going forward with an occasional fifth of Jack Daniel's,
could always get my product received and put away, when no other buyer could
do that. Still think, for the most part, no on unions....

[olevetonahill]

Well I worked as a Union member {Teamster} so yea they are crooked as hell, I also Ran jobs that were union so I saw 1st hand how they stifle productivity such as Rock is talking about.

A funny story, I was working thru the Lunch hour one day tryin to get a House my company just built ready to sell.
2 guys pull up and start talking to me, wondering WHY I was working thru lunch, I told them I had to get the job done, They them proceeded to tell me that If i were in the Carpenters Union they would Protect me from that kind of thing and that I would be making at least 10 bucks an hour.

I listen to em fer about 5 minutes then tell em to go find me 2 carpenters that knew how to work , send em round and I'd pay em 12 bucks an hour ,
Then told em I owned the company they had been raggin on and ordered em off my property

So Yea I have experience with em and its ALL bad

[C&CDean]

1930 euphemisms to Union Bash have out lived their usefulness as well.

Time for an upgrade.

I'm not sure why folks who don't work or run a business are so damn passionate about how bad Unions are. It's like the boy who called Wolf. Or in Dean's case....he forgot he wasn't getting paid to Union Bash after he retired.

Honestly....if people didn't want to work for one....there are so many States that are Right to Work. They don't have to pay dues and if they want Union Protection they can ask for it. It's the best of both Worlds. Look at just how many States are Right to Work yet many of them have Unionized Work Forces that aren't forced to join them. I think it really makes a cry for Unions killing America a very difficult thing to sell to reasonable thinking people.

Now if you read a little History....you can see why Laws were changed and why the Unions still exist and why the Rich that run huge Companies like Walmart have employees convinced that they will lose their minimum wage jobs if they Unionize as the Owners will shut down the Company. I guarantee the Owners might not like their employees Unionizing but their greed and fear of being poor will keep the doors of Walmart open for decades to come.

http://www.redstate.com/laborunionreport/files/2011/06/Right-to-Work-State-Map.gif

I am in no way bashing or promoting Unionism. I'm not paid to do either one and I have zero contact with people who promote or are against Unions.

I just don't understand much of the outrage from people who have never walked a picketline or crossed one for a job.

Bad memory huh?

You must have forgot that I spent over 15 years as a staunch member of Mailhandlers Local 320 - the last 7 as a shop steward. My thesis for my Master's was "Are Unions Relevant Today?" I know a bit about them Greg.

The day I decided I needed a challenge at work, and wanted to further my career and make more money for my family - and was tired of filing the same grievances for the same worthless people who needed firing anyhow was the day I suddenly became "the enemy." Overnight. I tried to communicate and get along with the union guys I worked with and they did their very best to trip me up with horse****. The unions need adversarial relationships to survive.

The last 20-something years of my career I developed and presented training programs for managers. Human relations stuff. We tried very hard to get managers to be better people persons. Management took great strides with things like EI/QWL (Employee Involvement/Quality of Work Life) and many other programs. Know what the unions did? That's right, encouraged all their members to not participate. That this was just another ploy by the evil managers to take away all their hard-earned benefits that the union got for them.

The "get paid to bash unions" comment was just pure stupid Greg. Why you gotta go stupid?

[olevetonahill]

Its in his Blood now Bro( the Stupid)
Did ya like how he took a shot at me along with you? Saying Folk who dont work?
Wonder How long its been since He EARNED a check instead of drawing workers comp or what ever hes on now?

[Soonerjeepman]

don't belong to the teacher's union...not paying $80 a month to have them support the dem ticket every time. As far as neg a contract...hell got a $20 dollar a month raise for LAST YR on this yr's pay. Ins and everything else went up more than that. Haven't had a significant raise in 5 yrs. (not complaining, I make a decent salary, just not seeing any benefit from joining.)

To me it's the same mentality the dems have....anyone in power or with money (unless it's them) is bad...just don't get it.

[C&CDean]

Someone should tell UPS.

Know what's kinda funny and sad at the same time? The USPS has 3 different unions. They're all cutting each other's throats fighting for "the work." All the while Rome is burning...

The last I checked, not a single of them wanted to go on any kind of a "Pay for Performance" program that management has been trying to institute for years. They want automatic raises. COLAS. Bigger and shinier bennies. But they want to work less. Sounds just like the party they rep, no?

[soonercruiser]

UNIONS MADE MY ANUS PREGNANT

AGAIN!!!?????
:distant:

[soonercruiser]

In a separate story about that "story", I hear a report that the nonunioners were offered to be allowed to help, if their shops would allow the union to meet with their employees.
Of course the said FO!

[SoonerorLater]

I'm always amused when I talk to to a union member who really drinks the kool-aid. A perfect example of the idiocy that unions have become. In theory I am not opposed to unions, however after many years and being on both sides of the fence, it's pretty clear that in practice unions work to the detriment of all. Unions have suffered the fate of most organized groups. They have outlived their relevancy and now exist for the sole reason self-perpetuity.

This is a perfect example. Would society at large benefit to have the extra help? Yes. But since this doesn't benefit the unions then it' a no go. Just the reason I dislike unions. In their minds their self interest trumps everything.

[SanJoaquinSooner]

Public employee unions have really hurt California. So have prevailing wage laws.

[LiveLaughLove]

My dad was a Teamsters job steward for several years. They get away with murder, almost literally.

When he wanted extra days off but paid, he would do something to get fired (he once smashed a bosses glass desk top with his tire billy). We would go to the lake and vacation, while he filed his grievance.

We would come home with his job back in tact, AND back pay. Voila, paid vacation days.

The company hated him, and he them.

He left because of all of the ulcers he had fighting fights for all of the other drivers, and constantly fighting the company.

He has been a ton happier working for a non-union company. He dislikes the unions because he knows what a waste and drain they are.

[olevetonahill]

My dad was a Teamsters job steward for several years. They get away with murder, almost literally.

When he wanted extra days off but paid, he would do something to get fired (he once smashed a bosses glass desk top with his tire billy). We would go to the lake and vacation, while he filed his grievance.

We would come home with his job back in tact, AND back pay. Voila, paid vacation days.

The company hated him, and he them.

He left because of all of the ulcers he had fighting fights for all of the other drivers, and constantly fighting the company.

He has been a ton happier working for a non-union company. He dislikes the unions because he knows what a waste and drain they are.

Not to mention how ****ing Crooked they are
I was in the Teamsters,

[Tulsa_Fireman]

Public employee unions have really hurt California. So have prevailing wage laws.

And that's what's so sad about the whole thing.

You get some batch of clowns that have raped a city/county/state's coffers with legislators in lockstep and it brings a city/county/state to its knees. But the OTHER side of the coin, states that have addressed collective bargaining in the public sector with some sense (like right here in Oklahoma) and given the municipalities/counties/states the ultimate authority over matters, gets lost in the general pile of ****. Gets painted in the light of all the other jacklegs that have managed to pump their bennies to the point of it being a massive burden to Joe Taxpayer. That's wrong. There's no other way to put it. And in that, the finger is leveled straight at the unions who have done so, arm in arm with politicians whose responsibility to be a good steward of the public trust.

But what about those who do it right? Those who monitor employee safety, represent their membership, and work as a body to support their members when their employer won't? All within the boundaries of smart collective bargaining law that again, gives the authority to elected officials who are in place to be good stewards of the public's money? Keeps the authority to manage and organize personnel in the place where it belongs, management? Steps up to fill gaps in public relations and service that city management either will not or cannot fill?

I know these are few and far between when one looks at the nation, but they exist right here in Oklahoma. Take the time to look at the Fire and Police Arbitration Act and you'll see what I mean. It's a great example of the relationship of labor and government done right, not the rape and pillage you see in states across the country. In other words, just because you hear that Texas police officers get to kick back and squeeze 90% after 20 years doesn't mean it happens here. Just because you hear the stories of Calpers groaning under underfunded mandates and exorbitant pensions and healthcare coverages post-retirement doesn't mean it happens here. And it doesn't happen here because we set it up correctly in the first place through the FPAA. So I know it's tempting to paint with a broad brush because the overwhelming majority of examples are cases of benefits run rampant, employee bases shanking governments for every last drop of taxpayer blood they can manage. Hate that. Demand change. I know I do. But don't forget, even through the majority of instances outside the state of Oklahoma, at least in the public sector, the power still rests in the hands of the people you voted for. That obscene benefit packages and holding government hostage plain and simply doesn't exist.

[Skysooner]

When I first broke out in petroleum engineering, I was doing an internship up in Illinois for one of the mid-majors. My job was to go out and set casing on a well. Basically I had to go out and measure the pipe accurately and number it so that we would have a correct record of the pipe and what order it went into the well. The boss warned me to not pick up so much as a pipe wrench on site since the field was all unionized. They were okay with you after you had been there for awhile. As it turns out, I wasn't allowed to even measure the pipe. Two of the field hands would measure it and call out the numbers while a third guy wrote down the numbers. I basically sat there in a chair watching them do it. Welcome to the oil industry. As it turns out though, the only other unionized workforce I found was offshore and there I didn't want to pick up anything as it was a pretty dangerous environment. Ever since I have been anti-union.

[KantoSooner]

I worked in an industry that used to have its major trade show each year in San Francisco. The show floor unions were so bad that you'd get physical threats if you carried in boxes of your own display units to your own booth. Nope, you were supposed to hire teamsters for that 'job'.
The resolution? We finally got enough p.o.'d displayers to force the show to be moved to, first, Japan and then to Taiwan.
I sincerely hope those teamsters are sleeping in cardboard boxes over steam grates tonight. They'll need their rest as they'll have a big day of vote fraud facing them tomorrow.

[pphilfran]

In Tyler I got along with the union maintenance folks really well...like others have said, in the beginning I couldn't look cross eyed at a wrench without a grievance being filed...after a year or two they would give me the tools to fix a minor problem if they were tied up on another job or wanted *** time...

Whenever a union maintenance worker retired the union threw a big party...only two salary associates were ever invited to the party...myself and my right hand guy...

[KantoSooner]

See? That's what's so ****ed up. I worked for a plastic molding company in Minneapolis. Pretty blue collar affair. We were non-union. Every night we'd sit out in the parking lot drinking beers after work. Everybody from the owner on down. It finally got to the point that the spouses just gave up and started bringing taill gating stuff over to the parking lot for cocktail hour. Workplaces don't have to be warzones; but I've never seen a union that could survive without generating hostility.

[rock on sooner]

The last company that I worked before retiring actively taught to
their management anti union tactics...all perfectly legal. Really
aggressive in their efforts to keep the unions out. Not quite as
aggressive as Walmart, though. If the union tries to get a foot
hold in any given store, Walmart informs the staff that the
company will close that particular store. (I think they did close
one in the upper midwest or maybe Canada, not sure.

[C&CDean]

See? That's what's so ****ed up. I worked for a plastic molding company in Minneapolis. Pretty blue collar affair. We were non-union. Every night we'd sit out in the parking lot drinking beers after work. Everybody from the owner on down. It finally got to the point that the spouses just gave up and started bringing taill gating stuff over to the parking lot for cocktail hour. Workplaces don't have to be warzones; but I've never seen a union that could survive without generating hostility.

When I was a steward I met a supervisor to discuss a Step 1 over coffee in the break room. We laughed, chatted it up a little, and the grievance was sustained at Step 1.

You'd have thought I gave the Red Commies keys to the arms cabinet. I get called into the VP's office and he goes "WTF are you doing being nice with Management? You wanna go back and throw mail sacks? As for me, I kinda like this gig, and if I ever see you going all kissy face with management again you'll never steward for this local again!" Only his language was a lot worse than mine.

[champions77]

In 1930, America needed labor unions.

In 2012, America needs labor unions like a fish needs a bicycle.

Unions are a plague to our society. They've done far more damage than good over the past couple decades, and are directly to blame for the labor problems in this country today. DIRECTLY. They're crooked as hell.

If you like fat, lazy union punks who spend their days swilling bad coffee and eating fat pills while raping their rank and file like Johnny Wad Holmes on Rock Hudson then by gawd the union is for you. Keep sending those dues boys and girls. Guido and Vito gotta eat too.

+1 Obama speaks with disdain about jobs being shipped over to China, but Labor Unions have caused more jobs to be shipped to China than anything. They single handedly ruined the US Steel industry, the garment industry, the furniture industry, tried their best to wreck the US Auto industry, and their presence has made our education system one of the worst in the world, probably is the worst when considering the cost per pupil to turn out these "dumbed down" simpletons.
Add to that the "thug" factor, that has resulted in countless beatings and deaths for those that dared to cross picket lines.
And through all of this, they stick to a President, who if he wins re-election, will continue his assault on busineses, which will in all liklihood result in more layoffs of unions workers.