Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Being on strike sucks,butthis is worse!

it bears revealing, as well, that most scabs, in my recollection, were marginal employees at best... most had unaddressed problems with drugs and/or alcohol..... mostly they were on the verge of losing their jobs anyway..... john w

hey stick, i think that everyone is envious of your status... still in most of the world the guys who call the shots and authorize the paychecks are seldom in the same state, or even in the same time zone as the job site..... it's unlikely that the average working man will ever meet a "wheel" on the job.....

i'll agree that it's a nice world that you live in..... john w

and stick,

you throw the "sheep" label around a lot... do you know any union boilermakers???... john w

I have no "status",other than trying do my job well enough,that those that cut the checks can notice the difference.

The suits that cut my check and call the final shots,do in fact reside in a different state,but that doesn't mean they can't be kept abreast of what's going on. If I get on the red phone and converse,it's for a reason or to relate a grateful "thanks".

Sheep are simply folks that allow others to act/think for them. There are Union Sheep and Non-Union Sheep and one needn't look too far nor too hard to see flocks of both.

Belly achin' and bitching gets nobody anywhere and most outfits will work you as cheap as one allows. There's no shame in being good at one's craft and not working for the lowest of available wages.

A guy makes his own "luck"......................

KT28,
your union brothers make my case against unions so much better than I could. The phase union thugs comes to mind first. tom

Gotta agree with Stick here - he has made his point with tact and grace- no threats.

Someone mentioned that this man decided to abide by the unions rules to work there- but would it also not be reasonable to think that the point of the union is to look out for their members? Could it be he felt the Union had not done so? Maybe the union turned down an offer he was comfortable with? Once he made the determination he decided he needed to go it alone.

A long time ago - early 80's the local papermill was in a similar situation. Union said "they'll never replace us - we're walking!" At the time they all had 14.00/hr jobs (Remember early 80s) well that papermill replaced every one of them- Lots o people willing to work and make that kind of money- being in a union doesn't guarrentee ANYTHING, particulary in a slower economy- YOU may think your wages aren't fair but there are alot of people who (believe it or not) can do your job and will do your job.

Just my .02

After reading this I have a question. Is your job a closed shop, or are you in a right to work state? I would ask the same of the rest that protest so stridently.

For the edification for any that don't know (shouldn't be any, but...) a closed shop is a place in a state where they DEMAND you belong to the union to work, period. You have no choice if you want to work.

A right to work state has laws that allow for unions, but membership is not mandatory.

I will make my comments once I find out.

That's sad, real sad. As to you Union boys- my hat goes off to you. Still have my old card, AMALGAMATED MEAT CUTTERS & BUTCHER WORKMEN, local 340. November 1974-March 1985, changed trades, but still respect a union man and am proud to say, still respect a picket line! Never have thought highly of a man that would cross one. The finance excuse is pretty lame for crossing one. Hell, we all had bills to pay, some much more than others, still, none of our guys crossed the line. By crossing a line, those guys might as well say " look at me, I'm a chickenshit and don't respect ya'lls effort!" Pretty sorry. Hang in there guys!

Perhaps the union boys can explain why companies have to hire outside security and involve the police to protect people and property from strikers.
Every job I have had I got on my own, and I l kept on my own with out any union . I keep my jobs based on my merits not on some idea of seniority. I have been to states where union membership is required and I have seen the stranglehold they have. When I went to Detroit to work on a project for the company I work for I found out that I could not even move my computer from one desk to another. A union person had to be called to move it. The people in the office could not even change a light bulb in their cube they had to submit a work order and wait for a union member to come change it. Unions made sense a 100 years ago and before, but not now. tom

The Union Whorehouse
A dedicated General Motors union worker was attending a convention in Las Vegas and decided to check out the local brothels nearby.

When he got to the first one, he asked the madam, "Is this a union house?"

"No," she replied, "I'm sorry it isn't."

"Well, if I pay you $100, what cut do the girls get?"

"The house gets $80 and the girls get $20." She says.

Mightily offended at such unfair dealings, the man stomped off down the street in search of a more equitable, hopefully unionized shop.

His search continued until finally he reached a brothel where the madam happily responded, "Why yes sir, this IS A UNION HOUSE!"

The man asked, "And if I pay you $100, what cut do the girls get?"

"The Girls get $80 and the house gets $20."

"That's more like it!" the General Motors man said.

He looked around the room and pointed to a stunningly attractive blonde.

"I'd like her for the night."

"I'm sure you would, sir," said the madam, then, gesturing to an obese sixty-five year old woman in the corner, "but Ethel here has seniority."

Tlee,
good one.
BTW Texas is a right to work state. tom

In that case, as here in Florida, you may belong to a union and have them negotiate for you, but ALL employees are not required to belong nor are they required to strike with you or acknowlege the picket line. It is called freedom of choice, even if all do benifit from labor action, all do not have to suffer, their chioce as a FREE citizen!

I do not see where you have any reason to complain. You chose your path, he chose his.

He is the reason there's so much outsourcing going on. Once management knows they can fragment the workforce all hell breaks loose. It becomes a game for them, how much can we take away from them, who's going to oppose! Then after you give up all your benifits, they still eliminate the jobs. To top it all off, the manager gets a bonus for improving earnings. What happened to the days when we all stuck togeather.

Bart185:



I'm no techno-whiz and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but SBC and the bulk of its business and therfore most of the union jobs you are striking to protect are analagous to the buggy whip manufacturing stage of the automobile industry. Your career at SBC might span the decline and then again, it might not. I don't know what you do, but I urge you to take advantage of any re-training opportunities available and to consider other job options in the future if they become available.



Here's a blurb about some of the reasons for the strike:







As I read this, among other issues, you are fighting to protect jobs in the hometown for people that may not be qualified to hold them, so that they won't have to move to maintain their union job with SBC. You and your fellow union members had better hope that SBC surviveslong term and throwing road blocks in the path of efficiency is not helpful. Does anyone who is not a union member wonder why SBC is using non-union labor in the faster growing segments of the telephony industry? Could it be because non-union labor can be restructured without strikes or long drawn out negotiations?



In short, the union is helping to weaken the golden goose that is already getting too old to lay those eggs. Maybe your fellow worker who crossed the picket line has thought these issues out more than most of his other union members.

No, NO, NO!!!!!!!!!! Sorry, I couldn't stay out of this despite my best intentions <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />.

The reason behind outsourcing is pure economics! In many places, folks (in some cases unions) have priced themselves out of business. Period.

Companies are NOT in the business to lose money. And, making money is NOT a crime! Of course, I'm not talking about the corruption that has been prevalent recently in some large companies, but everyone benefits if companies are in the black.

Personally, the Global Crossing fiasco cost me a good job. I was in final negotiations with them when they went into a hiring freeze and subsequently, bankruptcy. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Look around folks, the economy is in a bad way. Unions need to get a friggin' clue and look around. There are TONS of folks around right now who would gladly work for a few bucks less and any union who doesn't realize this will be in the same position as the ex-papermill workers mentioned above.

Unless you're working for Ball Aerospace or Lockheed Martin, chances are your jobs are not "rocket science" and as much as it hurts your ego, you CAN be replaced.

Unions would be a LOT more effective, IMO if they policed themselves more. Things like focusing on quality on the job rather than seniority????

Man, all of this "us vs: them"crap. Why is it that "management" is only concerned with raping the employees and taking big bonuses as a result? Believe it or not, there is room for advancement without having someone else negotiating it for you. I have not ever had a union job, and after having seen friends nearly starve because some "line" separated them from their income, I really have to wonder who's the winner. It's amazing how many union employees think it's the union who pays their pension when they retire, as well as their benefits when they are working. Look at the fine print and read both letters before you make a decision based on someone else's "information". I have to go with Pumpgun and Stick too. Seen too much grief initiated by proxy to feel that my livelihood would be best served by someone else's ideas.

MS, My experience is in the auto industry so I can't speak for others. Your citing the lines from the media, not actual circumstances. We do focus on quality and jobs. When I look at a part that I need to manufacture the focus is on producing that part in the minimum amount of time, at the cheapest means possible, while mantaining the highest quality. I have to bid on jobs, competing with outside enities. If I can't match or beat their quote the job is outsourced. I don't get to view their quote, and I'm held to the timeframe I've quoted. Yea, we send work to countries like Mexico. Can you tell me how many of these workers can afford to buy the vehicles they're building? Do you realy think the auto builders discount their vehicles due to the lower labor cost? The savings was passed on to the company CEO, in a 11 million dollar bonus!!!!!!!!!!

We share a good management/worker relationship. We're not out to destroy the company with overbearing demands. I'ts all our buisness to produce quality vehicles that people can afford. Visit a plant, talk to the people. You might be surprised to find how much the line worker knows about their individual job and how it effects the final product. We get fustrated at times due to that we have standards to mantain, and when the parts are out of those standards someone from management will see fit to continue to produce those substandard parts so he can meet his production schedules. Thankfully those days are few and far between.

As far as SBC, why don't they train their employees in the new fields as needed?

You left out, the ones most likely to seek protection under the umbrella that the union provides!

Unions only protect union members they don't protect non members and you know it. tom

My wife is walking the picket line right now, and I would have walked it with her but alas I have to work.

Now for the scab who crossed, he should be ousted when this is resolved. This strike is for him as he could retire now with 35 years in. A big part of this strike is about the company keeping the promise it made eons ago to retirees. That they would have health care provided by the company.

Also for every one out there I belive that the CEO went from around $3,000,000.00 per year last year to $19,000,000.00 per year this year. Now if the company would increase wages for every one else to 6 x's what they are making now I am sure every one would be more than happy to sign on the line and go back to work.

I support the union 200% as my wife has 25 years with SBC/ Bell and they tried to lay her off buy sending her job away to India. The union saved her, although she did have to take a pay cut and work out side. She is not happy about the out side work but she is happy the union was there to help her keep her job. I know from experance that when a company makes up there minds to get rid of you you are gone, no recourse or appeals, just too bad, no warning you are out.

All of you non union workers should be thanking a union worker for the wages you have. If not for them and the strikes they impose you wouldn't be making have of what you do today or have any benifits.