Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Unions down to about 12% of the workforce

EXACTLY!!!!!Don't need the Government involved anymore than they already are!

I saw this the other day and was going to weigh in but though the better of it since I know how most of you feel about Unions and that is fine, because a little of it is true. But then I got to thinking, hey they are talking about me.
I started working for a Labor Union when I was 18, and before I really understood the politics of Unions. I point out that I work for an International HQ, not just some union job, so I can't speak to how people behave on their Union jobs at the factory type thing. But I can say that I work DAMN Hard for my money and if anything I am UNDERPAYED for what I do, but with the Insurance and my wifes health problems it will be hard for me to leave. I just wanted to get that off my chest. So don't put some damn lazy union worker lable on me, and set around and feel superior.
Now lets talk about Lazy. I built my house that I live in now in 2005, and I contracted out a lot of small business men types to do the work. Guys that were Proud that they worked "for themselves" and did not go to a "job" everyday. These same Barneys could not work for me for one damn week! Most of them were the lazyest sons of B&%$es on the planet. I had to beg half of them to come out and finish the work. How they make a living with the work ethic I saw is beyond me. What is more sickning is the fact that they want to "get rich" everytime they leave the house. I payed one guy 2500 to clear a peice of land 12ft wide and maybe 250ft long. That was labor mind you, I payed another 2400 to have the brush hauled off! Another guy wanted 2500 to seed and straw my yard! No thanks I can do that in 2hrs by myself, And I did! Half of them want to stand around and talk half the day or complian that they have to drive 30mins to go get some materials, so they wont be back until tomorrow. What a joke. I found out that most of these minions are in business for themselves not because they "won't" work for anyone else, but rather they "COULDN'T" They would not last a week, actually being responsible for real work. All I Know is that I can retire in a little over 10 years and I will be in my late 40's. I will then go to work for myself and make A LOT of Money. I know this because the compitition is incompetent. Good day.

A good guy can go anywhere,that remains a constant.

As to your issues on the home...that's tidily nipped,when you savvy both sides of the equation and factor a bid in accordance,that's sealed via contract.

No different than haggling guns...................

If you think those "minions" are making a couple grand per day, and you "could" easily out perform them, then what (aside from fear) is keeping you in your office ? Insurance you say, $40,000 per month will buy a lot of insurance, heck you could probably buy a nice Doctor with a couple of nurses for that.............

Maybe those guys new a Union sucker when they seen one and treated you accordingly, after all, they did get away with it right ?

Big Stick,

I hear what you are saying. The problems that I ran into were becuase I didn't have a builder that I could go blame or complain to, I was acting as the builder. So the problem was with the contractors. Now I knew a lot of these guys and some were even friends (former friends) so a lot was done on a handshake, thats just how I am. I can't complain too much, the work got done, and most of them were reasonable. But a couple were real ass holes. My biggest problem was that I felt like I had to hold there hand all they way to get them to finish the work, in a timely fashion. No contract in the world was going to make them more competent. I will never hire anyone I know again. Next time I will be the a-hole, with a signed contract & "lawyered up" up front. But that is such a sad commentary on the people of this country.

Good workers do good work, crappy workers do crappy work. It's one of the downsides of being an employer.

My co-worker is having a re-model done and has a sorry ass crew doing the job.

I generally do all my own upgrades at home. Not so much to save a buck, but to have the job done right.

I did have the roof done last year, factoring in my time and weather, the $2500 I'd save in labor wasn't worth it. Had a couple guys come out to bid the previous year. I was very impressed with one guy and not all impressed with the other guy. Gave the guy that impressed me the job, and his crew go the whole job done in one long hard day. There are some guys out there that know how to work hard and get a job done.

It helps to be able to decipher those who know their chitt from those that are full of chitt. I deal with plenty of the latter at work.

Brother Bill is trimming 7-08 hulls and I'm making coffee...I reckon that makes me the bitch.(grin)

I understand your predicament and I'm slow to go through legal hoops,but on something like a home,it is cheap insurance,so as to protect a long term investment.

I'm very hip on the notion of "piece work",but wouldn't be too hip on perusing bids upon a project,that wasn't something WELL known to me. I'd defer that to someone more steeped,in my own best interest.

Have done lotsa business via handshake and a Dinner drink and have never been wronged,nor done someone else wrong and that is my favorite way to conduct business. I like to look someone in the eye,allow them likewise and get a feel for the deal.

I've zero qualm paying good money,for good work,if only because I do not work cheap myself...................

Brother Dave
Cannot agree with you there... Shareholders are the owners in every sense of the word. Problem for them is the manipulations the board can run them through [color:"red"] with sanction from the huge shareholders in financial institutions. [/color] Without the colaboration it would not be possible.

I can agree shareholders would know little about a prospective CEO, though they are called upon at every election to approve the board members on an individual basis.

The other obvious problem is the fact most investors properly distribute their risk by distributing their investment in mutual funds. Watering down their strength and playing into the hand of the next round of prospective board members at the financial institutions.

There does come a point when the monies paid far exceed any possible benefit to the company. Collectively they have been abusing the system at an escalating rate. I hate the concept of government regulation, but the other answers would be? Moving on with your money simply puts you in the same situation with a different board... And in an impossible situation with funds.
art

I kinda figured you didn't agree with that take....grin.

I've come to feel that rather than being an Owner in any sense of the word, owning shares gives you nothing other than the opportunity to ride the company's value up and down. You share the joy, or you share the pain.....all you own is a ticket on the ride.

Unless a significant amount of shares is owned, shareholders have little (effectively zero) say in anything. Get to the point where someone owns enough shares that their voice or their vote counts, and they're at the level where they are putting those boardmembers on the board....they're part of the problem.

Much more than even politics, when it comes to these elections....it truly does not matter whether you or I, as shareholders, even vote....

The CEO is merely accepting the offer, and taking the cash that's due him. Who wouldn't? You accept an offer, you take the cash...

Yep!
I bought a ticket on Worldcom and rode it all the way to the bottom!

If a union goes on strike for a 10% annual wage increase when the employer lost money over the last fiscal year, it is not only management which are damn fools.

When a guy sits beside an assembly line and tightens the same nut on the same bolt all day, every day, knowing full well any sixth grader could do the job as competently as he, and he expects to be paid thirty bucks an hour to do so, I find that objectionable.

When a guy leaves for every break ten minutes early, comes back ten minutes late, and expects to be paid thirty minutes overtime because he hit the time clock at 5:05 instead of 5:00, I find that objectionable.

When a coworker or a subordinate bitches at me because I worked though every one of my breaks including lunches this week, but I made sure he never missed a break. I find that objectionable.

When I hear a union rep blaming the employer for everything wrong in his life and whining because he is not making twice the wage; when he is not earning half of what he is already getting, I find that objectionable.

With all these objections stated, I will stand beside my earlier statement that the unions I have been party to have been more positive than not.

You are very mis-informed......................



Your gonna have to tell me what year this happened. UAW hasn't hasn't struck against GM in years, the last strike wasn't over wages.



Production employees pay is less than $30.00 an hour. Their job entitles a heck of a lot more than tightening one bolt.




Management enters an employees workspan into a computer. Time is stopped at 5:00 weather the employee punches out at the exact minute or not. Guy can bitch all he wants. How is it the union's fault when the guy is an idiot? A commiteeman isn't gonna file a grievence over some trivial bullsh!t like your example.

So it's the unions fault that management isn't doing their job insuring their employees are at their work area before and after break times. Get a grip.




Sounds like a personal choice to me. YOU made sure he never missed a break. I don't get a paid lunch, it's my free time. If an issue should arise and my boss asks me to work through lunch they generally offer to give me a paid lunch.

Some jobs are labor intensive, there's reasons for breaks even if you fail to see the rational behind them.

I am no more informed of the inner working of your union than you are of mine. My first comment about $10/hr was admittedly a gross generalization about some self destructive unions, but about none in particular.

You should go back and read my earliest posts in this thread.

The rest of my comments in this last post were about the particular union I work in, and about those individuals within it who feel entitled and really should have been replaced years ago.



Nope, it is the union member's fault. That is what I was referring to in most of my post. The individuals within this union.

Every workforce has a few bodies who are right on the ragged edge of being more trouble to keep than they are worth. Some of them abuse every privilege and then get bent out of shape when asked to give a little bit back.



Neither do I get a paid lunch. That does not mean that I can not see when skipping lunch to take care of a little backlog is not beneficial to the organization. That is my choice, I certainly do not involve management in that decision. Nor do I inform them of it, or of when I need to stay fifteen or thirty minutes late to take care of business which comes up at the last minute.

I get paid good money for the job I do, and the company has always treated me well. I sure am not going to get excited if I need to give them a half hour once in a while to streamline the operation and maybe save two hours of lost time some where else.

Nor do I ask my subordinates ( I have worked as a foreman of a crew of twenty five for many years) to ever miss a break. I will relieve them on the production line if needed to make sure they get every allotted break time.

What does burn my butt is when that subordinate comes back from break and is incensed that I kept production moving and made money for the company in his absence.

It also burns my butt that my peers on the workforce are bothered by my work ethics and abusive for it. My work habits are none of their concern. No one is asking them to work through their breaks or lunches. No one is asking them to match the productivity of my crew.

Guess thats where you and I differ.

My work area is right next to our electricians coffee area. No one ran my machine on days so the electricians enjoyed peace and quiet on their breaks. I was transfered to day shift a little over a year ago. I'll run my machine into breaks or lunch if I'm rushed to get a part out or if it's near the end of the machining cycle. The first time it happened I had a few electricians whining about the noise. They were informed in a less than pleasant voice that this is a machine shop, if they want quiet they know where the cafetera is.

I don't find it hard to ignore some fool griping about my work ethics. Tell someone who gives a chit <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

and piss ignorant to boot.....

he was union.....

john,

Are you by chance,a Chink?

Just curious..............

I'm drunk and that is still as funny as chinkt

no, stick...

i'm not....

been catching up a little tonight... been out of town/ out of touch for a few days... have followed some of your posts & a few of your rants...

i care not about your view of the unions... truth is, they need work... i feel like i'm up to it... i feel like they are worth it....

fact of the matter is that you are a big share of the life of the fire... the fire will be a little colder without you....

a lot of guys end up on my ignore list for a time....
usually they have put up a pic that warps my screen, and distorts a thread til it's hard to follow...
i check their pic out and put them on ignore to restore order to the thread... on another thread i'll see that they've posted, and i wanna see it so i take them off the ignore list...

i've spent time on 3 continents and central america... i've found damned little reason to ridicule anyone for where he was born or who his parents were.... {arkansas jokes aside}

only once before have chosen to ignore a poster permanently... based on the tone of his comments...



mostly irish, stick... originally from arkansas... feel free to have fun with it....

so long partner..... john w

Are you bitching,or bragging?

Thanks for clarification...................