One of my good friends is out there protesting. He's losing his job and I understand his frustrations. On the flip side of that, I often receive snapchats from him of his partner napping in the truck while they sit around all day. They make really good money and produce very little labor for a full days pay. Talking to him, they do a few hours a day of actual work. Thats simply not a sustainable business model. So, while I do feel bad for him, the lack of production of union employees for above market cost is mostly why they are losing their jobs.

He's also had several job offers doing similar roles for similar pay in the private sector.

Thanks for the honesty info Atoler

Spot on driveby. Some of the most hypocritical people I’ve ever seen are on this site. If it were a non union company doing this they’d all be up in arms about how wrong it is. But since they are union folks they are all lazy and worthless and deserve to lose their jobs , homes, and cars. I’d love for someone come do my easy union job I’ve been doing for 27 years. May give you a different outlook.

Think you might be a bit biased because of that 27 years? I know my buddy who works for ATT is, doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy, he’s simply got a stick in the fire. From someone who has worked around union guys in the construction industry, they are fine. Not better than non union, not worse on average. For whatever reason, the industry the union work force is in, seems to dictate whether it has negative side effects. Maybe it has to do with the process of hiring out vs having a job with one company the whole time. Here is what I know for fact. Union ATT employees on average don’t have near the production of union electricians or union pipe fitters on construction sites. Having been around union and non union tradesman, I don’t see any advantage if you’re a hard worker. There’s actually some drawbacks unless you are trying to ride the gravy train.

I’m pro union. I make no bones about that. Just get tired of everyone thinking all union jobs are easy. I know a lot of people with non union jobs that take 3 hour lunches, play golf while they’re supposed to be working, play solitaire all day on the computer, or visit websites all day while working. But that’s ok since they aren’t union folks, right? But I just like to see the hypocrites on this site who claim to be good Christian people say they hope these guys on strike lose everything. Like driveby said. It’s pathetic.

Just getting back into this thread. I don't want anyone to lose their home or automobiles. If there is work available and you choose not to work, that's on you, though.

Earlier you said hope they miss their truck and house payment.
Post #
2887515
08/25/19 06:49 AM

So which way is it?

He’s saying that if they choose to not work (strike), they deserve the consequences. He’s not saying he hopes they lose their jobs.

Maybe that's the way you think he's saying but, in my world when you lay out of work and miss payments on stuff the repo man comes and gets his stuff back.

Yeah, he’s saying that if their stuff gets repo’d because they were on strike, they deserve to lose their stuff.

When things are going good at union companies you bunch of non-union people sure don't mind taking that union made money and the banks sure don't mind doing business with them.

On another note health care businesses don't mind putting the screws to their employies either.

My statement earlier was tongue-in-cheek humor. Apparently it was taken literally. That's why I clarified.

Overall, Unions are not good. The power balance will always be significantly tilted in favor of the employer. In my 32 years in the workforce, I've never seen one, single situation where a Union was warranted. On the contrary, I did work for an employer before where the Union was a considerable hindrance to meeting the needs of the customer.

In the 70's St Joe Paper employees wanted a union and did their little protest marches. Ol Ed Ball that owned the mill closed it for about 5 years and told them when they wanted to go back to work to let him know.

From posts on this thread and others I have noticed your dislike/hatred for unions so maybe that's why I didn't pick up on the tongue-in-cheek humor.

I am in the CWA union that has been on strike the last few days against At&t. The strike had nothing to do with pay or any benefit. We were on strike because the company didn't send "true" bargainers to the table that had the power to make decisions regarding the ongoing bargaining. We worked almost 2 weeks with an extended contract to keep from going on strike. The union filed a lawsuit against the company to make them send people to the table that could put an end to this and they refused. The whole strike was about Fair Labor Practice not being followed.
Also, I can show you our contract that just expired and show you all craft jobs in the company and there isn't 1 that tops out over $100,000.00 a year. Some do make more than that but it's because of overtime, stand-by for callouts and other items. That comment might be possibly true if you add up pay, insurance and 401-K match together and then call it "compensation package."
I am floored by how so many people throw blanket statements about people with such hate filled meaning. My being in a union does not make me who I am. If you would like to spend some time with me to see my character as a person feel free to contact me and follow along. I really could have used some help yesterday as I was pulling up junipers at my church to keep them from paying someone to do it. I won't get a dime for it but since I wasn't at my job because of the strike I figured I'd spend the time volunteering and helping others. It's sad that people want to throw stones at me just because I belong to a union.
Another side note, hurricane season is ramping up and it will possibly give you another opportunity to ride along with me and see what a "bad union person" does when others need help. BTW, I do all this using my personal vacation days, the company doesn't give me any time off for this.
Try to think about how you attack people and whether or not it truly is justified. Difference of opinion doesn't mean they are bad people.

I was in the UMWA. I have no problem with Unions because I understand their purpose. The only problem I have in the overall scheme of things.... is when taxpayer's dollars become involved.

Taxpayer's dollars should not support AT&T. They should NOT support General Motors, or FMCO. Public utilities should not be allowed to have union workers they should have their rates set and if they cannot stay in business they should have to sell to someone who can run it better.

What happens is Unions are present because workers get bad deals. The way that should work is... if the workers get a bad deal then nobody should work there. But this is not the case. He have to have infrastructure and power correct? Instead they argue the finer points and the end result is that the consumer is the real loser. Nobody should EVER get bailed out and be allowed to freely continue on with some sort of slap on the wrist if even that.

The consumer loses. That's the bottom line. In every single instance.

So I also have no problem with people who are very anti-union as well. We should not need them. However the way some of our infrastructure is setup makes them a requirement.

Corporate America will screw each and every one of us given the chance. That's nothing new. They have done a pretty good job of it over the last 30-40 years.