Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum Coal miners strike - Brookwood

In a coincidence I watched Harlan County last night, a good documentary about the 1976 Coal mine strike up there.

You think those mines keep changing hands cause that union workforce is making “rich investors” more money than they care to have to count or because more of those “rich investors” figure out it’s a losing battle dealing with unions.

What do you do for a living by the way, how long have you done it.

Do you fight for a union job because you know there ain’t no way in hell you’ll make a living in the free market by chance? Just asking

I went to work in the mines in 2006 not coal mines but it was a mining operation owned by a investment group they bought the plant for 34million$ we were union they told us from the get go they were not in it for the long run,that was the best five years of my life they treated us like kings when they sold the company five years later for $105million they called us all in a meeting and gave every employee a check for 10 grand so yes union companies can be extremely profitable.

I’m pretty sure every time one of these Union threads pop up, the people against them work or own a small business, or they are probably a C or E level executive for a corporation. Anybody that doesn’t believe their boss , their bosses boss , or their bosses boss boss, isn’t out to stretch every penny out of their check they can is blind or stupid. I’m not against or for unions but I’ve worked in enough different industries to know that management and ownerships PRIMARY goal is to lower wages. Wages are low, very low hanging fruit , and management with a low IQ can reach it. Before we were bought out by private equity our former “leadership” spent 2.2 million dollars twice a year on sales retreats and gold clubs. How could someone with a masters degree think spending 4 million dollars a year to reward people selling something at a negative margin was a good idea?? Now, those same “leaders” evidently couldn’t see into the future and know that those margins would eventually lead to people losing their jobs. Those same leaders cashed out with 2 to 6 million dollar parachutes when they sold to private equity. NOTHING is right about that, NOTHING. The same people that will chime in on some thread about Jesus and their faith will chime in on one of these threads supporting the “leaders” that willfully do these business actions that hurt employees, and say well they should’ve just found another job if they didn’t like it.

I'm retired now, but what I have done for a living during my life doesn't affect what's happening in Brookwood now. I support union coal miners because I learned from experience that there is no way I would work in those gassy coal mines without a union work force to help protect me from the dangers that exist there. We set production records while I was there, btw.

I've worked at US Steel and was one of the two that signed a union application of the 12 in the group I was hired with. Not much support for your argument that the union destroyed the work force that is now largely non-union, but fact.
I've worked for Fedex non-union and have seen a first class company that Fred Smith built turn to shucks with a non-union work force.
I've worked in cabinet shops non-union and helped a boss that wasn't rich become a very successful business owner.
I've worked for trucking companies both union and non-union as a commercial truck driver.
I even had a government union job once. US government. I joined by choice. Others I worked with didn't join by choice.

Companies have had to lay me off my job through the years, and that's why my resume' includes a lot of employers. I didn't sit on my ass and collect unemployment. I found jobs during those layoffs.

I've never had trouble finding work, thanks to the Lord who has blesse me when times are hard. He has always been the One I depend on to supply my needs. Unions don't get you jobs. They do help protect your interests after you get hired, but they aren't perfect by any means. Neither are non-union workers.

Reading comprehension is a challenge for some

And this is where the problem we are seeing today is coming from you see this plant was at its knees when the investment group bought it they bought the plant for $34million brought in good knowledge people to run it hired a great sales team and turned it around sold it for $105 million to a big company who expects the same return without putting any capital in so when stuff starts breaking down and causing downtime the shareholders go to asking questions so they do the easiest thing and that is to cut benefits and wages to immediately change the end result to satisfy the shareholders.

And I agree with Ruffn you don’t want to work in the mines without a union it’s a different world than a mill I’ve worked in both.

A non union shop will outproduce a union shop 8 days a week. This has been proven time after time. Anyone who thinks “rich investors” are the largest problem at the mines in question are uninformed or worse. Most “UMWA Contracts” stipulate 95-100% medical coverage with little to none employee paid portions. Those cost have gone up 500% since Obama. Most businesses operate of a net margin less than 12%. Insurance cost alone can erode this number significantly. Business have had to get creative in order to still offer good benefits yet still turn a profit. There’s only so much money you can squeeze from a turnip. I have friends on both sides of the Shoal Creek Mine contract negotiations so I’m not making assumptions based on just one side of the argument. Union guys absolutely tend to forget some of these things. Just like the MSM the union controls ALL communication to the miners. Take that how ever you want.

I’m an electrical contractor. I worked my way up to owning my own company all the way from a green helper. Started out making minimum wage. By the time I was 31, I had saved money and had enough to open my own company. I moved to a new town and started getting my name out there. It’s 5 years later and I’m still in business. Mostly a one man show, but it’s all mine. I’ve never been in a union. I say all that to say this:

The only 2 experiences I have had with unions have not been positive. I had been laid off any was applying everywhere. It was December and of course no one was hiring. I was on an employment website and ran across an ad for the IBEW. I sent in my resume. A few days later, a guy calls from the union hall and wanted to set up an interview. I didn’t get a good vibe from him, and I felt like he was blowing a bunch of smoke. Anyhow, I went to the interview and he asked me to take a test. Keep
In mind that I was a journeyman electrician certified by the state (somehow, this doesn’t mean much in the union). While I was taking my test, my interviewer was in an office with another guy. The door was open and I heard them discussing how stupid and pitiful the electricians in the hall were. I finished up and left. When they called me back, I told them I didn’t need a union to help me find or keep a job. I was already working for a non union shop. After saying my piece, I thought that was the end of it, but these guys were like Buckmasters. They kept calling.

The next year, I was a traveling project manager. We had several smaller lighting projects going on in the Illinois and Indiana. The sub in Indiana was a non union guy and a pleasure to work with. The one in Illinois was just the opposite. I pulled up on the job and asked the lead electrician where I could help (I was there to manage the project and didn’t have to provide any labor). He asked to see my union card, and got pissy when I told him that that wasn’t necessary as it was my job he was working on. I began unboxing and putting fixtures together to help his guys. They kept asking me what my hurry was. The lead man confronted me several more times and after lunch I hit my breaking point. He was working on retrofitting a light pole. There was a piece of steel plate keeping him from getting his hand inside of the pole to mount the new fixture.

He said he didn’t know what he should do. I told him to cut it off with a grinder. His response was that someone from his shop would have to tell him what to do. I called the company owner and reiterated to him that this was my job and my company had hired them. If they did not want to complete the job the way I requested, we could certainly find another contractor who was willing to work with me. Finally, the owner agreed and he sent me a new crew the next day. These guys gave me no crap.

Unions supported Obamacare the hardest. And that’s where things are at today. Everything is inflated cause the unions tell workers you demand $22 and hour or stay at home. Deere workers are on strike now. It’s not left a good feeling out here in Ag world. Well hopefully make a statement to deere about still having union workers.

Those rich investors squeeze the turnip pretty hard to get every penny they can. Coal miners face all the dangers and do the back breaking work in dust and gas filled air, so they squeeze the old turnip too. I support the coal miners in their efforts.

Coal miners ain't John Deere and coal miners didn't support Obamacare "the hardest" because they ain't the ones who needed it.

Union workers are union workers whether it’s GM deere or coal miners. Nothing more. Nothing less

Not gonna sit and argue but answer me one question.

How much waste and laziness do you see weekly underground?? Hint: it’s more than you will see in a non union facility. I’ve seen it with my own two eyes lol. Not just in Alabama but all over this country. That goes for copper mines in the SW to coal mines in Appalachia region. That waste, and there’s a significant amount cost the company unfolds amount of money. Unions DO NOT help themselves today. A union mentality does not have the company in mind. A good non union company that takes cares of its employees and creates a team environment with common goals is day in and day out a better place to work. Nucor Steel is a prime example of that.

My grandad and great grandad worked up there in the 50s - 70s and said that harlan was a crazy place with some really ruff people, they worked a few strikes and got shot at and mountains blown up on them lots of crazy stories

Never stayed anyplace I didn't like.

My grandad is the one that was the foreman when they dug the shaft at brookwood, boy i miss him and his stories bout coal mines and some the work he did and places he went

You go to bringing nucor up and your going to hurt some feelings. Not a whole lot a man can say about them except, the mini mills that USS and some of the other big integrated mills used to make fun off ate their lunch.

I managed the Corporate Accounts of Nucor and USS from 2007-2010. I saw first hand the difference in relative good times and really BAD. There’s no comparison. I then spent a lot of time in mining a railroads then the Paper industry. RR unions are for the most part an anomaly.