UnionFacts

[Airhead]

... people with 8th grade educations...

The Pipefitters Union has a five year apprentice program, which includes completion of an AA degree in college. Anyone who thinks Union workers are unskilled is speaking from ignorance and helping to perpitrate anti-Union bias.... Kinda like those of you who claim Obama is a Muslim terrorist.

[Shamus]

This is teh funny.  I love propaganda.  Especially when it's so exaggerated that it's cartoonish.

Now now, the site has "Facts" in the name so all this stuff must be true.

I do find it interesting that they are hiding who runs the site.

shamus

[midnight Target]

The Pipefitters Union has a five year apprentice program, which includes completion of an AA degree in college. Anyone who thinks Union workers are unskilled is speaking from ignorance and helping to perpitrate anti-Union bias.... Kinda like those of you who claim Obama is a Muslim terrorist.

If I needed pipefitters for my company it would be in my best interest to train my own employees and to pay them a good wage to ensure I took full advantage of that training for as long as I could. My pipefitters would not have to pay union dues though.

[Roundeye]

Why do you have to take the good with the bad regarding Unions? Isn't that the exact same thing they're trying to prevent regarding the companies they pit against?

By that statement, I mean that like everything else in this world, nothing is perfect.  It is not going to be a win-win for the company and the union.  You have to look at the overall picture for a given situation.

Sluggish gets it!

It is your RIGHT to have a voice in areas regarding your livelyhood, stability and ability to provide for your family and enjoy a comfortable retirement without threats, mistreatment and intimidation.


 

[indy007]

It is your RIGHT to have a voice in areas regarding your livelyhood, stability and ability to provide for your family and enjoy a comfortable retirement without threats, mistreatment and intimidation.

  Never worked in Texas have you?

[SteveBailey]

Unions, the means for workers to organize and extort more money from their employers than they are actually worth.  The American auto industry has basically been destroyed by them.  Anyoen who is pro-union has no problem taking money from peopled when they are not entitled by it.  Pro union people are among the most destructive elements to our economy, a blight, pond scum.

[DREDIOCK]

"Actually being paid what they're worth"

Paid what they are worth my arse.
Maybe be true in some sectors but very rarely all.

Garbage collectors  at $20 per hour come to mind
But to add to that I'll give you a little story

May also shed some light on where your state money goes
Several years ago I was contacted by a GC about painting the exteriour one of our states public incarceration facilities.
Commonly known around here as "The Workhouse"
When we met he told me I was going to have to pay my workers the union wage of a minimum of $40 per hour. Per state regulations.

$40 per hour?? At that time Even I wasnt charging that much for myself let alone paying workers that much.
Even now I wouldnt pay a worker that much unless it was by peicework.
So I figured out the price and handed it in.
In the end I hear he ended up going with the brother of someone his wife knew (which is typically the case when dealing with Gov contracts)

But the estimate came out to nearly twice what the state would have had to pay me if they didint have to follow those regulations about paying union wages.

I know quite a few "union" construction workers
Near as I can tell. Union Painters,Carpenters,Electricians. Are all paid about 1/3 to 2 times more then they are worth outside the union. And that not even including the benifits. which would drive those costs higher.

And trypically. I've seen more incompetence, and lack of overall knowlege in their professions. Then in the private sector.
Painters and Carpenters in particular.

Few years ago we had a "union" painter come work with us. Oh yea. 15 years experience. "Union" card,OSHA Card and everything.
Swore he as going to be worth all kinds of money.
Sucker couldnt even hack it a week with me. I swore if I had to say to him "WTF Are you doing??" Or "pick up the pace" one more time I was going to just shoot him to put him out of my misery.
Fortunately he quit on his own. Last I heard he also failed with 3 other contractors that I know before finally going back with the "union"
Dont give me that crap about being paid what they are worth.
Thas just a cutsie line of rhetoric unions liek to throw out there to gain support from their workers.
Its teh rare bird I've ever met that actually feels they are getting paid what they are worth no matter how much they make.
It may be true in some cases. But in many more they are by far paid more then they are worth.

On the flip side I know of a few places that are in dire need of a union St Peters Medical Center where I used to work is one of them.
If your not a doctor or if you dont reside in an executive desk job on the first floor of the MOB (medical office Building) Or unless you are VERY well politically connected to someone in a position of power.
You might as well wear an outfit that says "American Standard" on it because they will take a wizz on you at every opportunity.

Its no small wonder how the place is in trouble.
Anyone with any skill, or with a working brain. Leaves.

[MiloMorai]

The best company I ever worked for had no union. They had profit sharing though. Best incentive for all to work together.

The worst company I ever worked for had a union > UAW/Aerospace.

[DREDIOCK]

The bottom line is the worker's right to organize.  As was already stated, most businesses that go union deserve it.  Take away the threat of the union, and businesses have no reason NOT to mistreat their employees.  Read about the robber barons and the dawn of the industrial revolution.  Those who do not learn from history are surely doomed to repeat it.

True there once was a time when such orginasations were very much needed.
The way labor laws work now..Not so much

There is still some room for them. But its not the dire need it once was.
Labor laws have pretty much caught up.

Try starting a legal buisiness that has employees and see all the fun hoops you have to pass through. Minimum wages. Minimum insirance. Unemployment, etc etc etc

[Mr No Name]

Unions are part (only part) of the reason we have "Made In China" stamped on everything here and illegal aliens being hired.  Scumbag retailers are the other reason.  If a labor union wanted to loan me the money to start a plant or just give me a grant, i could consider a contract with them.  Unions take no risk, they just extort money and leech off those who do.

[sluggish]

OK I get it, the union is teh suk.  Since we have all these laws to protect us, why not just do away with the workers right to organize?  Because, you know, as long as people have the right to band together and "extort" their employers, there will be other people complaining about cost of goods, destruction of industry, manipulated payscales, etc...

I'll say it again, most businesses that go union have got it coming to them.  If most employees are content with their pay and working conditions, why would they organize?

[SteveBailey]

I'll say it again, most businesses that go union have got it coming to them.  If most employees are content with their pay and working conditions, why would they organize?

Because they want money they are not entitled to.  uhhh extortion, already covered.

[CAP1]

i don't really know too much about unions, as i've never worked at any type of union shop. from all i've seen, heard, talked with union people(the workers, not the office workers), the biggest problem seems to be the security of the positions. it seems that once you're in, you're in. period. the employer cannot fire you if you don't do your job well, or correctly,. they can't fire you for screwing off on the job, whereas in non union, if that was a habbit, you'd be gone.  like i said though, this is what i hear.

[indy007]

I'll say it again, most businesses that go union have got it coming to them.  If most employees are content with their pay and working conditions, why would they organize?

Hmmm, gee... lets pretend I run a union. You have 1,000 employees. Lets say dues are a cheap $100/month ($500+ is not unheard of). That's $100,000 a month, and $1.2 million a year in dues. Now imagine that it's Wal-Mart, with 5 million employees and those same Union dues... That's 6 billion dollars per year. Do you really think it's "for the good of the workers!" or that somebody has a seriously vested interest in securing that revenue stream?

Parasites.

[Airhead]

The past eight years have seen an unprecented assault on organized labor by the Bush Administration. The website our "author" has linked to implies labor unions are running rampant, and it is for this reason- and this reason ONLY- our economy, and our manufacturing jobs, are declining.

Not surprisingly, some of you actually believe that if a slick, bright and shiny website tells you something is true it proves it; yet in reality all it proves is some people are attracted to bright and shiny objects.