Tell Us Your Union Experiences

[TheSeeker]

Growing up in Pittsburgh, I would work in the steelmills during the Summer.

It was kind of a racket.....the USW would take their union dues from my paycheck, but there was a 90 day period before you actually joined the union. So by the time I could actually join it, my employment would end and I never got to join. How convenient!

More recently, I was to give a PowerPoint presentation at a meeting in a Hyatt Hotel. I brought along my own extension cord to plug. However, I was told I had to have one of the union electricians plug it in. But since they were on their 1 hour lunch beak and I was scheduled to do my presentation at 12:30, I couldn't use the PowerPoint in my talk.

 

[noose4]

Which does not inherently equate to causation... but nice try, idiot

What next?? TV went color since then... damn those rainbow hues.... they caused the middle class to shrink

Idiot? My you are quite eloquent when presented the truth your right wing masters demand you not see.

You presented no truth... you presented a faulty argument based on causation association....

nice try

Blinded by right wing radio and fox news.

 

[Dexter25]

You work you get paid. No food stamp recipient ever wrote me a check. What I am saying about and the majority of those who belong to unions do so because they are to lazy, or unable to be worth the money they want, so they have to try and bully there employers into paying them for nothing.I am represented by me. To day I made my self 1200 dollars. I and others like my self do just fine with no union. As a matter of fact, People like me are what the unions hate the most.

Oh please. Like employers have never bullied employees? If you honestly think that the billionaire employers are innocent victims, you need to get in touch with reality.

You made 1200 dollars today? Good for you. (I'm guessing you sold some type of drugs?) You must understand that your situation is unique to yourself. You obviously have something that works for you, and your happy with that. No representation needed. But, there are working conditions that exist that are simply atrocious. Low pay for backbreaking work. Employers take advantage of people who have no other choice. Working long hours, for very little pay. It is a situation like this where a union is good.

Another thing, next time you get paid an overtime wage for hours worked over 40, thank the unions. Next time you are offered a benefits package that includes health care, thank the unions. If you ever get hurt at work, and can not go to work to earn a living, but are given worker's compensation to pay your bills while you are out, thank the unions for that as well.

I am currently not a union member, however I support them through my experiences. When I was a union member, I busted my ass, as did my coworkers. Believe it or not, paying higher wages attracts a higher quality of worker. You get what you pay for in any situation. People don't join unions because they are lazy, they join unions to be protected from greedy employers taking advantage of them.

Also, I didn't realize we were talking about food stamp recipients here. Why would they be writing you checks, and why is it in this conversation? Also, I don't think union members hate you the most,its more likely that they just don't really care about you.

i have to laugh every time one of you union robots plays the standard "all business owners are evil " and the we all must kneel at the union altar" cards.
Yeah well stow it.
You people use the same God Damned buzzwords at every turn..
You used ...."billionaire" "employer"( twice) "Low pay",( twice), "back breaking work" and "busted ass"....Oh and I love this one...."no choice"...really? Tell me where we allow indentured servitude in the US....Oh, you mentioned "union" 8 times....
Now, give examples of these terrible working conditions...
Oh, you lost any credibility you may have when you accused the other poster of "selling some sort of drugs"....What the fuck is that all about....
With bullshit comments like that it comes as no surprise you union people are looked upon with utter disdain. You bring it on yourselves.

lol, union robots. Thats pretty funny actually. I never said all business owners are evil. Its so typical of you people to completely spin something someone says.

No choice comes from a person who has bills and a family who can't just walk away from a pay check. And with the difficulty to find a job, more difficult for some than others, it is an imprisoning situation. Some employers (oops I used that awful word again.) take advantage of that. I will not take your kind seriously until you take a long hard look at reality, become a little human, and understand that much suffering can be avoided, and for the love of god see past the delusion that a person can just up and quit their job and get another one tomorrow.

An example of unjust working conditions? Upper management required salaried employees to begin working 60 hours rather than fifty per week without an increase in pay, or overtime. I suppose that is ok though right?

I was kidding about the drugs jackass. It was in response to the posters repeatedly accusing me of being a pothead. But thats ok? I don't even think he was offended by it.

I doubt most people look down on me with disdain for simply speaking in support of middle class working society. I speak out against the completely obvious war that has been waged against the working class. You on the other hand clearly support the greedy business that has been waging this war, whether you even realize this or not.

 

[KissMy]

Union Busting: The Michael Moore Way

Moore called two of his writers into his office. It was, for both of them, their first job in television, and they had been hired with the title of associate producer. They were not members of the Writers’ Guild, the powerful union for writers in movies and TV, and thus were not receiving health benefits, and would not qualify later for a percentage of video and rerun sales. Michael said, "I’m getting a lot of heat from the union to call you guys writers and pay you under the union rules," Eric Zicklin, one of the associate producers, says. "‘I don’t have the budget for that. But if they keep coming down on me that’ll mean I’ll only be able to afford one of you and the other one’s gotta go."

 

[KissMy]

Scott Walker: Why I'm Fighting in Wisconsin - WSJ.com

In 2010, Megan Sampson was named an Outstanding First Year Teacher in Wisconsin. A week later, she got a layoff notice from the Milwaukee Public Schools. Why would one of the best new teachers in the state be one of the first let go? Because her collective-bargaining contract requires staffing decisions to be made based on seniority.
Ms. Sampson got a layoff notice because the union leadership would not accept reasonable changes to their contract. Instead, they hid behind a collective-bargaining agreement that costs the taxpayers $101,091 per year for each teacher, protects a 0% contribution for health-insurance premiums, and forces schools to hire and fire based on seniority and union rules.

My state's budget-repair bill, which passed the Assembly on Feb. 25 and awaits a vote in the Senate, reforms this union-controlled hiring and firing process by allowing school districts to assign staff based on merit and performance. That keeps great teachers like Ms. Sampson in the classroom.

 

[thereisnospoon]

Oh please. Like employers have never bullied employees? If you honestly think that the billionaire employers are innocent victims, you need to get in touch with reality.

You made 1200 dollars today? Good for you. (I'm guessing you sold some type of drugs?) You must understand that your situation is unique to yourself. You obviously have something that works for you, and your happy with that. No representation needed. But, there are working conditions that exist that are simply atrocious. Low pay for backbreaking work. Employers take advantage of people who have no other choice. Working long hours, for very little pay. It is a situation like this where a union is good.

Another thing, next time you get paid an overtime wage for hours worked over 40, thank the unions. Next time you are offered a benefits package that includes health care, thank the unions. If you ever get hurt at work, and can not go to work to earn a living, but are given worker's compensation to pay your bills while you are out, thank the unions for that as well.

I am currently not a union member, however I support them through my experiences. When I was a union member, I busted my ass, as did my coworkers. Believe it or not, paying higher wages attracts a higher quality of worker. You get what you pay for in any situation. People don't join unions because they are lazy, they join unions to be protected from greedy employers taking advantage of them.

Also, I didn't realize we were talking about food stamp recipients here. Why would they be writing you checks, and why is it in this conversation? Also, I don't think union members hate you the most,its more likely that they just don't really care about you.

i have to laugh every time one of you union robots plays the standard "all business owners are evil " and the we all must kneel at the union altar" cards.
Yeah well stow it.
You people use the same God Damned buzzwords at every turn..
You used ...."billionaire" "employer"( twice) "Low pay",( twice), "back breaking work" and "busted ass"....Oh and I love this one...."no choice"...really? Tell me where we allow indentured servitude in the US....Oh, you mentioned "union" 8 times....
Now, give examples of these terrible working conditions...
Oh, you lost any credibility you may have when you accused the other poster of "selling some sort of drugs"....What the fuck is that all about....
With bullshit comments like that it comes as no surprise you union people are looked upon with utter disdain. You bring it on yourselves.

lol, union robots. Thats pretty funny actually. I never said all business owners are evil. Its so typical of you people to completely spin something someone says.

No choice comes from a person who has bills and a family who can't just walk away from a pay check. And with the difficulty to find a job, more difficult for some than others, it is an imprisoning situation. Some employers (oops I used that awful word again.) take advantage of that. I will not take your kind seriously until you take a long hard look at reality, become a little human, and understand that much suffering can be avoided, and for the love of god see past the delusion that a person can just up and quit their job and get another one tomorrow.

An example of unjust working conditions? Upper management required salaried employees to begin working 60 hours rather than fifty per week without an increase in pay, or overtime. I suppose that is ok though right?

I was kidding about the drugs jackass. It was in response to the posters repeatedly accusing me of being a pothead. But thats ok? I don't even think he was offended by it.

I doubt most people look down on me with disdain for simply speaking in support of middle class working society. I speak out against the completely obvious war that has been waged against the working class. You on the other hand clearly support the greedy business that has been waging this war, whether you even realize this or not.

Spare me the "we're just working for the middle class" union mantra.
Look, union scale wage earners are NOT middle class. You people are among the highest if not THE highest paid hourly workers, some making well over $100,000 per year PLUS benefits.
In fact, living in my home state, the union people I knew owned maybe a boat or an RV or a vacation home somewhere in the Poconos or in Upstate NY. That sir, is rich people stuff.
So please cut the middle class nonsense. Middle class people cannot afford such luxuries.
The fact of the matter is unions priced themselves out of the market while angering every company management involved by setting up an adversarial system based on threats of possible shut down of the company.
They've had enough and this is why unionized labor makes up just 8% of all private sector workers.
Case closed.