Tell Us Your Union Experiences

[rightwinger]

My favorite came from my grandfather

He was a Union painter in the late 40s and early 50s when the paint roller came out. The union refused to allow its painters to use a roller because you could work three times as fast and only needed one third the number of painters for a given job.
He said he would hide the roller under a tarp when the union guys were around and take it out once they left

 

[Big Black Dog]

I retired from a nuclear power plant. It was union. You never saw one person do anything by himself. At the very least, there was always at least two people on every single work element. The funniest thing I ever saw was the changing of a simple light bulb. This is no shit. It took a laborer to carry the ladder, a safety inspector, someone to hold the ladder so it wouldn't fall, and an electrician to change the bulb. On top of all of this, after the bulb was changed they had to call a supervisor to come check to document that the light bulb had been changed. Tell me union folks don't sock it to employers. I watched for years two people empty trash cans. So, now you know why your electric bill is so damned high.

 

[editec]

My father was a teamster when I was a very young kid.

Although he wasn't well educated he worked his ass off and made a fine living.

As a child my father could provide a house in the better part of town, enough food to eat, a modest vacation every year, cars that worked, we could afford to eat out once in a while, visit museums in Phila and NYC on the week ends, we had full health and dental benefits, he had a pension and he could put some money aside for those rainy days that everybody has from time to time, too.

Most of my friends also had fathers that were in unions, too. They worked in Bethlehem Steel Ingersol Rand, or many of the various factories that were in PA when I was growing up.

They had more or less the same American DREAM lives as I had.

THAT is what unions did for MY Generation.

 

[Two Thumbs]

My father was a teamster when I was a very young kid.

Although he wasn't well educated he worked his ass off and made a fine living.

As a child my father could provide a house in the better part of town, enough food to eat, a modest vacation every year, cars that worked, we could afford to eat out once in a while, visit museums in Phila and NYC on the week ends, we had full health and dental benefits, he had a pension and he could put some money aside for those rainy days that everybody has from time to time, too.

Most of my friends also had fathers that were in unions, too. They worked in Bethlehem Steel Ingersol Rand, or many of the various factories that were in PA when I was growing up.

They had more or less the same American DREAM lives as I had.

THAT is what unions did for MY Generation.

How is Bethlehem steel doing now?

 

[DaGoose]

I retired from a nuclear power plant. It was union. You never saw one person do anything by himself. At the very least, there was always at least two people on every single work element. The funniest thing I ever saw was the changing of a simple light bulb. This is no shit. It took a laborer to carry the ladder, a safety inspector, someone to hold the ladder so it wouldn't fall, and an electrician to change the bulb. On top of all of this, after the bulb was changed they had to call a supervisor to come check to document that the light bulb had been changed. Tell me union folks don't sock it to employers. I watched for years two people empty trash cans. So, now you know why your electric bill is so damned high.

And as a retired Exelon employee I know that the reason for your post is the stringent rules that nuclear power plants must follow due to federal regulations and not the IBEW.

 

[DaGoose]

My father was a teamster when I was a very young kid.

Although he wasn't well educated he worked his ass off and made a fine living.

As a child my father could provide a house in the better part of town, enough food to eat, a modest vacation every year, cars that worked, we could afford to eat out once in a while, visit museums in Phila and NYC on the week ends, we had full health and dental benefits, he had a pension and he could put some money aside for those rainy days that everybody has from time to time, too.

Most of my friends also had fathers that were in unions, too. They worked in Bethlehem Steel Ingersol Rand, or many of the various factories that were in PA when I was growing up.

They had more or less the same American DREAM lives as I had.

THAT is what unions did for MY Generation.

How is Bethlehem steel doing now?

They closed down because they had the audacity to pay their employees a decent wage while trying to compete with cheap foreign labor.

So that begs the question.

Are you advocating that we lower our standard of living to that of poorer nations?

Please answer!!

 

[boedicca]

I've had two direct union experiences: being harassed by AFSCME to join the union when I was a student at Berkeley (I declined despite significant pressure), and actually having to join the Teamsters.

I became a Teamster one summer for a factory job - a very eye opening experience. The jobs were segregated by gender, with the women doing the dirtiest, most uncomfortable tasks. In our section, the son of the union steward sat around and watched us for 55 minutes out of each hour, and then he spent 5 minutes sweeping up.

He was paid more than the women.

The factory was a seasonal business. They hired at least twice as many women as they needed for the work (we discovered later). The minimum amount of work to have to pay the union initiation fee was three weeks. A lot women were laid off right after they reached the union payment threshold.

I learned very quickly how much The Teamsters are a shakedown, patronage con game. I doubt other unions are much different.

I've also had to deal extensively with union workers for stage productions, events, construction projects etc. While many of the individuals are fine, their union apparatus is vile.

 

[DaGoose]

I've had two direct union experiences: being harassed by AFSCME to join the union when I was a student at Berkeley (I declined despite significant pressure), and actually having to join the Teamsters.

I became a Teamster one summer for a factory job - a very eye opening experience. The jobs were segregated by gender, with the women doing the dirtiest, most uncomfortable tasks. In our section, the son of the union steward sat around and watched us for 55 minutes out of each hour, and then he spent 5 minutes sweeping up.

He was paid more than the women.

The factory was a seasonal business. They hired at least twice as many women as they needed for the work (we discovered later). The minimum amount of work to have to pay the union initiation fee was three weeks. A lot women were laid off right after they reached the union payment threshold.

I learned very quickly how much The Teamsters are a shakedown, patronage con game. I doubt other unions are much different.

I've also had to deal extensively with union workers for stage productions, events, construction projects etc. While many of the individuals are fine, their union apparatus is vile.

And I watched good workers get laid off while the guy who was engaged to the daughter of the boss keep his job in a non-union coal mine.

Unless you have a union most employers will expect you to kiss ass to keep your job. As a rule they only keep the ones who are weak minded and will simply do as their told no questions asked.

And to address your other comments the IBEW will not defend any workers caught sleeping on the job or putting themselves or others at risk of injury.

 

[Claudette]

I retired from a nuclear power plant. It was union. You never saw one person do anything by himself. At the very least, there was always at least two people on every single work element. The funniest thing I ever saw was the changing of a simple light bulb. This is no shit. It took a laborer to carry the ladder, a safety inspector, someone to hold the ladder so it wouldn't fall, and an electrician to change the bulb. On top of all of this, after the bulb was changed they had to call a supervisor to come check to document that the light bulb had been changed. Tell me union folks don't sock it to employers. I watched for years two people empty trash cans. So, now you know why your electric bill is so damned high.

LMAO You don't know how many times I saw the same thing in the Mill.

It Union land it take an electrician to change a light bulb.

Who knew??

 

[rightwinger]

My father was a teamster when I was a very young kid.

Although he wasn't well educated he worked his ass off and made a fine living.

As a child my father could provide a house in the better part of town, enough food to eat, a modest vacation every year, cars that worked, we could afford to eat out once in a while, visit museums in Phila and NYC on the week ends, we had full health and dental benefits, he had a pension and he could put some money aside for those rainy days that everybody has from time to time, too.

Most of my friends also had fathers that were in unions, too. They worked in Bethlehem Steel Ingersol Rand, or many of the various factories that were in PA when I was growing up.

They had more or less the same American DREAM lives as I had.

THAT is what unions did for MY Generation.

I bet your mom didn't have to work either

 

[mudwhistle]

My father was a teamster when I was a very young kid.

Although he wasn't well educated he worked his ass off and made a fine living.

As a child my father could provide a house in the better part of town, enough food to eat, a modest vacation every year, cars that worked, we could afford to eat out once in a while, visit museums in Phila and NYC on the week ends, we had full health and dental benefits, he had a pension and he could put some money aside for those rainy days that everybody has from time to time, too.

Most of my friends also had fathers that were in unions, too. They worked in Bethlehem Steel Ingersol Rand, or many of the various factories that were in PA when I was growing up.

They had more or less the same American DREAM lives as I had.

THAT is what unions did for MY Generation.

How is Bethlehem steel doing now?

They closed down because they had the audacity to pay their employees a decent wage while trying to compete with cheap foreign labor.

So that begs the question.

Are you advocating that we lower our standard of living to that of poorer nations?

Please answer!!

I think that federal, state, and local governments shouldn't raise the cost of living with their ridiculous and costly fees and regulations.

 

[DaGoose]

How is Bethlehem steel doing now?

They closed down because they had the audacity to pay their employees a decent wage while trying to compete with cheap foreign labor.

So that begs the question.

Are you advocating that we lower our standard of living to that of poorer nations?

Please answer!!

I think that federal, state, and local governments shouldn't raise the cost of living with their ridiculous and costly fees and regulations.

Uhhh.....the COL is not driven by the government. And, if anything the governmment tries to hold down the ever increasing COL by trying to limit inflation.

So again.....

Are you advocating that we lower our standard of living to that of poorer nations?

 

[Dexter25]

This statement is incorrect-" Pepsi, on the other hand, was a non union job. The pay for them was $5.15 per hour". Maybe in 1985 or something.

Actually I'm not incorrect. Pepsi employees, who were at least at the time non-union, were paid $5.15 per hour, which was the minimum wage in the state of Ohio in 2005. The minimum wage in 1985 was $3.35 per hour. Next time you might want to look into some facts before you spout off smart ass comments.

Ok you are not incorrect, You just are not telling the truth. Well you are about what the minimum wage was in 2005 but that it about it. If the pussy's you run with get yelled at work they most likely were doing something wrong. Second, merchandising is not rocket science. The fact that you were a merchandiser says allot about you. If you have a drivers license and can count to 100 then you can do it. It is considered unskilled labor and only deserves minimum wage. As for PBG, the pay scale was uniform in all non union warehouses . That is why they stay non-union. So go to your moms fridge, grad a pp&j, smoke a bowl and surf your porn freeloader.

Freeloader? Please explain to me exactly what makes me a freeloader. This ought to be good.

By "Pussies I run with" (by the way pussy's is possessive.) I assume you are referring to the Pepsi merchandisers that I often came across at work. So here is the thing, maybe they did do something wrong however, here in the United States, professionalism, and respect are expected in the work place. Now I understand that people like you typically believe that an employer should be able to talk down to, and mistreat his or her employees, however, it is not tolerated here. If that is the type of environment you prefer,there are still many third world countries that operate like that.


The one thing I certainly agree with you on is that merchandising is unskilled labor, and really does not take any type of genius to do. The disagreement I have with you is the idea that that type of work only deserves minimum wage. Merchandising, while being unskilled labor, is physically demanding. On top of that a lot of times requires long hours, and traveling hundreds of miles a day. Quite frankly, you would have to be an idiot to do the job for minimum wage. You see, here in America we also believe that EVERYONE deserves an opportunity to earn a liveable wage above poverty. That is one of the values our forefathers believed in. Again, if that is something you take issue with, the option of relocating to one of those third world countries I mentioned above.

So, what exactly does me being a merchandiser say about me? That I was an eighteen year old kid looking for a job while he was off from college classes? That the job was available, and I was willing to do the work?

In closing, I would like to state again that the very foundation of America is opportunity for all. If you are willing to work, than the opportunity for you to prosper is there. Now, over the last thirty years or so, a breed of folks decided that opportunity for all is a bad idea. Most of these people are billionaire corporation owners and CEOs who believe that the American worker should be "more competitive" with the third world countries, and work 16 hour days for three dollars a day. The others who drink the billionaire kool aid are those foolish enough to believe that they too will someday be a billionaire. They believe that it will just trickle on down... eventually. I think I speak for most of the middle class that if you are one of these people, you are not wanted here, and you don't deserve to be here.If you want a third world society, then move to a third world country,don't try and make ours one.

 

[Momanohedhunter]

I've had two direct union experiences: being harassed by AFSCME to join the union when I was a student at Berkeley (I declined despite significant pressure), and actually having to join the Teamsters.

I became a Teamster one summer for a factory job - a very eye opening experience. The jobs were segregated by gender, with the women doing the dirtiest, most uncomfortable tasks. In our section, the son of the union steward sat around and watched us for 55 minutes out of each hour, and then he spent 5 minutes sweeping up.

He was paid more than the women.

The factory was a seasonal business. They hired at least twice as many women as they needed for the work (we discovered later). The minimum amount of work to have to pay the union initiation fee was three weeks. A lot women were laid off right after they reached the union payment threshold.

I learned very quickly how much The Teamsters are a shakedown, patronage con game. I doubt other unions are much different.

I've also had to deal extensively with union workers for stage productions, events, construction projects etc. While many of the individuals are fine, their union apparatus is vile.

And I watched good workers get laid off while the guy who was engaged to the daughter of the boss keep his job in a non-union coal mine.

Unless you have a union most employers will expect you to kiss ass to keep your job. As a rule they only keep the ones who are weak minded and will simply do as their told no questions asked.

And to address your other comments the IBEW will not defend any workers caught sleeping on the job or putting themselves or others at risk of injury.

Not true. I know a guy who works for O.S.H.A. He will tell you of work sites that get shut down because of failed drug test, and alcohol relate incidents mostly from union members. And you have it backwards, The weak minded need the unions to keep them employed because they lack the ability and skills needed to be desirable out in the job market. I point to Wisconsin, and Amtrak way back in the old days. The unions did great things with Amtrak.

 

[Liberty]

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[Momanohedhunter]

Actually I'm not incorrect. Pepsi employees, who were at least at the time non-union, were paid $5.15 per hour, which was the minimum wage in the state of Ohio in 2005. The minimum wage in 1985 was $3.35 per hour. Next time you might want to look into some facts before you spout off smart ass comments.

Ok you are not incorrect, You just are not telling the truth. Well you are about what the minimum wage was in 2005 but that it about it. If the pussy's you run with get yelled at work they most likely were doing something wrong. Second, merchandising is not rocket science. The fact that you were a merchandiser says allot about you. If you have a drivers license and can count to 100 then you can do it. It is considered unskilled labor and only deserves minimum wage. As for PBG, the pay scale was uniform in all non union warehouses . That is why they stay non-union. So go to your moms fridge, grab a pp&j, smoke a bowl and surf your porn freeloader.

Freeloader? Please explain to me exactly what makes me a freeloader. This ought to be good.

By "Pussies I run with" (by the way pussy's is possessive.) I assume you are referring to the Pepsi merchandisers that I often came across at work. So here is the thing, maybe they did do something wrong however, here in the United States, professionalism, and respect are expected in the work place. Now I understand that people like you typically believe that an employer should be able to talk down to, and mistreat his or her employees, however, it is not tolerated here. If that is the type of environment you prefer,there are still many third world countries that operate like that.

No one was ever spoken down to. If they repeatedly screwed up they got fired.


The one thing I certainly agree with you on is that merchandising is unskilled labor, and really does not take any type of genius to do. The disagreement I have with you is the idea that that type of work only deserves minimum wage. Merchandising, while being unskilled labor, is physically demanding. On top of that a lot of times requires long hours, and traveling hundreds of miles a day. Quite frankly, you would have to be an idiot to do the job for minimum wage. You see, here in America we also believe that EVERYONE deserves an opportunity to earn a liveable wage above poverty. That is one of the values our forefathers believed in. Again, if that is something you take issue with, the option of relocating to one of those third world countries I mentioned above.

So you have to move ten or fifteen cases of soda and make a display look pretty. Big deal. You get maybe an hour total hard labor in an eight hour bad spent mostly driving. And gabbing on a cell phone. Boo Hoo.

So, what exactly does me being a merchandiser say about me? That I was an eighteen year old kid looking for a job while he was off from college classes? That the job was available, and I was willing to do the work?

In closing, I would like to state again that the very foundation of America is opportunity for all. If you are willing to work, than the opportunity for you to prosper is there. Now, over the last thirty years or so, a breed of folks decided that opportunity for all is a bad idea. Most of these people are billionaire corporation owners and CEOs who believe that the American worker should be "more competitive" with the third world countries, and work 16 hour days for three dollars a day. The others who drink the billionaire kool aid are those foolish enough to believe that they too will someday be a billionaire. They believe that it will just trickle on down... eventually. I think I speak for most of the middle class that if you are one of these people, you are not wanted here, and you don't deserve to be here.If you want a third world society, then move to a third world country,don't try and make ours one.

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.

 

[thereisnospoon]

I remember applying for a job once at a union shop.

They talked to me, had me fill out some forms, then informed me that I needed to be a union member to work there. I said where do I sign up. They said you can't. I said why not. They said I had to work there to join. I said then hire me. They said they can't. I said why not. They said because I'm not a union member. I pissed on their front door when I left.

hence the term "closed shop"..Unions suck sideways.
It is illogical occurrences such as your story that make me state that.
I worked very briefly for a union shop. It was a pain shop in NYC. The only reason I got hired is because my friend's father knew somebody in management. The rule was that I could work 7 days then in order to continue, I had to join the union. I tried. I went to the union hall to fill out the necessary paperwork. I did. They called me and said I needed to become an apprentice. I was like ok where and when, They said I could not because of affirmative action quotas there was no space for white guys. No kidding. Of course the union guy said "minority only program"....I instantly became anti affirmative action.
So I was out. Couple days later my boss at the painting co calls me and asks why I had not shown up for work. I told him what happened. He told me that was BS and I could come back into work. I told him no thanks. I was spending $20 per day for parking and tolls just to get to work. The apprentice wage was just $7.50 per hour ( this was 1984)
I simply could not afford to go to work on that kind of money.
The work rules and culture were not for me. Since I was low man on the totem pole, I had to go get coffee for the crew. I'd go down ,get it and come back. I gave the foreman his. One of ther other guys comes up to me and tells me that "you can't do that". I asked why. He told me it looked like to the other guys that I was sucking up to the boss. Jesus Christ. I was just being human.

 

[Momanohedhunter]

I remember applying for a job once at a union shop.

They talked to me, had me fill out some forms, then informed me that I needed to be a union member to work there. I said where do I sign up. They said you can't. I said why not. They said I had to work there to join. I said then hire me. They said they can't. I said why not. They said because I'm not a union member. I pissed on their front door when I left.

hence the term "closed shop"..Unions suck sideways.
It is illogical occurrences such as your story that make me state that.
I worked very briefly for a union shop. It was a pain shop in NYC. The only reason I got hired is because my friend's father knew somebody in management. The rule was that I could work 7 days then in order to continue, I had to join the union. I tried. I went to the union hall to fill out the necessary paperwork. I did. They called me and said I needed to become an apprentice. I was like ok where and when, They said I could not because of affirmative action quotas there was no space for white guys. No kidding. Of course the union guy said "minority only program"....I instantly became anti affirmative action.
So I was out. Couple days later my boss at the painting co calls me and asks why I had not shown up for work. I told him what happened. He told me that was BS and I could come back into work. I told him no thanks. I was spending $20 per day for parking and tolls just to get to work. The apprentice wage was just $7.50 per hour ( this was 1984)
I simply could not afford to go to work on that kind of money.
The work rules and culture were not for me. Since I was low man on the totem pole, I had to go get coffee for the crew. I'd go down ,get it and come back. I gave the foreman his. One of ther other guys comes up to me and tells me that "you can't do that". I asked why. He told me it looked like to the other guys that I was sucking up to the boss. Jesus Christ. I was just being human.

When it is broken down, I get around 28-49 dollars an hour. It just depends on weather or not I use help or not.

 

[Iowa10000]

I spent 33 years at a union shop and worked my self up to the top union job. I also spent many days and weeks working on a contract where I was one of those lazy fuckers that you guys talk about. While I was getting hammered by the company and getting to work 8 to 16 hrs for 8 hrs of reimbursed pay, they were working 10 to 12 hrs a day and weekends at the time and half and double time we got.
Over the years I saved about 15 employees their jobs, and many more from getting to the point they would be fired.

I told many union guys to be carefull of what your asking for because if the company couldn't make a good profit they would leave, that you had to be reasonable.

Out of the seven or eight contracts i was on, I can't tell you how many times the company came to us and said we had to have someting only to come back two years later and ask for something else. My response was why didn't you ask for that the first time if thats what you needed.

When I started on the committee we got 5.00 for each year of service, when I retired we had it up to 43.00 per year of service. We paid nothing to our pension but towards the end we started to pay some for healt care. I retired at 59 1/2 and paid 80.00 for me and my wife, on an 80/20 plan. since then the company has change that to 260.00 a month and we have to pay 800.00 per person deducable and then 80/20.

still a better deal then a lot of people, but it's only going to get worse as corp increase profit margins. That means they cut cost by getting employees to pick up the cost. Great deal for corp's and now for govenors. Bad for working and retired people.

The only problem states have is they don't fund their liabilities and just push them on to the future, and now they want screw the working guys, just like the corps do.

Five years ago I made a base pay of 55,000 with just a vocational degree. My average pay was areound 100,000 a year with overtime. The average worker made 18.00 per hr outside the skilled trades. The plant has been there since 1950's and to this day is pride and joy of the corp.

One thing I do remember well, something that got me pro union, it was when Reagen froze the wages that could be handed out. we got 10 cents, 20 cents and 10 cents over three years. Two months after we were forced to take this crap, the freeze was lifted. At a company meeting I asked a question, well since the freeze is over why don't we negotiate a new wage agreement?
I was told that's your problem not ours, you agreed to what we offered and thats all your going to get.

 

[Momanohedhunter]

Union suck in general.