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 Post subject: Stickin' to the Union
PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 7:55 pm
  

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The Folkslinger

Joined: Nov 23, 1999
Posts: 1120
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Location: Housatonic, MA
Back in 1776 a whole new nation was formed. Thirteen British colonies tried unsuccessfully to have the concerns of their citizens heard or taken seriously by the empire across the Atlantic. So the colonists formed themselves into a union. The preamble to the constitution begins with these words "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union…" A more perfect union was the very first reason for the founding of The United States of America. America IS a union. You can't be anti-union and pro-America at the same time. Period.

I just returned from a three day gig in Milwaukee, WI. it was 4 degrees outside. If you think that's cold, you're right. But it's not nearly as chilly as the reception the union guys are getting from the governor and his buddies in the state government. I'm an American, and therefore I'm a union guy. I'm hoping for a little more common sense on all sides as we readjust to the economic reality. But to assume that it can't be done by normal working people through collective bargaining is just plain fear mongering and political nonsense. in other words, I'm stickin' to the union!

adg

(added later)

We all have had gripes with unions over the decades, at least I have. What I'm talking about here, and what they're talking about in WI is whether or not the right to have and function as a union is being undermined by elected officials for political purposes by individuals who have taken money from people who have a vested interest in dismantling an American institution. Even if you will never join a union, or don't believe they have anything to offer you, you're wages benefits, and your weekends are what they are because somewhere, sometime someone had the guts to form a union and make demands on behalf of everyone who worked for a living. You may not owe them dues, but you owe them some thanks. Whatever peanuts you may be working for now, they are what they are because the going rate for your work was determined by the market in which the unions played a part.


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 9:41 pm
  

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Arlo Fanatic

Joined: Jul 06, 2008
Posts: 2531
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Location: Crawfordville, Florida
I'm stickin' with ya Arlo.


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:21 pm
  

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Arlo Fanatic

Joined: Aug 25, 1999
Posts: 1089
Location: Ocala, FL, USA
So, you haven't drunk the Republican Kool-Aid after all, Arlo? I'm with you and the unions all the way.

mikey
NY State Public Employees Federation (Retired)


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:56 pm
  

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Arlo Fanatic

Joined: Sep 13, 2000
Posts: 8521
Location: Pixley-- Actually An Hr South of Richmond, VA
I figured you'd stick with the union. Thanks for sharing your views with us hon. :)


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 1:08 am
  

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Senior ArloNetizen

Joined: Jun 08, 2009
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Location: Kent ohio
they have my support and you know you have mine. here in Ohio we are fired up. i hope people are finally waking up. better late than never but i wish it had been before Kasich and the election.


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 2:16 am
  

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Arlo Fanatic

Joined: Jan 09, 2003
Posts: 2490
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Location: Rhododendron, Oregon United States
I work for a very unionized company. I participated in a webinar the other day that was titled: "Don't be scared to fire that employee." Okay. Wasn't exactly that, but it's close. They addressed the thing to non-union companies. They said that 93% of companies in the US were non-union. Kinda makes me glad I'm on the Left Coast.


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 12:58 pm
  

BlunderVirgin

Joined: Oct 27, 2010
Posts: 9
sounds like the BEAUCRATIC BULLSHIT BLUES TO ME! :roll:

Andrea Jackson

PS: You owe me an email, just a solidarity reminder.


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 1:04 am
  

Arlo Fanatic

Joined: Aug 25, 1999
Posts: 1274
Location: Herndon, Virginia
Andrea, good luck with that email reminder..! Just sayin'.


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 1:37 pm
  

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The W!zard

Joined: Aug 25, 1999
Posts: 1058
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Location: Leonardtown, MD
I worked for a unionized company in the past - before I joined the federal government. They took money out of every check for my dues. When I had an issue that my hours had been cut to next to nothing (presumably because I had been working there longer than most anyone else and because they could hire someone new to do the same job and pay them less than myself) I went through the appropriate channels (and the union)... Didn't get anywhere and I finally ended up telling them to go stick it where the sun don't shine.

My return on investing (forcibly so) in this so called union... ZERO!

My personal take on unions is that all they are is a legalized mafia, an no one is gonna change my mind on that.


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 1:55 pm
  

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Arlo Fanatic

Joined: Feb 26, 2009
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@


Last edited by len on Fri May 20, 2011 7:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 2:05 pm
  

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Senior ArloNetizen

Joined: Oct 06, 1999
Posts: 999
Location: massachusetts
well if you want to put it that way, Dave... and you do... ;).... maybe they are a kind of mafia ... well group of organized people flawed by definition....
thing is when you are dealing with heavily-monied, power loaded employers..... you might want a bit of company standing with you.... because by yourself you be wearin cement shoes and who would know?....

been part of the SEIU organizing home health care workers these past few years... they got $3.00 more an hour now, with 4 paid holidays....
not much for a few years, maybe, but considering the economy, it's not bad... now they complain about the dues, like you.... and the union can't swing health insurance yet.... I read once that in job satisfaction, a raise satisfies a worker for about 20 minutes until they start calculating the next one....

of course!!... how human!...

yet I know these workers are better off with this union who can talk directly to our more willing governor then they were in individual obscurity.....

the point though, I think, is that for those you want to, as the folkslinger said... is the whole point....
if the union is slick, crooked or unhelpful it's another issue altogether...


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 3:01 pm
  

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Senior ArloNetizen

Joined: Jun 08, 2009
Posts: 187
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Location: Kent ohio
kj wrote:
well if you want to put it that way, Dave... and you do... ;).... maybe they are a kind of mafia ... well group of organized people flawed by definition....
thing is when you are dealing with heavily-monied, power loaded employers..... you might want a bit of company standing with you.... because by yourself you be wearin cement shoes and who would know?....

been part of the SEIU organizing home health care workers these past few years... they got $3.00 more an hour now, with 4 paid holidays....
not much for a few years, maybe, but considering the economy, it's not bad... now they complain about the dues, like you.... and the union can't swing health insurance yet.... I read once that in job satisfaction, a raise satisfies a worker for about 20 minutes until they start calculating the next one....

of course!!... how human!...

yet I know these workers are better off with this union who can talk directly to our more willing governor then they were in individual obscurity.....

the point though, I think, is that for those you want to, as the folkslinger said... is the whole point....
if the union is slick, crooked or unhelpful it's another issue altogether...

whether you like unions or not is besides the point. they want to bust the unions. they want to take away their rights as a worker, to bargain and complain.


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 3:43 pm
  

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Arlo Fanatic

Joined: Sep 12, 2000
Posts: 6517
Location: New Jersey
Never belonged to any union, but I support the concept. Look at times before unions.Of course many of them are flawed and corrupt, like anything else mankind creates, but I'm sticking with them. In tough economic times, a governor may be able to control how many people work in a government to some degree, but that does not entitle him to recind the right of those that remain.Meanwhile, Wall Steet grins smuggly and ugly.


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 4:58 pm
  

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Arlo Fanatic

Joined: Feb 26, 2009
Posts: 1201
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Last edited by len on Fri May 20, 2011 7:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 11:17 pm
  

ArloNetizen

Joined: Jun 05, 2006
Posts: 89
Arlo is 100% right. Now is the time to be sticking to the union. Basic concepts like an 8 hour day and a 5 day work week came courtesy of the unions, you know.

Len, I understand your ambivalence, but, imho, it is better to side with the worker than the boss. The majority of the time unions do it right; the corporate-owned media would have you think otherwise, but the corrupt unions are a minority. And playing the Mafia card when talking about unions is so last century.


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