[Snowman7]

Originally Posted by classB

I don't trust unions. Many are run by crooks.

Workers should be protected by law, not by unions.

Yeah, thats why I don't trust churches, they're run by crooks too. Here's a newsflash for ya, crooks are everywhere! :wink:

[Bumper]

I think I would probably call my dispatcher, let them know and then proceed as directed. If it is leave, then Ill leave. If it is deliver, then i will go on in.

Im sure my attack Dachshund will keep them at bay.... :twisted:

[USMCRebelGuardnU]

A company is making pencils and they have 5 employees. It costs them 10 cents in material to make 10 pencils and they sell pencils at 10 cents per. The workers are paid 5 cents. So, they make a dollar by selling the pencils. Cost of material is 10 cents, so that drops them down to 90 cents. Cost of labor is 25 cents, so it drops it down to 65 cents.
Additional costs of running a business are 30 cents of that 100 (taxes, fuel, insurance, etc). That drops income to 35 cents.
Now, the employees want to be paid more. We'll say they want 7 cents instead of 5. So cost of labor is 35 cents, which lowers income to 25 cents.
The company is going to make up for that loss somewhere, so they increase the price of the pencils to 11 cents.
That just cut the employee's raise in half so now they want paid 10 cents... See the cycle?

One of my English teachers used that sort of an example with us. Because they insist on more benefits and pay than they have, the company will have to make up that profit somewhere... by either letting off employees, stepping down consumption, or increasing prices, which affects everybody else and negates the purchasing power of the pay raise.
I had another teacher who was not in the union. Actually, he went through a lawsuit in order to get out of paying any part of union dues. The union claimed that they benefited him by negotiating his contract; his response was that he didn't feel benefited by the contract they had negotiated and he disagreed with them protecting teachers who were doing a lousy job.

I have no issue with the original unions which were organized in order to receive better working conditions. However, unions in their current form, while the United States has some of the highest standards of living and work conditions worldwide, I believe are guiding the country on the path away from the capitalist system. If you don't like what you're making now, leave and strike out on your own. There's nothing stopping you. Now try going to do that in China or Iran.

[homer]

i was thinking of starting this thread myself.
the lumber mill where i park my truck has been shutting down one week a month since you voted for change.i keep trucking tho.
now the mill workers have voted to strike and the mill wants concessions since the market is gone.
the strike pay is 127$ a week so the company shuts the mill every time they vote no on the contract so they can collect over 400$ a week unemployment.
they workers are mad at the union and there is no picket line yet but i may have a long commute till they sell the mill and get some immigrant workers in there. my company has a contract to haul out of this companies mills and will honor it

[GMAN]

I will never understand the mentality of workers who want to strike when their employer is struggling to keep the doors open. That is what happened with the U.S. steel industry. Rather than working together to help the company survive, the workers and union seem to do everything they can to close the doors. Just look at what is going on with General Motors and the auto industry. If your company is having difficulties then you can either work with the company to make things better or help the union to close the doors.

[HWD]

Originally Posted by GMAN

I will never understand the mentality of workers who want to strike when their employer is struggling to keep the doors open.

That's the case with the ones that garner national news coverage.

Unfortunately, your assessment covers a small but very visible cross-section of companies. I would be willing to wager these same companies were well on their way to bankruptcy anyway - union or no union.

The fact is most companies have plenty of money to pay decent wages and provide decent benefits, now and in the future. Most of these companies are in no way financially vulnerable. They just don't want to pay the very people that make them profitable! They're greedy. They want something for nothing. When you have no representation, your only option is to look for another job.

My current shop is unionized, but we by no means have cradle-to-grave benefits. Some people develop a negative view of unions based on cinema and anecdotal diatribes from "friends". I said it before in this thread and it bears repeating - those who poo-poo the unions straight out of the gate are those who have never been in one.

[GMAN]

Originally Posted by HWD

Unfortunately, your assessment covers a small but very visible cross-section of companies. I would be willing to wager these same companies were well on their way to bankruptcy anyway - union or no union.

It may be that some of these companies may have been on their way to bankruptcy. But the reason could be primarily from unreasonable demands from the unions and workers.

Originally Posted by HWD

The fact is most companies have plenty of money to pay decent wages and provide decent benefits, now and in the future. Most of these companies are in no way financially vulnerable. They just don't want to pay the very people that make them profitable! They're greedy. They want something for nothing. When you have no representation, your only option is to look for another job.

You assume that most companies have plenty of money to pay higher wages and greater benefits. Workers and unions have no way to know that for certain. It isn't the workers who make a company profitable. It is the management that sees to it that the business makes money. Some companies may be greedy, but the same can be said of unions and union workers. These people want more money and greater benefits for less effort on their part. In fact, they often want shorter work weeks for more money. That sounds like greed to me. If you aren't happy with the pay or company then you need to find a job where you can be happy.

Originally Posted by HWD

My current shop is unionized, but we by no means have cradle-to-grave benefits. Some people develop a negative view of unions based on cinema and anecdotal diatribes from "friends". I said it before in this thread and it bears repeating - those who poo-poo the unions straight out of the gate are those who have never been in one.

I have seen first hand what happens with union shops. Anyone who hauls steel can tell you how hard those steel workers do their jobs. There are exceptions, but for the most part it takes longer to get in and out of a union shop than a non-union shop. Workers are more friendly and helpful at the non-union shops and the union guys won't bother to go out of their way to help you. I have seen this over many years. I have seen those who don't want a union in their work place to be threatened, beaten up and coerced by union organizers. I remember one plant manager who was beaten up and found a bomb in his car when he opposed organizing. If many of these union workers started being paid based upon their performance, a good percentage of them would go hungry. Yep, I suppose that I have a negative view of unions.

Originally Posted by GMAN

Some companies may be greedy, but the same can be said of unions and union workers. These people want more money and greater benefits for less effort on their part. In fact, they often want shorter work weeks for more money. That sounds like greed to me.

Yeah, who wants to work 40 hours and be home everynight when you can make the same money OTR working 80-100 hours and sleeping in the truckslop? :roll:

If you aren't happy with the pay or company then you need to find a job where you can be happy.

That's right. If you're getting screwed over, don't try to make things better. Just be like the OTR guys and work for 200 different outfits during the year. That's the ticket.

I have seen first hand what happens with union shops. Anyone who hauls steel can tell you how hard those steel workers do their jobs. There are exceptions, but for the most part it takes longer to get in and out of a union shop than a non-union shop.

Yeah, I got in-and-out lickety split from all those non-union grocery whorehouses, meat-packing plants, and produce houses I delivered to in my reefer-haulin days.

Workers are more friendly and helpful at the non-union shops and the union guys won't bother to go out of their way to help you.

Oh sure, Pedro from the Strongarm Lumper Service always went out of his way to help me...only if I paid him $500.00 for a straight pallet-pulloff. AY CARAMBA!

[BigDiesel]

Today's union worker....... What a joke..... :lol: :lol: :lol:

And people wonder why jobs are sent overseas.... Todays unions are doing a great job in holding companies hostage and helping to damage the economy.....

Originally Posted by BigDiesel

Today's union worker....... What a joke..... :lol: :lol: :lol:

And people wonder why jobs are sent overseas.... Todays unions are doing a great job in holding companies hostage and helping to damage the economy.....

Today's independent truckers...dropping like flies!!!!!! :lol: :lol: