irish_buffalo wrote:
You all have no clue for two reasons.
1). I am a member of a TRADE UNION. In our union if you dont work, or work hard enough, you STARVE. There is no protection job wise. Our union is there solely for the basis of collective bargaining (wage, health care, retirement).
2). If you think for one second that without unions you would somehow get a fair shake you are out of your mind. It will simply be a race to the bottom.
Times like these equal the balance. Take the UAW for example. I've seen first hand the excessive contracts of the UAW and etc... However, you HAVE to think about the fact that today new hires at UAW auto plants make $14.00 wereas they USED to make $24.00 starting out. Keep in mind that the non-union's pay scale is based off of UNION pay scale. So, if Chrysler USED to pay new hires $24.00 an hr. and Toyota paid $18.00 and NOW Chrysler pays $14.00 then it wont be long before Toyota pays $9.00 and so on and so forth. RACE TO THE BOTTOM. Our economic system is based on this.
I've owned my own business and have my college degree and now am a Union Ironworker and we get paid a very fair wage for a honest days work. Just think of our society, with all of the money that we have, and a middle class that cannot afford health care, education for their children, or retirement. All three of which are pillars in gauging strength of your society. If you firmly have been DUPED into believing that 'there is no need for unions in todays world' then sit back and see what happens. When the vast majority reaches the tipping point of not being able to attain those three things I have mentioned you will only be left with one choice - revolution.
Keep in mind, in our society, no company will look out for their workers overall well being. The only thing they look after is their bottom line, and through competition that will lead to that race to the bottom. People who preach about their dad being a 'union' guy or whose mom works with 'unions' take for granted that they wouldnt have the wage, retirement, or education due to the very union that they badmouth.
Since roughly 2003 our country has not seen such an imbalance between the rich and poor/mid class than the 1920s and we all know what happened then. As much as I hate to say it we almost NEED another depression to awaken the labor class of our society (white and blue collar together) that OUR needs are not being met whatsoever.
IB, you again have no clue, you are obviously a quite biased individual.
I have worked in both union and non-union facilities, both of my parents are in unions.
I can tell you that the non-union facilities I worked at had much harder workers, the workers liked their job much better, the pay was comparable to non-union shops, and they WORKED HARDER because they knew that their yearly raise was proportional to how well they did their job, NOT by some set percent set by a union contract.
Those that worked hard did better than those in unions, those that did not did worse than those in unions and/or were eventually looking for employment elsewhere.
I'm sorry but yes, with no unions people get a "fair shake" all the time.
I used to live in Marysville, OH and knew many people who worked in the Honda plant there. Its non-union (drove the UAW nuts) and every person I knew that worked there LOVED working at the place, never heard a complaint.
I worked in a manufacturing place that was non-union for years, and overall the people were well taken care of and loved their jobs.
I worked in a union chemical plant for a few years and on average the union employees hated their job.