CenterBHSFan wrote: As an aside: Who was that guy from the old place that always brought up his garbage man for reference?
He/she always cracked me up!

LJ wrote:

CenterBHSFan wrote: As an aside: Who was that guy from the old place that always brought up his garbage man for reference?
He/she always cracked me up!

Chudecek.

dont forget his dog and being homeschool....good times...good times...

I'm not getting into this whole thing again, but to keep it short, the unions, empowered by the government, are a big reason (not the only, not the biggest, but a big one) we are in the financial mess we are in. Inflating wages above what they should be only serves to inflate the currency and raise prices. When the prices get too high, the government feels the need to step with an open hand, further driving up prices, which causes them to throw away more money, and all of a sudden you are looking $13 trillion in debt and an uncompetitive economy globally. You could train monkeys from the zoo to pick up garbage, and they wouldn't need $25/hr. to do it.

Getting back to the topic at hand, I live in Seattle and use Waste Management. The amount of money I have to pay for trash removal is obscene. If the union gets its way, the company will raise my rates even more. I should also add that I don't get very good service. They often refuse to pick up things I leave for them.

The people of Seattle are very pissed off about this whole issue. It is true that the cost of living here is much higher than anywhere in Ohio, but it isn't high enough to demand this kind of increase in wages.

I will really be pissed off if they don't pick up my trash next Wednesday. Then you will really hear me screaming!

WILL YOU TYPE IN ALL CAPS?!?

Seriously though, doesn't Seattle have a city trash removal? Maybe it's just in small towns, but I thought the city hired workers for this as opposed to a private company.

Whatever your take is regarding unions, Irish Buffalo is absolutely correct in stating that organized labor made working conditions a heck of a lot better for the American worker. UC, health insurance, workmans comp, and safety to name a few.

My take is that unions today are not in the best interests of our country. With that said, again IB has pointed out that union members today do not make the exhorbitant hourly rates they made in yesteryear.

Secondly, in the early 1900's and 1910's, virtually all judicial rulings were in favor of the the Andrew Carnegies of the world and against the unions.

The reason for this....the same as it is today. Money controls the government decisions. Just as money controls who gets elected. Big money controls everything. And as such, the huge corporations are able to skirt the basic tenets of true competition and free enterprise, as Adam Smith promoted, the perceived founder of capitalism and the free market system.

FairwoodKing wrote: Getting back to the topic at hand, I live in Seattle and use Waste Management. The amount of money I have to pay for trash removal is obscene. If the union gets its way, the company will raise my rates even more. I should also add that I don't get very good service. They often refuse to pick up things I leave for them.

The people of Seattle are very pissed off about this whole issue. It is true that the cost of living here is much higher than anywhere in Ohio, but it isn't high enough to demand this kind of increase in wages.

I will really be pissed off if they don't pick up my trash next Wednesday. Then you will really hear me screaming!

Does Waste Management have any competition when submitted their yearly quotes?

where I live, the garbage collectors have to be competitive in that each year, the the best bid wins the business.

Maybe if there were other "Waste Mangement" companies there to bid, then the union would not be playing hard ball like this.

Footwedge wrote:

FairwoodKing wrote: Getting back to the topic at hand, I live in Seattle and use Waste Management. The amount of money I have to pay for trash removal is obscene. If the union gets its way, the company will raise my rates even more. I should also add that I don't get very good service. They often refuse to pick up things I leave for them.

The people of Seattle are very pissed off about this whole issue. It is true that the cost of living here is much higher than anywhere in Ohio, but it isn't high enough to demand this kind of increase in wages.

I will really be pissed off if they don't pick up my trash next Wednesday. Then you will really hear me screaming!

Does Waste Management have any competition when submitted their yearly quotes?

where I live, the garbage collectors have to be competitive in that each year, the the best bid wins the business.

Maybe if there were other "Waste Mangement" companies there to bid, then the union would not be playing hard ball like this.

I don't live in Seattle itself, I live in Renton. Where I live, Waste Management doesn't have any competition. I have to use WM if I want my trash picked up. The company really sucks. Again, I'm just hoping to get my trash picked up Wednesday.

irish_buffalo wrote: dwccrew, where does your expert opinion come from?

What is your profession?

What does my profession have to do with this conversation? I work for one of the largest chemical companies in the world. I'll leave it at that.

irish_buffalo wrote: I have my Bachelor's degree, owned my own business, and have seen both sides of unions (trade/labor/manufacturing). I am telling you exactly what I know and what I have seen. Horatio Alger seems to rule your thought process. Hate to break it to you man, Alger's dream is dead.

I also have a college degree (not sure how that is relevant to the topic) I have my own business as well (investment/rental properties) and have seen both sides of Unions. I have been involved in 2 different unions (Teamsters and the UTU).

irish_buffalo wrote: The more unions are broken, the more you lose. Do you honestly believe that companies, especially larger ones are looking out for YOUR best interests?

Again, you have bought into the propoganda and are depedant on a union. Be an independant thinker. Do I think large companies are looking out for my best interests? No, and I don't think they should be. Being employed isn't an entitlement. As long as I do the best job I possibly can, they will take care of me and keep me. If someone is a good employee, they will do what they have to do to keep that employee (pay raises, benefits, bonuses).

That being said, I don't think unions have my best interest at heart either. When I worked for Norfolk Southern Railroad, I was apart of the UTU (a much better union than the Teamsters) and when it came to contract negotiations they never looked out for the lower seniority guys, only the highest seniority guys were taken care of. So the argument you use against the company I could use against the unions.

irish_buffalo wrote: You got it all figured out bro. You're the union member on here bashing unions. What do you do? Teamsters may be a weak union but they still bargain for YOU. How do you earn a living that makes you an expert on why unions are bad?

I never claimed to have it all figured out, but I have formulated an educated opinion based off my experiences and research of unions. So what if I am a union member bashing unions? I was forced to be in the union, I didn't have a choice when I took the job. And you can try and counter with "you didn't have to take the job", but in the state of the economy and the scarcity of jobs, I took the job. I do like my job and it is very well compensated, but in my opinion, I would get the same, if not better, compensation if there was no union.

irish_buffalo wrote:
Which begs the question - what does everyone on here bashing unions do for a living?

Again, why is this relevant? You have asked this question several times, but I have no idea why you have asked it.

believer wrote:

irish_buffalo wrote: Everybody does better when everybody does better...

Schools, health care, retirement, etc...

Ahhh the propaganda generation.

From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. - Karl Marx

Ahhhh the propaganda generation.

Marx, Really?


I agree that unions in general are bad for America. Teamsters is a solid union though and although I do not agree with this current issue, I do feel that they make good decisions on average.

To those complaining that trash people make too much money, why are you not a trash man? Everyone knows the pay level of there job/ career so why is anyone surprised about this? Teachers bitch all the time yet they chose to become a teacher. If you want to make a good living without a college degree there are options. Like a trash man or a truck driver. But people simply do not want those jobs. College educated people do not view them as careers and others just do not go after those type of jobs. Maybe they like complaining about not making good money.

bo shemmy3337 wrote:
To those complaining that trash people make too much money, why are you not a trash man? Everyone knows the pay level of there job/ career so why is anyone surprised about this?

If trash men around here made that much, I would!

Trash men make pretty decent money anywhere that I know of.

Come on guys...a little more PC. They are sanitary engineers for crying out loud.

I'm friends with a Rumpke (no not a worker, actually part of the Rumpke family) and he said each region gets hundreds upon hundreds of resumes and phone calls about jobs every week. There are a ton of people that want to be trash men. You know who they can't find? Guys to work on the trucks, lol.

From wiki.....

Sanitary engineer
While the phrase sanitary engineer properly refers to a highly-trained professional in the field of sanitary engineering, this same phrase is often used as a humorous euphemism for waste collector, a field of work that requires considerably less specialized education.

What does everyone do for a living again?

irish_buffalo wrote: What does everyone do for a living again?

That doesn't matter.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_mine_explosion_victim_vignettes

The working class shouldnt have to worry about this...

The garbage man can!

irish_buffalo wrote: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_mine_explosion_victim_vignettes

The working class shouldnt have to worry about this...

And that doesn't belong in this thread. Stay on topic.

Aside from this website, what do you do?

Why is it so hard for all of you experts to say?

Dont worry, corporate America will take care of you.

What do you do for a living again?

I kill scabs who cross the picket line while we are striking because we need more than $25/hr. to pick up garbage cans and dump them in the back of a truck.

irish_buffalo wrote: Aside from this website, what do you do?

Why is it so hard for all of you experts to say?

It doesnt matter what people do. If you have to know what I do, I am the owner of a multimillion dollar oil company. So why does that matter? What does that change?

irish_buffalo wrote: Dont worry, corporate America will take care of you.

What do you do for a living again?

I guarandamntee you I have done more physical labor than any trash man has done to get me where I am at. How does that make my opinion any more viable than the trash man?

Cleveland Buck wrote: I kill scabs who cross the picket line while we are striking because we need more than $25/hr. to pick up garbage cans and dump them in the back of a truck.

is that a union job?