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Wednesday, August 21, 2002
Unions.
My father, a tool-and-die man, never believed in them and refused to join, even though he lost out on a few well-paying jobs (shop employees were mandated to join.) His experience was that unions, nearly a "four-letter word," were a complete waste of time and money and he never regretted his decision. "Bloodsuckers" was his exact term.
R has been in a union for more than 10 years now and with his experiences, I definitely have to say my father's opinion was a bullseye. The union that R's shop belongs to SUCKS. Here are a few examples:
1. When scheduled contracts come around, the Union will not get involved in negotiations until the week before the deadline.
2. When they get involved, the Union bullies the employees into what they will/won't negotiate like health insurance and paycuts. Those, to the Union, are not as important as start times and uniforms. HUH?!!?
3. During one hearing several years ago, regarding a psycho employee being fired "without cause," R's fellow union members who testified on the company's behalf were warned, by the Union Rep, that they needed to remember the idiot who was fired was their "brother" and what they said could affect their standing with the Union. Mind you, the psycho who was fired had threatened to kill many of the employees there, including R (w howas his immediate boss), and in particular, had specifically threated to rape and murder the 8-year-old daughter of another employee, who he hated for being Native American, in front of more than a dozen other guys. Grievances were filed on the incidents, and the Union defended the psycho. He was finally fired more than a year later for repeated safety offenses and insubordination.
4. Since R's company got bought out last spring, there has been a huge problem with the pension funds. The contract specifically states the percentage of money to be put in per employee, per hour, by the company. This has not been done AND the employees have found out that they cannot touch or move their money or even end their voluntary contributions, either. The union said to give them "time," but 6 months later, NOTHING has been resolved. This is SEVERELY affecting their retirement funds. Litigation should be pursued ASAP!
Too many times in the past, the union has rolled over and played dead. R is trying to get the guys to look at ditching this union, but they are afraid of it being the same situation with another. As little as this union has done, maybe they need to think about going NON-union, but more than a few people are worried about losing their seniority. Sure, it is scary, but working in a meritless shop sucks, too.
I wonder if the Union might be whipped into shape with a bit of warning that they may be replaced? Maybe, temporarily, we could downgrade them from "bloodsuckers" to "parasites"? Sunshine - Walking on Sunshine -
8/21/2002 06:38:00 AM
