View Full Version : Unions and The Administration
I am curious as to what the deal is with this administration and the unions. I am watching Fox News and they are showing the AFL-CIO get together down in Miami. You know the place right? The resort where rooms cost at least 325.00 per night. Joe Biden shows up and they are having a closed door session with the leadership.
Did I miss something or didn't I hear that the auto industry is going under? They couldn't find a better and cheaper place to hold their get together? Sounds like the American tax payers are just getting ****ed over again. People were bitching when CEO's took corporate aircraft to go to meetings, but no one is saying a word about this meeting which is nothing more than a mini vacation as far as I am concerned.
We should start a gun owners UNION. And request a bailout. :rolleyes:
The proletariat is never supposed to question the elite of the vanguard party. They know what is best for us, and we will comply . . . or else.
I think it has something to do with the fact that the unions own the Democratic party.
FromMyColdDeadHand
03-05-09, 12:29
I think that the union, dems and the press have been very good at making the unions look monolithic. The Republicans seem unable to get the idea across that the membership is a seperate entitiy from the union leadership. I don' think the two are aligned. Leadership wants more immigrtion in the hope of more members. Members probably don't like the idea of cheaper labor moving in country.
Afflicting them with Biden is one of the worst things I can legally think to do with them.
losbronces
03-05-09, 13:49
On a somewhat related note, does anyone know how Biden got that bruise in the middle of his forehead? I haven't seen anything on it, but it was quite apparent on the news yesterday.
Littlelebowski
03-05-09, 14:21
Apparently it's OK for union bosses to stay in resorts but not bankers :rolleyes:
kaiservontexas
03-05-09, 18:24
The proletariat is never supposed to question the elite of the vanguard party. They know what is best for us, and we will comply . . . or else.
Only until they become conscious of it. ;)
The only money the union officials are wasting is the dues they get from their members. If the members are cool with it, then it's not anyone else's business. If the members don't like it, they can vote for different leaders.
No offense, but the corruption and misappropriation of funds I've seen in unions at the local level is pretty bad. I have no idea how much worse it gets as you go up the chain, but it can't get better...
Rolo Tomasee
03-05-09, 19:40
That was'nt a bruise. That was Biden during a meeting on Ash Wednesday, he had to show everyone he has religion. :rolleyes:
FromMyColdDeadHand
03-05-09, 21:34
That was'nt a bruise. That was Biden during a meeting on Ash Wednesday, he had to show everyone he has religion. :rolleyes:
I thought it was from Barry's belt buckle.
losbronces
03-05-09, 21:47
That was'nt a bruise. That was Biden during a meeting on Ash Wednesday, he had to show everyone he has religion. :rolleyes:
That makes sense. I thought it looked pretty odd right there in the center and no comment on it from the news commentators.
Littlelebowski
03-19-09, 16:03
My wife has to deal with her company's closed shop union and their nonsensical, ridiculous "grievances."
Recently a supervisor asked if anyone could stay and do some overtime to get some work out the door. Someone volunteered and the job got done. The union found out and "grieved" the matter until the senior union guy on that project got paid the hours as well.
Another person was gone for over 30 days for a simularly ridiculously grievance. Now she's grieving the fact that she was asked to take a urinalysis (company policy is that if you're gone for 30 days, you take a piss test).
When grievances get to a certain level, they are handled in Southern California for this union. My wife recently tried to ship some corrborating documents there but the delivery was refused because it was through FedEx, a non-unionized business.
Wasteful, self destructive, and stupid. That's what I see of the unions. Not needed and a bunch of cattle following the feed truck their leaders are driving. Yeah, go vote Obama because he's for unions and he won't take away your guns. Neither will Biden, right? God knows how many millions are going to be wasted of this "stimulus" money on union BS. Maybe they can build another multimillion dollar golf course, ru a few more companies into the dirt, and stay at more expensive resorts with Joe Biden, sponsor of the last AWB.
I think that the union, dems and the press have been very good at making the unions look monolithic. The Republicans seem unable to get the idea across that the membership is a seperate entitiy from the union leadership. I don' think the two are aligned.
I think this is at the heart of the issue. In most cases union leadership work for their own good not the good of the union members. In that way union bosses are mini-politicians. :confused:
Barron Fields
03-20-09, 08:16
My wife has to deal with her company's closed shop union and their nonsensical, ridiculous "grievances."
.
Unfortunately, sometimes organizations turn into the exact type of organization they formed to oppose.
8 hour workday - Union fought for and won
OT over 40 hours - Union fought for and won
Lunch breaks, etc.
Watch the movie Matawan if you can find a copy. ;)
Footnotes: Of all the characters in the movie, the Sheriff 'Two Gun' Sid Hatfield was the most accurate portrayal. Yes, he is related to the Famous Hatfield clan.
Littlelebowski
03-20-09, 20:09
I think that the union, dems and the press have been very good at making the unions look monolithic. The Republicans seem unable to get the idea across that the membership is a seperate entitiy from the union leadership. I don' think the two are aligned. Leadership wants more immigrtion in the hope of more members. Members probably don't like the idea of cheaper labor moving in country.
Unfortunately, the unions were proven to vote mainly the way their leadership told them to which is against the Republicans. So the Republicans judge the unions on their actions . When you get right down to it, the unions are all about money with their hands out. The Republican/conservative policy of earn what you get and get ahead through merit are contrary to union principles. You can search this very site and find union members making smug remarks about the amount of money they get paid (not earn) compared to their non union counterparts while our economy tanks. And that's why I don't mind if any or all of the Big Three tanks. UAW is a dodo bird that needs to be put down. The Teamsters are also stupid, lazy flightless waterfowl that need to be extinct.
Littlelebowski, Why would you or anyone want unions to fail? Many people would be affected. Your union hatred is obvious. As always i am proud to be a union member. And hope all people union or not can make a decent living. If you dont like unions work somewhere else, don't buy union made products. Proud UAW member
I too am a proud 38 year member of a Plumbers and Pipefitters Union, United Association. I work hard, have never been paid for a day I did not work, no sick
pay, vacation, blah blah. I have the initiave to attend state of art classes on
welding and hold many certifications that have enabled me to make a good living.
I travel across country on my own dime to take a welding test at some nuclear
powerhouse, or refineary, or chip plant and if I fail test and I have I drive some-
where else.
I have voted Republican since I returned from Vietnam, and there are many like me,
to think we are mindless automons who follow all the wishes of our administrations
is ridiclous, and frankly makes those who spout such invectives ,as rabid and ignorant
as the other sides rants.
While I doubt that we'll be able to keep this from spiraling into another "less filling, tastes great" argument as to whether or not unions are bad/good...
The question posed is, as I interpret it: where does union leadership get the gall to be among the voices calling for bailout money, ping the CEOs of the companies they represent for executive excess, then turn around and use sun-drenched high-end accommodations to hold a get-together that could just as easily be handled by an appropriately-sized Holiday Inn Express in Wichita, Kansas?
Said question posed by the OP does not impugn those that are individual union members of whatever ilk, either directly or through implication. It poses a question about the leadership you voted into office to represent your organizations. Knowing it won't work in the least, I'd suggest speaking to the question instead of using it as a platform to justify unions, however interesting it is to note lockstep response to start making excuses for them.
It's been heard before, and is not germane to the question posed. Hell, dig a bit and find out if it was the gov't that selected the location! Then this whole thing can go away and we can get back to being everyday, run-of-the-mill violence-mongers.
bigshooter
03-22-09, 11:05
Littlelebowski, Why would you or anyone want unions to fail? Many people would be affected. Your union hatred is obvious. As always i am proud to be a union member. And hope all people union or not can make a decent living. If you dont like unions work somewhere else, don't buy union made products. Proud UAW member
I'll just come right out and say it.
I want unions, for the most part, to FAIL.
they have outgrown thier usefullness to say the least. Having been a teamster for going on 10 years I can honestly say the union is in part of why our country is on the roads to ruins. A union member is not judged on effort or quality of work, but on seniority alone. The sense of entitlement is sickening, which is painfully obvious with the UAW refusing to take conscessions in detriot, while the rest of america is starving. they think they should be immune from the effects of the economic downturn.
Meanwhile, a guy like myself, goes to work every ****ing day and puts 100% in every day he can, simply because that's what I was taught to do, knowing I could get laid off at any moment because I am near the bottom of seniority, even though I work harder and longer than 80% of the rest of the union leeches I work with. Did you know that most union shops can't even have annual performance reviews?........my old boss was only allowed to meet with ME to ask how HE was doing a supervisor......WTF?.
How the hell is that the American dream?, smells like Socialism to me.
I won't even start on where my dues go. every damn newsletter I get from the union is dems this dems that Obama is our savior.....and since the unions are for the most part filled with ignorant ****s, they follow like sheep.
I see "proud to be a union carpenter" stickers all over, and thier always on the back of 3/4 ton trucks, suv's and such............I always think...do you idiots realize that your voting for a guy that wants to either take away or charge you double for that little piece of heaven you keep parked in your double wide garage and wax every saturday?. SHEEP.
My last union rep vote, the scum were all running unapposed, WTF?, did I wake up in Iran?, is Hugo Chavez my new business agent?.
I am not against the idea of worker representation or bargaining leverage of a union. But what America has come to know as "the unions" have grown toxic and will eventualy help lead her off the edge of a cliff.
Here's to all the pensions you 30 and outers, think you've got coming, LOL.
rant over.
Gee, I can't argue with a well thought out and unbiased logic like that.
bigshooter
03-22-09, 22:04
Gee, I can't argue with a well thought out and unbiased logic like that.
Obviously not.
The negative views toward unions are based on jealousy. Some have it worse than others.
The negative views toward unions are based on jealousy. Some have it worse than others.
Your narrow-minded assumption, nothing more. With all due respect.
Unions started in an honorable way to accomplish honorable goals at a time when laborers were being taken advantage of in mass. Today, however, their greed, corruption and sense of entitlement have become a scourge on the workplace in general.
Bigshooter, since you feel that way why stay in union, go rat. Since you are anyway.
Guys like you are your own worst enemy.
Gutshot John
03-23-09, 22:30
I've no problem with unions so long as they actually fulfill a purpose. For instance if you're a teacher, your purpose is to teach your students, so long as unions improve that process, great. Once they become destructive to those ends, or the industry they work for, they have outlived their purpose. For other industries that require a high-level of training/experience such as nuclear technology, electricians etc, Unions often insure that work is done right without cutting corners, here too, so long as they fulfill that purpose...I've got no problems, even if I remain skeptical of their current purpose.
Once however their purpose is to preserve members' jobs and leadership's power, they should be broken...ruthlessly. Having watched the unions destroy the steel industry in my hometown in the late 70s/80s, I'm deeply skeptical of unions. They have a way of killing the golden goose.
I'm not sure I understand the logic behind eliminating the secret ballot since that's one of our democracy's most cherished institutions. If workers aren't going to support a union when no one is looking, then they obviously don't feel that the union supports their purposes. That they have to rely on union bosses showing up at your door saying "you want to sign this card...don't you?" tends to discredit their argument that they serve the worker's interests...they serve their own.
There are enough labor laws on the books that the historic purpose of unions has been made moot.
bigshooter
03-23-09, 23:09
Bigshooter, since you feel that way why stay in union, go rat. Since you are anyway.
:confused:
go file a grievance if it bothers you so much............;)......
Guys like you are your own worst enemy.
:confused:
If having standards, drive, and good work ethic make me my own worst enemy, so be it.
Littlelebowski
03-24-09, 09:38
The negative views toward unions are based on jealousy. Some have it worse than others.
I can't believe a grown man posted that as an argument. My viewpoint of the unions is based on disgust and I'm not alone, read the polls.
I wouldn't mind unions so much if they tolerated competition (no closed shops) and weren't in the business of self perpetuating themselves at a national level to include cozying up to gun grabbers and socialist all the while lying to their members saying "Obama won't take away my guns."
Unions are afraid of competition and advance people on seniority, not merit. They build more expensive, lower quality products and I do not buy union if I can help it and I do not do business with union controlled companies if I can help it. Unions have made it next to impossible for domestic car companies to compete with the Japanese and WTF are the unions doing having closed door talks with Joe Biden? Companies fail ,deal with it. If you have your job based on merit, not union standing you'll be fine. It is a Darwin-esque world and plenty of us deal with survival of the fittest just fine. You can too. Also, can you union members tell me with a straight face what the problem is with the secret ballot?
http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2008-10-14-aflcio.jpg
Unions had their time and place and in some cases (especially Police and Protective Services type unions) they still do. The overall majority are now however over-inflated money machines that do little for helping workers and do alot to raise money for THEMSELVES. They have turned into a business onto themselves. Ever wonder why union guys like Hoffa and the rest never had to work later in life and yet they seemed to have a lot of cash? It's called get a clue. The unions have perverted their original intent and purpose just like many things in the America that we used to know have.
We really are a closed minded society and are suffering for it, because there are those who thrive on playing us against each other. Sure there are lots of things wrong with about any originization, as long as we hold the notion that we are right and they are wrong, we are doomed to be played as pawns.
We all suffer, We all lose. I withdraw from this subject. Adios!
Ciao. Don' la t ha lasciato il portello colpirla nell'asino sull'uscita.
We really are a closed minded society and are suffering for it, because there are those who thrive on playing us against each other. Sure there are lots of things wrong with about any originization, as long as we hold the notion that we are right and they are wrong, we are doomed to be played as pawns.
We all suffer, We all lose. I withdraw from this subject. Adios!
I'd say let's end this on a good note, but the union/non-union threads never end that way.
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