My Dad's [censored] Union

[revots33]

Having been a member of a union, it seems to me the union mentality is counterproductive. There is little incentive to excel - everyone gets paid the same regardless of how good they are at their job. I've personally seen people who do next to nothing while I was busting my ass, and yet I knew we both made the same and always would (at least until I got a promotion, where I'd find new slackers making the same money as me). It's very bad for employee morale and discourages initiative IMO. Personally I never saw what I was getting for my quite hefty union dues.

I actually ended up quitting when the union voted down a 15% pay raise in exchange for an additional 2.5 hours of work per week. They ended up accepting a 5% raise with no additional hours.

But on the plus side, they did give out turkeys to all members every Thanksgiving.

[pvn]

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What's stopping you? It sounds like you could make a killing in the auto industry.

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Somebody already is. See: Japan

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It won't be too long before $3,000 Chinese Honduhs are shipping.

[BCPVP]

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I support a "Give them an hour to pout and get their asses back on the job, or you're fired and I'll hire some drivers who will work for $40k a yr instead of $80k" strategy.

Sorry to hear about your dad though. Situations like his are why I don't like unions.

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This makes no sense. You realize that his situation, while not ideal, is a a hell of a lot better than it would have been if there was never any union at all, right?

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I never said Unions didn't have their place in history, but in modern times, they are putting American companies out of business because the American companies are so worried about public image that they're willing to pay these union workers 2, sometimes 3x what the fair market value of the service they perform, which is driving costs up, and wrecking the economy.

Take UAW, for example. Several years ago, I toured one of the auto manufacturing plants outside Atlanta with my high school. While there, I met two women who made $22/hr+, just for holding a lug gun and putting lug nuts on wheels.

The wheels were already on the car, someone else had done that.

The point of that story? I can go on the street and find someone willing to do the same job for $8/hr, and could probably fire the guy who puts the tires on the cars and make the two jobs into one job as well.

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For $8 I'd much rather work at a convenience store than do something that hard. Go up to like $14 and we'll talk.

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What the hell do you do for a living that putting a few nuts on a tire and pulling the trigger on the lug gun is considered hard? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[DblBarrelJ]

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I support a "Give them an hour to pout and get their asses back on the job, or you're fired and I'll hire some drivers who will work for $40k a yr instead of $80k" strategy.

Sorry to hear about your dad though. Situations like his are why I don't like unions.

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This makes no sense. You realize that his situation, while not ideal, is a a hell of a lot better than it would have been if there was never any union at all, right?

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I never said Unions didn't have their place in history, but in modern times, they are putting American companies out of business because the American companies are so worried about public image that they're willing to pay these union workers 2, sometimes 3x what the fair market value of the service they perform, which is driving costs up, and wrecking the economy.

Take UAW, for example. Several years ago, I toured one of the auto manufacturing plants outside Atlanta with my high school. While there, I met two women who made $22/hr+, just for holding a lug gun and putting lug nuts on wheels.

The wheels were already on the car, someone else had done that.

The point of that story? I can go on the street and find someone willing to do the same job for $8/hr, and could probably fire the guy who puts the tires on the cars and make the two jobs into one job as well.

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For $8 I'd much rather work at a convenience store than do something that hard. Go up to like $14 and we'll talk.

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What the hell do you do for a living that putting a few nuts on a tire and pulling the trigger on the lug gun is considered hard? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

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I think he was referring to the job after I'd fired the man who puts the tire on, forcing him to lift the tire, mount it, then put the lugnuts on.

At least I hope so, otherwise, your question is QFT.
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[4 High]

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Having been a member of a union, it seems to me the union mentality is counterproductive. There is little incentive to excel - everyone gets paid the same regardless of how good they are at their job. I've personally seen people who do next to nothing while I was busting my ass, and yet I knew we both made the same and always would (at least until I got a promotion, where I'd find new slackers making the same money as me). It's very bad for employee morale and discourages initiative IMO. Personally I never saw what I was getting for my quite hefty union dues.

I actually ended up quitting when the union voted down a 15% pay raise in exchange for an additional 2.5 hours of work per week. They ended up accepting a 5% raise with no additional hours.

But on the plus side, they did give out turkeys to all members every Thanksgiving.

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In every job i worked (none of which have been union) there have been people making the same as me being lazy as crap while i worked til i dropped. Maybe its more excessive in Unions, i dont know but it certainly happens in all jobs not just Unions.

[TomCollins]

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Having been a member of a union, it seems to me the union mentality is counterproductive. There is little incentive to excel - everyone gets paid the same regardless of how good they are at their job. I've personally seen people who do next to nothing while I was busting my ass, and yet I knew we both made the same and always would (at least until I got a promotion, where I'd find new slackers making the same money as me). It's very bad for employee morale and discourages initiative IMO. Personally I never saw what I was getting for my quite hefty union dues.

I actually ended up quitting when the union voted down a 15% pay raise in exchange for an additional 2.5 hours of work per week. They ended up accepting a 5% raise with no additional hours.

But on the plus side, they did give out turkeys to all members every Thanksgiving.

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In every job i worked (none of which have been union) there have been people making the same as me being lazy as crap while i worked til i dropped. Maybe its more excessive in Unions, i dont know but it certainly happens in all jobs not just Unions.

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You probably make more money than the lazy bums in your other job. If not, you probably could if you asked for it.

[4 High]

So you are saying the 50 cents less per hour the other guy was making was the reason he was lazy? Or that the 2 Grand less per year was the reason the other manager ran a bad store?

[adios]

What jobs have you had?

[TomCollins]

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So you are saying the 50 cents less per hour the other guy was making was the reason he was lazy? Or that the 2 Grand less per year was the reason the other manager ran a bad store?

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People who are lazy generally are going to be lazy no matter what (or at least do the minimum possible). However, if he is lazy, you can not give him as big a raise every year as someone who works their ass off who does more work for you. If you aren't getting rewarded for it, chances are someone else will, and you can quit. A lot of people will work harder if they know there is a reward for it. Some people won't. It can then be up to the employer if he wants to get rid of the lazy people or not.

[NeBlis]

One of my fondest memories is once when I was photographing trade show booths. The show was over and there were crews disassembling the booths all around me. I overheard a booth owner and the showroom carpenter talking about why the carpenter was going to have to stop work while he called in an electrician.

The guy would not take down a little airplane on a wire powered by a 9volt battery. after fighting with the booth owner about union regs for a bit the guy had to walk away to get better cell reception. While he was gone I took my ladder over there took the plane down, took out the battery and layed them on top of his tools.

When he came back he was super pissed. Yelling about "who took this plane down blah blah". I walked over and said "I did" He asks who the hell I think I am. I answer "Someone who doesn't work for your piece of [censored] union." and walked away while he lost his mind.