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c172g · 05-03-2005, 12:00 PM

I'm not against unions, just what they stand for!

Our small northern Michigan town just had a large plant close up about two years ago, and over 200 people lost their jobs. Most had a high school diploma and nothing else. Most were making over $45,000 (plus benefits) per year making paper (in our town, average household income is about $35000 per year).

One of our long-time employees used to work for them. On the night shift, out of 25 guys, three or four would actually be working. Others slept, drove around on the forklift, and one night one of them was drunk & drove the lift through the side of the building. He was fired on the spot. Two days later he had his job back, thanks to the union protecting someone's job that shouldn't be working. If the guy drove a truck, or even delivered pizza, he would not have his job back. But thanks to the union, the guy was allowed to keep his job.

My good friend works for a union machine shop. He makes $40,000 in his fifth year with the company. The first day he started his job, the foreman told him NEVER to do 100% of his assigned work. If he did an average of 75% the company would never complain. He makes replacement parts for their block machines.

To start with (he's been a machinist for about ten years), when they give him a two hour job to make one part, he tells me that he can set up the machine, make the part, and tear it down in under an hour. If he does that, the time allotment for the job will go down (heaven forbid a union guy having to work 8 straight in a day) as the company averages the allotment based on performance. Anyway, he's given two hours to do a one hour job. On top of that, the foreman who sees the order will combine orders for parts he knows will be ordered repeatedly...in other words, if part A is ordered, the foreman will wait until four or five are on order, then give the job to someone. Now, part A is a two hour job PER PEICE...so my buddy has ten hours to run five parts. He's still given all the setup & teardown time as if he's doing them one at a time, but since the job has been combined with others, he can set it up once, run five, and tear down once. He can do this all in three hours. So, he has ten hours to do a three hour job, of which he's only supposed to do 75%. That puts it to 12.5 hours for three hours of actual work. This practice is common in the company he works for.

How about sports? You have guys making millions of dollars per year, playing games. Put it in perspective...a New York Firefighter makes under $50,000 a year and actually puts his life in the way of danger every day. A guy from Cuba can come to America, make five million a year throwing a baseball around. I love hockey, but the players can strike for the next ten years for all I care, they are a bunch of cry asses. The owners SHOULD make the money, when no one comes to watch the games, they lose the money. The players have no care whatsoever if the owners lose money, but when they make it, watch out, we need more. For what?

I can go on & on about union stories like those above. My buddy is an engineer at Ford. His entire line went down one day due to a breaker tripping. He tried to get one of the two electricians to fix it, one was clear across the plant, the other was "on break" which was going to last for 30 minutes. In the meantime, there are probably a hundred guys standing around (all making $75K-$90K per year with no college education) waiting for their line to get started back up, so my buddy goes & resets the breaker. The next day, he had 25 grievances filed against him, not just by the electricians, but by the rest of the guys who wanted to stand around instead of actually do something.

If you're wondering why almost everything you buy in Wal-Mart or just about any place else says "Made In China", think about the money being wasted by some of our nations better workers. I have no problem with paying someone what they are worth, but the unions give way too much power to people who don't deserve it.

If you are a decent worker and a responsible person, you don't need a union. If you want to go into work drunk every day & have five chances to get busted & keep your good-paying job, find a union job. Even in baseball, you need to get busted (randomly) for drugs at least five times before you are permanently banned. UGH!

My dad was forced to join a union in Detroit years ago. As he put it, "the best day of my working life was the day I told my union foreman to jam his card in his ass".

Sorry about the long post, but this subject burns my ass!

05-03-2005, 12:00 PM	#36 (permalink)
c172g Crazy Location: Michigan	I'm not against unions, just what they stand for! Our small northern Michigan town just had a large plant close up about two years ago, and over 200 people lost their jobs. Most had a high school diploma and nothing else. Most were making over $45,000 (plus benefits) per year making paper (in our town, average household income is about $35000 per year). One of our long-time employees used to work for them. On the night shift, out of 25 guys, three or four would actually be working. Others slept, drove around on the forklift, and one night one of them was drunk & drove the lift through the side of the building. He was fired on the spot. Two days later he had his job back, thanks to the union protecting someone's job that shouldn't be working. If the guy drove a truck, or even delivered pizza, he would not have his job back. But thanks to the union, the guy was allowed to keep his job. My good friend works for a union machine shop. He makes $40,000 in his fifth year with the company. The first day he started his job, the foreman told him NEVER to do 100% of his assigned work. If he did an average of 75% the company would never complain. He makes replacement parts for their block machines. To start with (he's been a machinist for about ten years), when they give him a two hour job to make one part, he tells me that he can set up the machine, make the part, and tear it down in under an hour. If he does that, the time allotment for the job will go down (heaven forbid a union guy having to work 8 straight in a day) as the company averages the allotment based on performance. Anyway, he's given two hours to do a one hour job. On top of that, the foreman who sees the order will combine orders for parts he knows will be ordered repeatedly...in other words, if part A is ordered, the foreman will wait until four or five are on order, then give the job to someone. Now, part A is a two hour job PER PEICE...so my buddy has ten hours to run five parts. He's still given all the setup & teardown time as if he's doing them one at a time, but since the job has been combined with others, he can set it up once, run five, and tear down once. He can do this all in three hours. So, he has ten hours to do a three hour job, of which he's only supposed to do 75%. That puts it to 12.5 hours for three hours of actual work. This practice is common in the company he works for. How about sports? You have guys making millions of dollars per year, playing games. Put it in perspective...a New York Firefighter makes under $50,000 a year and actually puts his life in the way of danger every day. A guy from Cuba can come to America, make five million a year throwing a baseball around. I love hockey, but the players can strike for the next ten years for all I care, they are a bunch of cry asses. The owners SHOULD make the money, when no one comes to watch the games, they lose the money. The players have no care whatsoever if the owners lose money, but when they make it, watch out, we need more. For what? I can go on & on about union stories like those above. My buddy is an engineer at Ford. His entire line went down one day due to a breaker tripping. He tried to get one of the two electricians to fix it, one was clear across the plant, the other was "on break" which was going to last for 30 minutes. In the meantime, there are probably a hundred guys standing around (all making $75K-$90K per year with no college education) waiting for their line to get started back up, so my buddy goes & resets the breaker. The next day, he had 25 grievances filed against him, not just by the electricians, but by the rest of the guys who wanted to stand around instead of actually do something. If you're wondering why almost everything you buy in Wal-Mart or just about any place else says "Made In China", think about the money being wasted by some of our nations better workers. I have no problem with paying someone what they are worth, but the unions give way too much power to people who don't deserve it. If you are a decent worker and a responsible person, you don't need a union. If you want to go into work drunk every day & have five chances to get busted & keep your good-paying job, find a union job. Even in baseball, you need to get busted (randomly) for drugs at least five times before you are permanently banned. UGH! My dad was forced to join a union in Detroit years ago. As he put it, "the best day of my working life was the day I told my union foreman to jam his card in his ass". Sorry about the long post, but this subject burns my ass!