sixate

First, I'd like to thank you for your insight.

Now, I'll try to answer your questions.
Yes, there is power in numbers. Now here's why we can't take advantage of that where I work. To start, you need to have enough intelligent individuals who know their rights who can lead the group. We don't have that where I work. About 95% of the time I'm the only one who questions anything that the union does. My reps never give me straight answers. All they say is: That's union business, not yours. Well, I'm part of the union you fucking idiot. I pay my dues. It is my fucking business. Now, lets say I can get my union to do something. My local reps can only do so much. Then the it's up to the international to follow through and finish the job, which never gets done. All they care about is getting my fucking money each month. I could do more and run for a local union spot, which people asked me to do last year, but what it comes down to is I work with idiots who aren't worth me wasting my time. A union is only as strong as it's members. So if 95% of it's members are weak dumb worthless potheads who only care about getting high then your union is only as strong as those morons, and it doesn't matter how strong one guy is. That's why it's called a union. It takes more than one to get shit done. I think it's obvious to say the union isn't strong at all in a situation like that. On a side not, there are about 20 people that i work with who never even finished high school. Two guys can't even read, and I can't even begin to count how many guys I work with don't even have a checkings or savings account. I'm not making that shit up. You couldn't possibly believe how dumb the son of a bitches are.

There are strong anti-union sentiments where I work, but here's what it comes down to. If there wasn't a union all the dudes that get high at work, show up drunk, and miss a ton of work wouldn't have jobs. Where else can you go and sleep half your day and get a pretty good check every week, and have better insurance than many people? The union protects lazy people like this, and there isn't a person out there who can deny that. If someone can deny that fact it's only because they have no clue and have never worked for a union or they're one of the lazy fucks themselves. So when people weigh the option of getting rid of the union they are smart enough to realize they won't have a job if the union was ever voted out, and that's why the union where I work will never get the boot. The fucking losers I work with couldn't find other jobs if their lives depended on it. They probably couldn't hold a job flipping burgers at McDonald's. Here's a good example of how dumb and broke people are that I work with. The company went against our contract and changed insurance. There was about a 2 week period where we had no insurance at all. By rights we coulda, and quite honestly shoulda walked out. I was ready to. Here's the problem. People are broke as fuck! This one dude needed to get a prescription filled. It was gonna cost him $56 because we didn't have insurance at the time. He didn't have the money. This guy has been working a full time job where he makes pretty good money for 16 years! He told a union rep that he only had $21 and some change left over from his last check, and that's all the money he had in his name. I was standing there when he said this... The best part is the fucking loser started to cry! HAHA! I laughed right in his face and said: I bet you'll still find a way to buy your drugs this week, huh? The sad part is more than half the idiots I work with are in the same situation. They can't afford to walk out and fight, and it's their own fault that they're broke as hell. So the company takes advantage of the situation, and quite honestly I don't blame them because I;d probably do the same thing.

Now that we do have insurance. That moron who needed $56 would've only had to pay $5 under our old insurance. Now it'll cost him at least $20, and possibly $40 depending on if that medication is on a formulary list, which there are a lot of drugs on that list. That's a huge increase in what we have to pay, and my union has done nothing. There are other little things, but that's the biggest change. The sad thing is i don't need any prescriptions and I almost never get sick because I take care of myself. I almost never use the insurance and I'm pissed more than the people who do use it.