I have been a member of a construction Union since 1967and am now retired . All those years I worked hard and more importantly showed up for work . I enjoyed my work and was good at it. Because of a Union and the 5 years I spent in apprentice school I acquired many marketable skills . I worked in some of the dirtiest powerhouses and chemical plants in the area using these skills but also worked in breweries and food processing plants . Because of my membership I was able to afford a nice house , to send my kids to private grade and high schools and two of them to a private college . One is an attorney who attended UK College of law another is a registered nurse. The youngest is now in college at NKU . Because of a Union I have had affordable health care for my family and was able to retire early with 2 great pensions . Because of a Union I was able to live comfortably with unemployment payments that supplemented what the state supplied when I was laid off for short periods of time because in construction when a job is over sometimes you have a little wait until the next job , but there always was a next job . I was only a rank and file member in this Union never a leader . The Union never told me how to vote or who to vote for , suggestions were made but they were only suggestions and I did not always follow them. . Believe me the the small amount of dues that I paid over the years was worth every penny of it and I for one do not understand why there is so much union bashing in today's society.

Good point.

 

How ironic it is that unions who are supposed to be so concerned with the rights of workers are so adamently opposed to workers' rights to choose whether or not to participate in the union itself.

Yeah they want all of the Union benefits without working for any of them . ie higher wages , better healthcare .:argue:

Yeah they want all of the Union benefits without working for any of them:D

 

I agree with this part of your post at least

 

On a serious note, just one question. Do you agree or disagree that a worker should be able to decide individually whether or not he/she will join the union when accepting a position at a business that utilizes unionized labor? If you don't think the worker should be given the choice, then why?

I agree with this part of your post at least

 

On a serious note, just one question. Do you agree or disagree that a worker should be able to decide individually whether or not he/she will join the union when accepting a position at a business that utilizes unionized labor? If you don't think the worker should be given the choice, then why?

If they don't join the union and are doing the same job as the Union Member then they shouldn't get the same benefits that the Union member has won through collective bargaining . If they get the same benefits without joining the Union then they are Leaches .

If they don't join the union and are doing the same job as the Union Member then they shouldn't get the same benefits that the Union member has won through collective bargaining . If they get the same benefits without joining the Union then they are Leaches .

 

Do you think Union is the way to go for all industries?

 

What do you think of the effects on Unions relative to the costs of business?

 

Also, my son used to work at Kroger. He had no choice but to join the union at 15! He was a bag boy, covered under his parents' insurance, and made minimum wage when he started. To what benefit was the union to him? He never made over $7.00/hr in almost 4 years there.

 

My dad worked in the union for 35 years, beginning in the late 50's, early 60's. I can see where it benefitted him. But in this day, with labor laws, minimum wage, OSHA standards, etc. I do not see the benefit of unions.

I have been a member of a construction Union since 1967and am now retired . All those years I worked hard and more importantly showed up for work . I enjoyed my work and was good at it. Because of a Union and the 5 years I spent in apprentice school I acquired many marketable skills . I worked in some of the dirtiest powerhouses and chemical plants in the area using these skills but also worked in breweries and food processing plants . Because of my membership I was able to afford a nice house , to send my kids to private grade and high schools and two of them to a private college . One is an attorney who attended UK College of law another is a registered nurse. The youngest is now in college at NKU . Because of a Union I have had affordable health care for my family and was able to retire early with 2 great pensions . Because of a Union I was able to live comfortably with unemployment payments that supplemented what the state supplied when I was laid off for short periods of time because in construction when a job is over sometimes you have a little wait until the next job , but there always was a next job . I was only a rank and file member in this Union never a leader . The Union never told me how to vote or who to vote for , suggestions were made but they were only suggestions and I did not always follow them. . Believe me the the small amount of dues that I paid over the years was worth every penny of it and I for one do not understand why there is so much union bashing in today's society.

 

What you attribute to the union I suggest resulted from your work ethic. Many non union people with similar work ethics can tell the same story.

Do you think Union is the way to go for all industries?

 

What do you think of the effects on Unions relative to the costs of business?

 

Also, my son used to work at Kroger. He had no choice but to join the union at 15! He was a bag boy, covered under his parents' insurance, and made minimum wage when he started. To what benefit was the union to him? He never made over $7.00/hr in almost 4 years there.

 

My dad worked in the union for 35 years, beginning in the late 50's, early 60's. I can see where it benefitted him. But in this day, with labor laws, minimum wage, OSHA standards, etc. I do not see the benefit of unions.

 

I do believe unions are still neccessary in certain industries and locations. And that's coming from a dedicated pro business person.

I have been a member of a construction Union since 1967and am now retired . All those years I worked hard and more importantly showed up for work . I enjoyed my work and was good at it. Because of a Union and the 5 years I spent in apprentice school I acquired many marketable skills . I worked in some of the dirtiest powerhouses and chemical plants in the area using these skills but also worked in breweries and food processing plants . Because of my membership I was able to afford a nice house , to send my kids to private grade and high schools and two of them to a private college . One is an attorney who attended UK College of law another is a registered nurse. The youngest is now in college at NKU . Because of a Union I have had affordable health care for my family and was able to retire early with 2 great pensions . Because of a Union I was able to live comfortably with unemployment payments that supplemented what the state supplied when I was laid off for short periods of time because in construction when a job is over sometimes you have a little wait until the next job , but there always was a next job . I was only a rank and file member in this Union never a leader . The Union never told me how to vote or who to vote for , suggestions were made but they were only suggestions and I did not always follow them. . Believe me the the small amount of dues that I paid over the years was worth every penny of it and I for one do not understand why there is so much union bashing in today's society.

 

 

I believe you were a member of the Pipefitters Union (Local 392). I'm glad that your job enabled you to provide the things you did for your family. But it was in no way the Union that enabled you to do so. It was your work ethic that enabled you to do so and you know it. You also know that there are a lot of union workers that do not have the work ethic you do (heck, I could probably name them as I am very familiar with the local and the membership) but because of the collective bargaining unit ("CBA") its very difficult to get rid of them. I know that from experience.

 

I also know that some non union companies pay wages and provide benefits comparable to those provided under the CBA. The difference is that when a non union company experiences a bad worker, they fire them. With the union, you best get ready for a grievance to be fired and if you stick to your guns, you can plan on going to expensive and time consuming arbitration over it (again, from experience).

 

At one time in our country's history, unions were an absolute necessity. That time is passed. The greatest enemy of the unions has been, ironically, the Democrats as it is the Democrats that have forced so many employee protective laws to be enacted. With all those protections in place, there is very little need for unions and its why the union membership numbers have been steadily decreasing.

 

My final thought is a question to you. Why do you think it was fair to you that you received the exact wages and the exact benefits that another worker, whom was not as dedicated to his job as you were, received?

I do believe unions are still neccessary in certain industries and locations. And that's coming from a dedicated pro business person.

 

Which industries and locations, and why?

Also, my son used to work at Kroger. He had no choice but to join the union at 15! He was a bag boy, covered under his parents' insurance, and made minimum wage when he started. To what benefit was the union to him? He never made over $7.00/hr in almost 4 years there.

 

My dad worked in the union for 35 years, beginning in the late 50's, early 60's. I can see where it benefitted him. But in this day, with labor laws, minimum wage, OSHA standards, etc. I do not see the benefit of unions.

 

 

My dad was a union worker in the UMWA his entire working career. At that time, he needed 30 years in order to qualify for full pension benefits. He was permanently "laid off" after 29 years of service to the company. As a result his pension was severely reduced. Several of his co-workers faced similar fates. The UMWA was contacted to see if they could assist these workers in their plight. They offered absolutely no assistance of any kind. I still have some of the correspondence to this day. My dad passed away a few years after he retired a broken penniless man.

 

My wife is a teacher and former member of the vile NEA/KEA unions. It took several attempts by me to talk her into discontinuing her membership. When she was a member of the KEA, we would receive correspondence every election season with the KEA's "list of suggested candidates for consideration". The lists were always 100% filled with Democratic candidates, always. No political bias there eh. I used to have fun and compose rebuttal letters to the KEA and would send them with their candidate list back to them.

 

My entire family on my mother's side is from Detroit, and most of them still live there. And many of them are non-union members of management at various businesses involved in the auto industry. The stories I've been told involving various members of the UAW and their work attitudes/ethics are incredible to put it mildly.

 

For those of you who are pro-union, you need to understand that I have no ill feelings whatsover toward you. My problems are with the leadership inside of these organizations. I have had far too many family members negatively impacted by these so-called "protectors of workers rights" to ever look upon them favorably.

Which industries and locations, and why?

 

Didn't have anything specific. I do believe that many agriculture and textile workers and areas where there is not a lot of competition still need the protections afforded by unions.

It hurts when large companies pack up and leave the state and head to Tennessee like the Dollar General Corp. did a few years ago. Moved their Corp. headquarters to Nashville from Scottsville, Ky.

I believe you were a member of the Pipefitters Union (Local 392). I'm glad that your job enabled you to provide the things you did for your family. But it was in no way the Union that enabled you to do so. It was your work ethic that enabled you to do so and you know it. You also know that there are a lot of union workers that do not have the work ethic you do (heck, I could probably name them as I am very familiar with the local and the membership) but because of the collective bargaining unit ("CBA") its very difficult to get rid of them. I know that from experience.

 

I also know that some non union companies pay wages and provide benefits comparable to those provided under the CBA. The difference is that when a non union company experiences a bad worker, they fire them. With the union, you best get ready for a grievance to be fired and if you stick to your guns, you can plan on going to expensive and time consuming arbitration over it (again, from experience).

 

At one time in our country's history, unions were an absolute necessity. That time is passed. The greatest enemy of the unions has been, ironically, the Democrats as it is the Democrats that have forced so many employee protective laws to be enacted. With all those protections in place, there is very little need for unions and its why the union membership numbers have been steadily decreasing.

 

My final thought is a question to you. Why do you think it was fair to you that you received the exact wages and the exact benefits that another worker, whom was not as dedicated to his job as you were, received?

I didn't . For approximately 85% 0f my working carreer I was a foreman ,was paid more , and also I fired my share of people for not doing their job , absenteeism etc. . Never once was a grevience filed against me for a firing for all concerned knew that they deserved it . Early in my carreer I was fired for absenteeism and I deserved it . I was young and dumb but I learned my lesson . The next company that hired me employed me for 18 years until they went out of business , because the owners became too old and none of their children wanted to take over the company . I may have held onto a job because of my work ethic ,but the union trained me and I got my jobs through the union hiring Hall .

:thumb:

Do you think Union is the way to go for all industries?

 

What do you think of the effects on Unions relative to the costs of business?

 

Also, my son used to work at Kroger. He had no choice but to join the union at 15! He was a bag boy, covered under his parents' insurance, and made minimum wage when he started. To what benefit was the union to him? He never made over $7.00/hr in almost 4 years there.

 

My dad worked in the union for 35 years, beginning in the late 50's, early 60's. I can see where it benefitted him. But in this day, with labor laws, minimum wage, OSHA standards, etc. I do not see the benefit of unions.