republicans Continue Their Assaults Against Schools

Telegram? Is that one of those birthday messages delivered by a guy who turns out to be a stripper?

 

"Everything that is perfected by progress also perishes by progress" - Blaise Pascal



Or something like that.

 

The union discussion is interesting.

I've never really been "for" or "against" unions.

I do believe they have their place though.
I also believe that in many cases they have become too strong.

I live in "steel country" and have seen the demise of many a mill. Unions had a part to do with it in my opinion. The companies did as well.

Here's a personal story.

10 years ago I left retail and took a job as a painter. I had no experience really.
I knew the owner of the business' cousin. They were looking to hire and I was SICK of retail.

Enter the rookie painter. Me. The boss preferred an inexperienced person so he could show me how he wanted it done.

I did whatever he asked. Learned some tricks and he compensated me.

Eventually the company grew from 5 to 15-20 as we started doing drywall as well.
All new home construction and we were BUSY. I eventually became the "official" dry wall repair man.

Of course that didn't last. The housing market started tanking and new construction was our bread and butter.

Commercial jobs went to union.

As things tightened we were scrambling for work. A company we'd done hundreds of units fo had a commercial job. We took it.

Word got to the local union and a union rep was waiting for the boss at the job site.

He asked my boss if he going to pay union wages.

My boss replied "I could but I don't think they want to take a pay cut".

He wasn't lying. He paid well because we were good.

In the long run we ended up painting alongside union painters.

Pick my story apart as you see fit.

 

Once in a while he gets it. Although I'm not sure it's true.

 

With most of the unions I have seen, you would not have been allowed to work side by side. Most generally, if the area has a union, only they are allowed to work there.

 

Unions are different everywhere.

That's why lumping all unions into "bad" or "good" is an exercise in realistic futility.
Kind of like anything in life if you get down to it.

I worked around union employees on a daily basis.

Rarely with painters though.

 

That union sounds more along the lines of a Teamster type union. We're not quite that anal. Nobody else can do our job not because the union would step in, but because of Federal regulation, the same way you hopefully wouldn't want a carpet layer flying the 747 you were traveling on. Ours is basically there to negotiate contracts every five years.

 

Actually, a surprisingly large amount of that variation comes from the state laws.

 

Here is a story for the both of you. Notice how the unions wanted conditions to the point it was driving businesses away. Then the state passed a law (over the unions objections)
to help keep the place open.

Read more: http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/07/20/do-unions-bust-convention-business/#ixzz2WfOcVpGv​

 

Careful, you're treading into an area that'll get you called a liar by fog-of-war moen when you claim an employer would pay higher wages to non-union employees for a higher quality of work...just like my contractor.

 

Do the unions care about everyone's safety?
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hollywood-fights-la-bike-lane-570520

 

I guess I'm one of the both of you rlm.

Heard this story years ago and with the power of unions in Chicago it didn't surprise me.

Of course then I'm not a hard core union supporter either. On the other hand I'm not going to say ALL unions are bad.

It's that blanket statement thingee I try to avoid you know.

A union that gets so powerful that it helps lead to the demise of a company makes about as much sense as giving a CEO millions of dollars in severance pay.

Handing that person a pink slip and saying bye bye makes a hell of a lot more sense to me.

 

Oh please, they are objecting to the color of it, not the bike lane itself. We have plenty of bike lanes in NY, none of them are neon green, and people are just as safe.

 

Oh. I agree that unions have a function even today - labor/management relations. However, every union I have seen insists on going further. They want to say only electricians can plug in an extension cord. They want to say only a plumber can connect a garden hose. And, God forbid, if you have an electrified garden hose. And perhaps worst of all, they want companies to keep all their plants in closed shop states. Management is there to determine the companies operations and future. If teh unions get into that, they should become management.

 

Did you read the article, dummy? The color of the lane was for safety...Geesh.

...and as far as your employees...union or no?

 

Exactly moron, maybe you should learn how to read, as I was clear in asserting that the color of the lane in no way impacts the safety a bike lane imparts. ITS A SEPARATE LANE designated solely for bicycles, it doesn't need to be a special color.