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- Thread starter mjbff
- Start date
Wickedcoolname
NES Member
Why the hell anyone would have natural gas in their home is beyond me. I've seen too many scary things with that crap. Everything from houses being blown off their foundations to carbon monoxide issues. Eff that. Oild, wood, electric , .... whatever. Anything but gas.
imgone
NES Member
We have not had fully funded medical in over 12 years. We pay a share for our medical, we pay co-pays for every visit and for prescriptions. We are fighting to be able to keep the insurance we have, cause they are trying to force us all on a crap plan. And we are fighting to keep pensions for new hires, they want to start a two teir wage system. Which is against unions, a union is based on equal pay for equal work. Ya all the other unions in NG took more money an hour and gave up benefits for new hires and gave up their insurance with out a fight. In the past we gave up other things to have what we have. It isn't like we work for a failing company they make billions of dollars each year, and they try to mislead the public and say this is to save money on rates. When all the electric guys gave up pensions and good health care did any of you see your rates go down or even stay the same ? no they went up like they do every year. The company pocketed the difference.
imgone
NES Member
If you think all union members vote democrat you are out of your mind.
Lank
NES Member
Lank
NES Member
No, but your dues fund the left wing circus. My conscience is clear and alive and well in the meritocracy.
71montess
NES Member
Public unions have had awesome benefits because corrupt politicians promised them publictax dollars. Private sector unions are used by the Democrats as a slush fund to get reelected.
As a past runner of the Richard Pryor marathon due to gas neither would I.
Had the gas guys out 3 times telling me there was absolutely nothing wrong with the furnace.
A week later I'm on the basement floor smoking like a turd on a cold day and people throwing wet towels on me.
Good times.
I'm sure they guys who got me done medium rare had a pisser of a dental plan though.
Depends on the line. If it’s in front of National Grid, I wouldn’t cross since I have no business with them. If it were in front of a hotel or another business that I am utilizing, I’d acknowledge the protest and cross it.
What is there to understand? That unions generally feel like they are entitled to work, pay and benefits at a certain level?
![[laugh]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/012.gif "Laugh [laugh]")
And then when their complaining isn't acknowledged, they turn intowhiney thugs. I'm not a fan of conhugecos either but it's kinda hard to empathize with a union when they block traffic, harass customers, intimidate people, destroy equipment, etc. or are out harassing some guy on a pole trying to fix some poor bastards telephone service. Like as if that guy is going to empathize with striking union guy. He just wants his phone fixed. He doesn't give a shit who does it.
The zombie like behavior is expressed in the river of $cientology cult like stuff that comes out of their mouths.
"don't ruin the job" etc. Then on faceplant several of them tried to explain why harassing VZW customers was justified. It was like I was on mars speaking to aliens, the cocked up shit they wrote. All based on
entitlement. I used to work with a guy that at least at one point in his life, was 110% union mentality even though afaik he wasn't in one, he acted like he still was. He was the most obnoxious co worker I ever had the displeasure of dealing with in my life.
Obviously not every union is terrible (hell there are a lot of unions these days that merely act as a liason between a base of workers and a company, and sometimes the relationship is mostly amicable even, in some cases) but I've seen enough of them to know that many are basically labor cults/gangs. The worst ones by far are public service unions because there's no competition. (eg like teachers unions are pretty much the worst) At least in the private sector things like some trade unions the people or company paying for the labor can put the free market up against it etc. And there in the trades some workers have decided to collaborate and monopolize the market. And good for them, frankly. I'm not even disputing the right for workers to organize. Just that most unions are completely f***ed up and creepy, like as in "a couple steps down
from the molestation scandal in the catholic church" kind of creepy. If only gun owners though, could build a cult with brainwashing that powerful....
![[rofl]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/013.gif "ROFL [rofl]")
ETA: FWIW I have a lot of friends who are unionized. Most of them aren't zombies, etc, although they will freely acknowledge that type of weirdo cult garbage is present.... an awful lot of people are prisoners to a union because you largely don't
have a choice in some sectors of work... if you ain't union you're getting nothing, and that's just the way it is.... unless you're going to find a new line of work.
-Mike
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You sound awful compassionate to your scab daughter.
I had a run-in with IBEW while working on our state capital building up here a few years ago. Entitled a**h***s. You don't do the job any better than an independent contractor: get off your high horse.
If they're in my way of something I want to get to, then yes, I'd cross their line.
If they're in my way of something I want to get to, then yes, I'd cross their line.
Self employed 40 years.Nobody ever cared where my next paycheck came from. Never a a paid holiday or medical bill. I can't count the number of times a laid off union guy approached me on a job site or a lumber yard parking lot looking for work. Wanted to get paid under the table so they could keep collecting. We are all losing ground today, union and private. You want consideration then be considerate. I would cross without a thought.
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babygorilla
NES Member
I'm management, so yeah, I have an will.....
usp45ct
NES Member
Yeah, I have in the past as a vendor to companies for test equipment, and I will do it again. In VZ, where I did a fair bit of work with another arm of VZ, we would tell a union member there was a fiber optic jumper that was dirty. They would say put in a work order and come back in x weeks, it might be done. More often than not, it was not done. What we ended up doing was waiting for them to go to lunch and just taking doing the work ourselves.
Also, about 20 years ago I taught some courses at a local college and was forced to join the union. I taught for 6 semesters and thought the union sucked and was useless. But I had to join otherwise, how would they have gotten my money for doing nothing.
Yeah, been working around unions for better part of 30 years...absolutely useless. The whole we all get paid the same is, at its core, very much like communism and promotes mediocrity....literally and figuratively.
Unions. Solid NO
Also, about 20 years ago I taught some courses at a local college and was forced to join the union. I taught for 6 semesters and thought the union sucked and was useless. But I had to join otherwise, how would they have gotten my money for doing nothing.
Yeah, been working around unions for better part of 30 years...absolutely useless. The whole we all get paid the same is, at its core, very much like communism and promotes mediocrity....literally and figuratively.
Unions. Solid NO
Buck F
NES Member
I can’t imagune working somewhere I’d be forced to join a union, however as a customer I’d cross a picket line. I understand some people being afraid of retribution if they cross, however illegal or unethical that retribution may be, so I wouldn’t fault them for not doing so. It is a sad state of affairs when people are afraid for their physical safety over Union thuggery.
bsimardjr
NES Member
Her choice, do it or find another job. So I key her car every morning on my way to the picket line. Yes she still lives with me.
When I was young and worked at AT&T we were repped by CWA local 1051. I crossed their line and had no fear in doing so. I also opted out of what I could for dues and became an agency fee payer. I had a rep among those in the union for sure. They didn't like me. I didn't give 2 effs.
Whenever I had an attendance meeting or whatever I always declined union representation. I had a lot of them. I hated the job and slacked pretty hard. But I always came out better from them than those who went in with full union representation and guns ablaze... There were a number of times I should have been fired. In fact, had I elected to have union representation - I probably would have been. Just because it would have forced management to play it by the book. But absent union eyes and records, no precedents were being set, so they cut me slack. So when the union walked out on the job a couple of times, I didn't. I felt management had my back more than the union.
No one damaged my vehicle or anything. Property never damaged, etc. But the union made it pretty clear they couldn't be bothered with me. They were stupid enough to think that bothered or harmed me in some way..... I let them think that while I banged out sick above the allocated occurrences we were allowed and kept my job while others got fired.
That's what life was like with CWA Local 1051....
Whenever I had an attendance meeting or whatever I always declined union representation. I had a lot of them. I hated the job and slacked pretty hard. But I always came out better from them than those who went in with full union representation and guns ablaze... There were a number of times I should have been fired. In fact, had I elected to have union representation - I probably would have been. Just because it would have forced management to play it by the book. But absent union eyes and records, no precedents were being set, so they cut me slack. So when the union walked out on the job a couple of times, I didn't. I felt management had my back more than the union.
No one damaged my vehicle or anything. Property never damaged, etc. But the union made it pretty clear they couldn't be bothered with me. They were stupid enough to think that bothered or harmed me in some way..... I let them think that while I banged out sick above the allocated occurrences we were allowed and kept my job while others got fired.
That's what life was like with CWA Local 1051....
caboose84
NES Member
My grandfather ended up shutting down his trucking company that his father had started to get rid of the teamsters- this was in the late 70's.
I had no issue crossing the Metal Trades Council line at Electric Boat when I worked there in the 80's- but I was salaried.
I had no issue crossing the Metal Trades Council line at Electric Boat when I worked there in the 80's- but I was salaried.
71montess
NES Member
Getting rid of teamsters, call an exterminator.
While in school I worked my ass off all summer and some evenings during the fall and spring. One of my jobs forced me to pay dues to the teamsters which was extremely distasteful to me because I was in a constant battle with the union steward. This guy was constantly trying to get me to slow down. Tactics like getting some thugs to try and intimidate me (didn't work) or try to anger me into throwing a punch within view of a security camera (also didn't work) were the norm. I f-ing HATE the teamsters union and would go out of my way to cross their line even if I had no skin in the game. I do have a friend who was being unfairly screwed by a psycho manager and the Teamsters stepped up and helped him out, so there's that.
Over the years I have worked for suppliers to companies with workers belonging to the IAMAW, URW, UAW, etc. If I had to feed my kids via crossing the line, I would have. In those cases, I did not- so why cross the line and piss off the guys that consume the products you supply? I'm sure that once the strike was over that somehow my stuff would no longer work. End game pragmatism here, not necessarily sympathy or support.
Years ago in Nashville there was a long and bitter strike at the Pirelli plant. United Steel Workers (yeah, not the rubber workers union) thugs were throwing bricks and billiards balls from highway bridges into the windshields of suppliers and scabs. There were several other types of brutal attacks as well. Some friends whose only means of support was their tire mold maintenance business did not have the luxury of avoiding the strike. Because they continued to do business with Pirelli, their shop front and offices were machine gunned one night. The place was ripped to shreds. After repairs, they left a bullet hole in the front door handle as a reminder. Eventually Pirelli pulled out of Nashville- big surprise...
Another interesting dynamic was what happened during the early days of the Saturn plant in Spring Hill, just south of Nashville. Locals were extremely pleased to have so many good paying jobs in the area, thus the work ethic and motivation was pretty good. Things got a little weird when more and more GM workers moved in from Detroit. Once a faction of the Detroit crowd started stirring up union / labor issues, the locals wanted none of that and responded with official warnings from the Klan. I don't recall if anything ever escalated beyond the warnings.
Over the years I have worked for suppliers to companies with workers belonging to the IAMAW, URW, UAW, etc. If I had to feed my kids via crossing the line, I would have. In those cases, I did not- so why cross the line and piss off the guys that consume the products you supply? I'm sure that once the strike was over that somehow my stuff would no longer work. End game pragmatism here, not necessarily sympathy or support.
Years ago in Nashville there was a long and bitter strike at the Pirelli plant. United Steel Workers (yeah, not the rubber workers union) thugs were throwing bricks and billiards balls from highway bridges into the windshields of suppliers and scabs. There were several other types of brutal attacks as well. Some friends whose only means of support was their tire mold maintenance business did not have the luxury of avoiding the strike. Because they continued to do business with Pirelli, their shop front and offices were machine gunned one night. The place was ripped to shreds. After repairs, they left a bullet hole in the front door handle as a reminder. Eventually Pirelli pulled out of Nashville- big surprise...
Another interesting dynamic was what happened during the early days of the Saturn plant in Spring Hill, just south of Nashville. Locals were extremely pleased to have so many good paying jobs in the area, thus the work ethic and motivation was pretty good. Things got a little weird when more and more GM workers moved in from Detroit. Once a faction of the Detroit crowd started stirring up union / labor issues, the locals wanted none of that and responded with official warnings from the Klan. I don't recall if anything ever escalated beyond the warnings.
I had a friend of mine around the same time, another family owned trucking company, some local teamsters thugs tried to work the union into his
shop. When his father (owner) got wind of it he went right up to the main thug and said "If this ever becomes a union shop I will close the business
down. I'll burn the motherf***ing building down before I let you a**h***s in here. I don't need that bullshit. " Thankfully his dad was also friends with
someone higher up in the teamsters, and he called his contact up and miraculously, they never showed their face on the property ever again.
-Mike
FrugalFannie
NES Member
I'm thinking you know very little of me or you wouldn't be jumping to such conclusions. I have convictions. There are literally jobs in MA you CANNOT have if you DO NOT join the union. Nursing is one.
FrugalFannie
NES Member
Welcome to the world everyone else lives in. What makes you think the company can continue all those benefits and remain in business? The company has a responsibility to it's share holders, then customers. Employees are a distant 3rd.
