[TheForge] OT Union Rant (Was Re: concrete)

[GHS]

Ralph, I am not a union worker.(I was once International Brotherhood of 
Pulp Paper and Sulphite Workers , it was worthless.)

My grandfather quit the sheet metal workers guild in Milwaukee when it 
started to turn into a union  about 1917.

By personal preference and lineage I have NO soft fuzzy feelings about 
unions.

You are, however, fortunate. The test I apply is the difference between 
being a human and an organic resource.

It has nothing to do with size. I have known folks with two or three 
employees where the boss couldn't recognize his employees spouses much 
less kids. To these bosses the employees were cogs in his machine.

I have also knew a guy who had 100+ employees. I heard tales of him 
doing things like, watching a kids baseball game at a company picnic and 
leaning over to the guy next to him, a yard man, and commenting that the 
mans sons Johnny had improved his swing since last year.

The union tried to organize his place several times, and the employees 
always told them where to go.

This same guy heard that his maid had an ice problem at her home from 
some leaky gutters. He just called me and told me to fix it, and bill him.

To him every one is a person.

So, in general, one is in no need of a union if his boss is a mensch.
If the boss is a knobhead a union of some type is a handy thing.

I keep saying "of some type" because a union can be as simple as the 
four guys on the crew deciding to confront the boss about a grievance.

Mike Graf

Ralph E Douglass wrote:
> GHS wrote:
> 
>>The rule that I have thus far found to be soundly based is this.
>>
>>If the boss does not know by name each of his employees children, then
>>you need a union of some type.
>>
>>Mike Graf
> 
> BS.
> Where I work I have better hours and pay than any Union job I ever had.
> With out having a Union.
> I may at times piss and moan about the place but it is by far the best
> place I have ever worked.
> I also am willing to bet if a Union ever came in every single non-exempt
> job would be in China/Isreal/Mexico whereever but here in the USA.
> 
> Ralph

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