No Kidding!

[newagetwotone]

Hm. I'd like a job....

Went for an interview at Sears portrait studio.... I have a degree in photography...Had to have two interviews one with the assistant manager and one with the manager.

After the second interview i was told "oh its $7.25 an hour and 5-10 hours a week"

I tried.... i really tried not to laugh.

[longride]

Originally Posted by newagetwotone

Hm. I'd like a job....

Went for an interview at Sears portrait studio.... I have a degree in photography...Had to have two interviews one with the assistant manager and one with the manager.

After the second interview i was told "oh its $7.25 an hour and 5-10 hours a week"

I tried.... i really tried not to laugh.

At least you won't be one of those overpaid Union a$$ses. Good thing or many people would root for you to be out of a job!

[mscuddy]

My Costume for this evening. Going to stop by Cantors over in the Faifax Districk for a nosh after the party. Shalom!

AH

[newagetwotone]

Id love to be in a union right about now....


There are lots of unions that take advantage of their situation(like out bus drives union in our city...$90k a year to drive a bus!? in a city where you can buy a house for $25-30k, seriously wtf?) But there is a place for unions....

Speaking of which, Krogers left PA completely because of the unions. they said "we can't meet your demands or we'll have to close." And they did...

[longride]

Originally Posted by newagetwotone

Id love to be in a union right about now....


There are lots of unions that take advantage of their situation(like out bus drives union in our city...$90k a year to drive a bus!? in a city where you can buy a house for $25-30k, seriously wtf?) But there is a place for unions....

Speaking of which, Krogers left PA completely because of the unions. they said "we can't meet your demands or we'll have to close." And they did...

From my own experience of negotiating Union contracts for 15 years, the 'demands' the Union makes are far from unreasonable. What is usually reasonable to the management side is to tell you that they are broke and they can't pay anyone any more money. When you ask to have the books audited by an independent audit firm to confirm that, the 'negotiations' usually get real nasty after that. They somehow always find plenty of bonuses for top management while they ask the workers to take a cut. Been there, done that.

[newagetwotone]

Nah i realize there's bad on both sides of the aisle.

Back in 1985 my mother worked at a local store and was talking to the women she worked with. Just so happened that their husbands were in the same field as my father, machine tool. All of their husbands were laid off/with out work. When they found out my father had a job they begged my mother to get them info on the shop my dad worked in.

After a coupleminutes one of them asked how he had work and she talked about the shop and said "... its none union." and all of a sudden they wanted nothing to do with it.

I bet most of those guys neverworked in machine tool again (since the bottom fell out of machine tool in the mid 80's due to CNC mills and took away the "art" to it. they didnt need people that knew how to do free hand milling.) On the other hand my father was laid off this year, he was working at the same company he worked at in 1985, hell worked there from the time he was 15 sweeping floors, that was 1977.

He supported a family of 3 and after 1996, a family of 4 on his wages. We were comfortable, 4 bedroom house, two cars, hell we even had a hot tub. But the other guys wern't interested because there was no union.

Im not sure i understand the attitude at all.

On the other hand my city is where the foreman of a company shot his workers for protesting (100 years ago but still) so yea theres reason for them, esp. if the company sucks.

[The_AirHawk]

Originally Posted by longride

From my own experience of negotiating Union contracts for 15 years, the 'demands' the Union makes are far from unreasonable. What is usually reasonable to the management side is to tell you that they are broke and they can't pay anyone any more money. When you ask to have the books audited by an independent audit firm to confirm that, the 'negotiations' usually get real nasty after that. They somehow always find plenty of bonuses for top management while they ask the workers to take a cut. Been there, done that.

My Parent Company for the last two years has "frozen" all Salaried wages and bonuses - from the CEO on down - but has continued to give COL-adjustments to Hourly workers. Why? Apparently, they know which side their bread is buttered. Big "T" is about 90% non-Union in the US and Mexico. I'm one of the "victims" of the freeze, but I get by. I'm hoping this year we're thawed.........

[seruzawa]

Originally Posted by The_AirHawk

My Parent Company for the last two years has "frozen" all Salaried wages and bonuses - from the CEO on down - but has continued to give COL-adjustments to Hourly workers. Why? Apparently, they know which side their bread is buttered. Big "T" is about 90% non-Union in the US and Mexico. I'm one of the "victims" of the freeze, but I get by. I'm hoping this year we're thawed.........

Unions can be great things when you need them. They were critical for getting workers a decent deal during the "robber baron" era. But like any other organization made up of human beings as they get more powerful they get more corrupt and eventually the union exists only for the advantages of the union officials. They can get so bad that unions take actions that destroy their own workers jobs merely so that the officials can take control of the pension funds. US Steel was a prime example. Private unions are dying because they are corrupt. The laws that the unions currently want passed by the Democrats allow them to engage in thuggery and intimidation to force workers to join. Think about that for a second. Unions becoming worse threats to the workers than the companies. These laws will not save the unions. History is full of instances where the powerful used the govt to protect private interests. Such thuggery didn't stop the internal combustion engine from destroying the horse carriage. And such thuggery won't save the unions. All that will happen is that more US industry will go overseas. US tax policy and regulatory policies are so insane now that it is cheaper to start a business in Europe now than the USA. Insane.

Today the only unions that are growing are public employees unions... an oxymoron if there ever was one. Why do govt employees need unions? This is creating bad blood amongst the private sector as they lose their jobs and get taxed to death while watching city, county and state employees retire early at 80-100% compensation, free medical etc. Already many cities and counties are facing bankruptcy because of labor and retirement costs. The public employees unions see the taxpaying public as nothing more than slaves to be milked so that lazy, stupid and incompetent govt employees can live fat. Eventually this is going to explode... especially if we get a round of hyper-inflation. I wouldn't want to be a govt employee if the shyt hits the fan.

[12er]

Originally Posted by seruzawa

Unions can be great things when you need them. They were critical for getting workers a decent deal during the "robber baron" era. But like any other organization made up of human beings as they get more powerful they get more corrupt and eventually the union exists only for the advantages of the union officials. They can get so bad that unions take actions that destroy their own workers jobs merely so that the officials can take control of the pension funds. US Steel was a prime example. Private unions are dying because they are corrupt. The laws that the unions currently want passed by the Democrats allow them to engage in thuggery and intimidation to force workers to join. Think about that for a second. Unions becoming worse threats to the workers than the companies. These laws will not save the unions. History is full of instances where the powerful used the govt to protect private interests. Such thuggery didn't stop the internal combustion engine from destroying the horse carriage. And such thuggery won't save the unions. All that will happen is that more US industry will go overseas. US tax policy and regulatory policies are so insane now that it is cheaper to start a business in Europe now than the USA. Insane.

Today the only unions that are growing are public employees unions... an oxymoron if there ever was one. Why do govt employees need unions? This is creating bad blood amongst the private sector as they lose their jobs and get taxed to death while watching city, county and state employees retire early at 80-100% compensation, free medical etc. Already many cities and counties are facing bankruptcy because of labor and retirement costs. The public employees unions see the taxpaying public as nothing more than slaves to be milked so that lazy, stupid and incompetent govt employees can live fat. Eventually this is going to explode... especially if we get a round of hyper-inflation. I wouldn't want to be a govt employee if the shyt hits the fan.

Great Post, so is it the chicken or the egg in this situation? Conservatives rally the free market, which freely offshores our jobs to cheaper labor. Liberals rally the union to price themselves out of competition. How long until we completely implode following this model, or is this it?