Are you a union member?

[public servant]

Are you a union member? Yes or no. And if so, does your union protect your interests? If not would you want union representation? Please feel free to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of union employment...but keep it civil, please.

Example...there are no scabs here.

 

[hornadylnl]

proudly no.

 

[kedie]

Yes. IAFF Local 4406.

 

[jeremy]

Last I knew the only Army that was Union was the Danes...

 

[huntall50]

Union protects its own interest!

 

[ATM]

No.

Where I work, we refer to them as 3-piece couplings.

 

[HandK]

POAM member. And yes they do a good job looking after us.

 

[semperfi211]

Yes I am a Teamster. I am a dockman for ABF freight. Being in Teamster trucking I feel I have better wages and benefits that if I were in a non union company. I don't have to contribute toward my healthcare which is a good PPO. I have a good pension and pretty good hourly wages.
On the other hand since being in the trucking industry since 91 I have seen many union companies go under and there aren't many left. Yellow Roadway are in deep trouble and may be going under this summer. If they do it will just be ABF and UPS left.

 

[jeremy]

Never understood why someone would pay to make less than the moron in the dept who has been there forever...
Or who would pay to have someone else represent "their" best interests at contract negotiations... Exactly whose interests are being represented...

 

[Boilers]

No. But I have been and I would think that a union could help similar workers such as I am.

 

[No Time to Shoot]

ABC(Associated Builders and Contractors) This is where the good union guys come when they are tired of not working...LOL. As anti union as I am there are a lot of good union workers out there that know how to get the job done. But there are far more bad union workers brought back to job sites after being fired for endangering themselves and those around them. If you get fired for a good reason you don't deserve to get your job back. Unions breed corruption and laziness because there is no fear of being fired or let go. Think about it...If you were lazy, had drug problems, alcohol issues, health conditions, and all around poor work ethic where do you think you will have the best chance of keeping a job? <This pool of people seems to be where they recruit their business agents from. LOL

The theory behind the unions is good but the implementation is almost always bad. It only protects the Whiskey Bills of the world that run over their co-worker with a forklift because they are to drunk to do their job. The guys that work hard and do things by the book should almost never need union representation.

 

[flightsimmer]

OK, since you asked.
I was forced to join the union if I wanted to work in my chosen field and I was a member for 34 years. We saw our representitive once in a great while. What all he/they did I don't really know. We did get raises and benefits but whether they were fair for both or either side, I don't know. We might have gotten the same without the union.
I do know that I stayed and extra 3 years to qualify for the next rung on the retirement ladder and then when I got there, the union froze benefits at the previous level so we couldn't go any higher. So I immediately quit and retired.
Then they sent me a registered letter that I had to sign if I didn't want to lose my pension stating that I would not work at any job period without union approval but provided no way to get it in a timely fashion and giving them permission to check my Social Security records for compliance.
They also dropped all of my medical benefits and dumped me on medicare.
I kept a copy of the letter and contacted the U.S. Attorney General to see if it was legal for them to do this. They said they didn't know but they didn't want to pursue it anyway.
So I cut all ties with the union and wouldn't recommend them to anyone else if you can avoid them.
IMHO they have ruined the auto industry and many others and the country as a whole. They have fostered the idea that workers are intitled to more and more at any cost. then they raise your dues and insurance rates and the net effect was you got very little of your new raise.
They have spent our union dues for things that we as members did not agree with and didn't want it used for. ("what are you gonna do about it prick").

I the early years of this nation we needed unions but the pendulum has swung to far for too long the other way.
The unions were started by and maintianed by unscrupulous people for many years and earned the reputation that they got and still have.
No one where I worked really cared for the union but we were stuck with it, but to be fair we didn't care for the company either.
Everybody wanted out but we were stuck there by the benefits we would lose if we left. Well, nuff said.

 

[barber613]

I don't want to get drawn into this again, so I won't. However, I do know that if you are in a union and you and your co-workers don't like it, you can vote to decertify the union. By doing this the union would go away and you would then get what the nice company felt giving you.

 

[No Time to Shoot]

I don't want to get drawn into this again, so I won't. However, I do know that if you are in a union and you and your co-workers don't like it, you can vote to decertify the union. By doing this the union would go away and you would then get what the nice company felt giving you.

I needed a good laugh! This will almost never work! Once they are in it's over! The union is like a parasite it just feeds on it's host till there is nothing left. Just look at the auto industry!

 

[jeremy]

I needed a good laugh! This will almost never work! Once they are in it's over! The union is like a parasite it just feeds on it's host till there is nothing left. Just look at the auto industry!

But... They have not done good things for Kokomo?! Not just the Auto Industry how about all the support items around that company.

 

[barber613]

If it almost never works, it would be because most people vote not to decertify.

 

[No Time to Shoot]

But... They have not done good things for Kokomo?! Not just the Auto Industry how about all the support items around that company.

Didn't you say there is a Unionized army...Wonder if they court marshal soldiers for reloading their own guns?

"Soldier you took a man's job because you reloaded your own gun! Only a gun reloader can reload that rifle soldier!"

 

[No Time to Shoot]

If it almost never works, it would be because most people vote not to decertify.

I wonder why bullying, intimidation, blackmail, should I go on? It is well known that the union uses these tactics to get in power and stay in power!

 

[jeremy]

Didn't you say there is a Unionized army...Wonder if they court marshal soldiers for reloading their own guns?

"Soldier you took a man's job because you reloaded your own gun! Only a gun reloader can reload that rifle soldier!"

I don't know about that, but I do know for a fact at 17:00 they are out of the parking lot on their ways home everyday and no weekends or holidays...

 

[Fletch]

I'm not, never been, don't plan to be.