Unions are worthless and need to go

[Ditkaless Wonders]

Not sure if this place is unionized but I doubt it:

 

 

 

So, here we are with umpteen million unemployed (entirely the fault of the government, specifically B. Obama, naturally) but this company chooses to bring in foreigners because they can avoid SS tax and fleece them while they're at it.

 

Less regulation is what we need because business will always do the right thing.

 

 

Business usually does the predictable thing which is to reduce costs to maximize profits. Some enlightened business owners see that formula in a more long term and comprehensive view. Those owners tend to pollute less and treat their workers such that the workers feel invested in the health and profit of the business.

 

The problem is not with capitalism. The problem is with capitalists with narrow vision. Of course no "vision" test is required to become a capitalist.

[tosberg34]

Not sure if this place is unionized but I doubt it:

 

 

 

So, here we are with umpteen million unemployed (entirely the fault of the government, specifically B. Obama, naturally) but this company chooses to bring in foreigners because they can avoid SS tax and fleece them while they're at it.

 

Less regulation is what we need because business will always do the right thing.

 

Yes, this is wrong. $8.35 an hour is ridiculous in this day and age, but how much would they be making in their own countries? Maybe .35 cents and hour? Or how about maybe not getting shot?

 

Do you work for a business? Or do you have your own? Everyday must be a struggle for you - on one hand you bash and criticize business EVERY chance you get (Maybe it's just every business besides the one you work for?). Yet you accept a paycheck and provide for your family from the same business you criticize on an hourly basis.

 

But let's just throw MORE GOVERNMENT at the solution because that has worked out so well too.

Edited August 21, 2011 by tosberg34

[Deathpig]

In the grand scheme of things, I'm far less concerned about Hershey importing Oompa-loompas than I am about strip clubs run by criminals abusing the J-1 to fuel a sex-slave human-trafficking ring.

 

If you do any random Googling, you'll find a host of issues/complaints/problems with the J-1 visa, though it seems the most of the issues are related to the fact that the sponsoring agencies used as the middle-men in the process to get the applicants to their place of work are... shady... to say the least.

[Ursa Majoris]

In the grand scheme of things, I'm far less concerned about Hershey importing Oompa-loompas than I am about strip clubs run by criminals abusing the J-1 to fuel a sex-slave human-trafficking ring.

 

If you do any random Googling, you'll find a host of issues/complaints/problems with the J-1 visa, though it seems the most of the issues are related to the fact that the sponsoring agencies used as the middle-men in the process to get the applicants to their place of work are... shady... to say the least.

So far as I understand it, it's conceptually a good program although it surely must be in some competition with e.g. college and HS students looking for summer jobs as well as looking difficult to justify in a period of high unemployment. Our local amusement park, Valleyfair, brings in hundreds of young people from abroad for the season (and I guess the "season" is longer than school summer vacations) and so far as I know, treats them very well including dorm type accommodation, etc. There's also the benefit of young people from around the world getting first hand experience to show them the US isn't the ogre it is sometimes painted as (another reason why experiences such as those in the Hershey factory are less than desirable).

 

Completely agree about the sponsoring agencies. They should be vetted and vouched for not only by our own government but also the J-1 applicant's host country too (and, yes, I am aware of corruption in other countries as well as our own). Perhaps a short list could be maintained.

[cliaz]

This pretty much sums it up nicely:

 

 

A strike too far; Verizon unions’ lost leverage

By MEGAN MCARDLE

714 words

Mon Aug 22, 12:00 AM ET

New York Post

 

If a union falls by the wayside and nobody notices, does it make a difference? Verizon’s union workforce will return to work tomorrow, after a 16-day strike. You may have noticed that you didn’t notice.

 

Unless you belong to the Communications Workers of America or the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers -- or happen to live or work near a Verizon facility beset by shouting picketers -- you probably didn’t pay much attention. People who recently moved didn’t get their phone lines installed quite as quickly, and a few companies reportedly waited days for repairs. But, mostly, the strike was a nonevent, even for Verizon customers.

 

Anyone old enough to remember the 1970s should understand just how amazing this is. Back then, telephones were black rotary models that caused a sore spot on your index finger if you dialed too many numbers in a row. (Pros used a pencil.) You paid what the company told you, or you didn’t make calls. The telephone company and its all-powerful union controlled the only way of talking to friends and customers, short of putting on a coat and toddling across town.

 

When the CWA went on an 18-day strike against AT&T in 1968, The New York Times ran it on Page 1. That strike resulted in major gains for the workers on wages and benefits. This time ’round, the unions made Page A18 -- and got no concessions. The walkout secured them an agreement on the procedures for negotiating a new agreement. The striking unions had struck out.

 

Small wonder, really: They work for a shrinking business -- Verizon’s “wireline” division, which includes landlines and FIOS broadband service. A recent study showed that 25 percent of Americans now live in households with only a cellphone -- a number that’s bound to grow. The same study indicated that 44 percent of adults under 30 now live without a landline. Millions more have canceled their landlines in favor of Internet telephony services like Vonage and Skype; businesses, still a cash cow for phone companies, are following suit.

 

Those figures show up in Verizon’s annual report. From 2008 to 2010, Verizon’s landline business lost 5 million subscribers. The firm’s operating revenue dropped by more than $3 billion. But the division’s operating costs -- like all those well-paid union workers with gold-plated benefits -- fell by less than a third of that. A business with steady costs but fixed expenses is in deep trouble.

 

The decline in landline subscriptions is slightly offset by 700,000 new customers for the firm’s broadband services, such as FIOS. But that’s not necessarily good news for the workers. Verizon estimates that the maintenance costs of the FIOS network will be much lower than those of Verizon’s traditional copper network -- meaning less work for the unions.

 

It’s not usually a good time to strike when your firm is losing customers and your job is becoming less necessary. So why did the unions walk out?

 

The unions’ main grievance was the company’s demands that members contribute toward their health insurance. Most of their fellow citizens have been doing so for decades, but the unions see this as an unreasonable demand to “give back” their hard-won benefits. Unfortunately, with the cost of health insurance rising briskly every year, they’re actually demanding a hefty compensation increase from a declining business.

 

The workers also took a page out of the classic strike PR script, saying that the company has made billions in profit over the last four years. True -- but the profits attributable to these workers have declined dramatically in the same period. The growth is coming from Verizon Wireless, a joint venture that’s almost entirely nonunion. The unions have been effectively asking the company to take money out of the profitable wireless division and transfer it to the workers. Predictably, management said no.

 

With the economy changing so rapidly, the unions that survive will be the ones that adapt to the new realities. There are worse things than giving back a little on your health benefits -- like walking off the job and showing everyone just how easy it is to get along without you.

 

Megan McArdle is a senior editor at The Atlantic.

©2011 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved. Terms of use

[Jimmy Neutron]

I hate to resurrect a union thread, but I will.

 

I recently toured the Boeing plant in Everett, WA. In that short tour of the three major production (737, 747 and the new Dreamliner 787) lines in the middle of the week, it was clear to me why Boeing is anxious to open a new, non-union shop in South Carolina. Nobody was working on planes - there were plenty of people lounging around in the floor office areas - the whole time during the tour. I had a peer with me who is also a people and ops manager and we were both stunned by the lack of activity. He asked on the way out what my first reaction to the tour was. I replied, "I'm investing in Airbus." He laughed and said he was thinking the exact same thing. That's a sad take away from what should be a very impressive tour.

 

Of course Airbus operates using union employees too, but they appear to have already learned the lessons Boeing is sure to struggle through in the future.

[SEC=UGA]

I hate to resurrect a union thread, but I will.

 

I recently toured the Boeing plant in Everett, WA. In that short tour of the three major production (737, 747 and the new Dreamliner 787) lines in the middle of the week, it was clear to me why Boeing is anxious to open a new, non-union shop in South Carolina. Nobody was working on planes - there were plenty of people lounging around in the floor office areas - the whole time during the tour. I had a peer with me who is also a people and ops manager and we were both stunned by the lack of activity. He asked on the way out what my first reaction to the tour was. I replied, "I'm investing in Airbus." He laughed and said he was thinking the exact same thing. That's a sad take away from what should be a very impressive tour.

 

Of course Airbus operates using union employees too, but they appear to have already learned the lessons Boeing is sure to struggle through in the future.

 

Maybe they were just out of materials and waiting for the next shipment.

[cliaz]

Believe me, that is common place in most of the unions I've worked for or work with now. That is not to say all unions are like that. I have one friend of mine who works in the union side of Verizon who proudly lays out his normal work day (I kid you not, this is from his mouth and confirmed by 2 owners in my main league who are also union Vz employees):

 

Work Starts at 8:30AM

Come into work, eat breakfast and BS around until 9:15AM to 9:30AM

Get work assignments, pack up truck and leave garage 9:35AM

Stop for Coffee at Starbucks near the garage 9:45AM - 10:00 AM

Work until 12PM

Lunch 12PM - 1PM

Take warning cones out of truck and put around truck letting public know work is being done; however between 1PM - 1:30PM is nap time in the truck

Work from 1:30PMish - 3PM

Break from 3PM - 3:45PM (normally either more coffee or shooting the ish with other people on the crew)

Work from 4PM - 5PM

 

So, according to Kevin, Andrew and Will, they really only do 4 1/2 hours of work a day. And because of how the union structured their discipline procedures, every time Kevin was caught doing this:

 

1st time verbal warning

2nd time written warning

3rd time suspension with pay for 1 week

4th time suspension with no pay

5th time termination

 

All violation times reset after 30 days. So Kevin would get busted until he received the 1 week with pay suspense, took the week off with pay and then work enough to reset his violation number at the end of the month. Completely stupid and butt backwards.

 

Here are some more good reads:

 

Column: State of the unions; How public opinion turned so sharply and suddenly against worker groups

Maureen Callahan

408 words

Sun Sep 4, 12:00 AM ET

The New York Post

 

This summer, something remarkable happened: 45,000 Verizon workers went on strike, and no one — save a few customers dealing with service interruptions — much cared. The communications behemoth wanted more than 100 concessions on health care, pensions, sick days and outsourcing. Unions representing the workers said Verizon sought to void 50 years of collective-bargaining gains for middle-class workers, despite posting a 2.8% jump in revenue in the second quarter, up to $27.5 billion. Thirteen days later, those on strike went back to work on good faith, the company guaranteeing nothing other than continued talks.

 

It’s an indictment of how anemic the labor movement in America has become, how irrelevant to the average worker that, even in this ever-contracting economy, the lower and middle classes couldn’t be agitated to care.

 

And why should they? Private-sector unions in the US are nearly extinct, having long ago abandoned an unwinnable fight against big business. Meanwhile, public-sector unions are thriving by comparison, even though public opinion has been on the decline since the rise of unions in the 1930s, when 72% of Americans had a favorable view of them.

 

By 2009, according to a Gallup poll, that number had declined to 48%.

 

How did this happen? How is it that the average American worker has come to view unionized labor — which, by definition, was meant to protect and progress each generation in ever-greater ways — with such contempt?

 

“At a certain historical moment, they had a real role to play, but they haven’t added to that,” says Jim Stergios, executive director of nonpartisan think tank the Pioneer Institute. “[They’re more concerned] that they meet their members’ needs at a time when the country is in a really rough spot.”

 

For New Yorkers especially, the prevailing attitude toward unions is akin to rent-stabilized apartments: great for the people who happened to luck into them, deeply unfair for those left to the vicissitudes of the free market.

 

And the unions, once self-branded as “the folks who brought you the weekend,” have only themselves to blame, long ago becoming the province of the few.

 

“There’s a big difference between a movement in the interest of the people, and an institution collecting dues and advancing the interests of its members,” says Barbara Ehrenreich, author of the modern-day classic “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.”

 

“I think,” she adds, “that unions continued to go on with business as usual, and didn’t realize that things had gotten a lot meaner.”

 

Ten reasons why telecom unions are going extinct

Samuel R. Lewis

1019 words

Wed Aug 31, 12:00 AM ET

The Daily Caller

 

As America approaches the back-to-school sales and end-of-summer cook-outs of Labor Day 2011, Verizon and representatives of the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) are negotiating a new contract following a 16-day strike that ended on August 23.

 

“We showed Verizon that they can’t push us around,” a union official bragged. In fact, Verizon didn’t make a single significant concession to its original proposal, which included “the same full slate of market-competitive medical benefits that apply to the vast majority of other [non-union] Verizon employees.” Meanwhile, each striking union member lost thousands of dollars in wages that will not be recovered. The union leadership did a superb job of demonstrating why the telecom unions’ demise is accelerating:

 

1. Unions don’t provide value in the workplace or benefits to members. At Verizon, where less than 25% of the workforce is unionized, union members can readily see that they have non-union peers who are receiving competitive salaries and benefits for similar work — and they don’t have to pay $60 a month for the privilege. When union members get more bang for the buck joining Sam’s Club or Costco than they derive from compulsory union membership, the union is not long for this world.

 

2. Unions suppress job growth. Antiquated union rules developed during the heyday of telephone monopolies cause Verizon to be less efficient and less competitive in a telecom marketplace where purchasers have choices and unions are now the exception, not the rule. Unions have traditionally been about securing more jobs for their members. But, Verizon is less likely to hire more employees in the businesses where costly unions are involved. The immutable irony is that the existence of telecom unions results in fewer jobs, not more.

 

3. The wireline business is shrinking fast. Except for Verizon’s fiber optic-based FiOS services, the growth part of telecom and most of the profits are in the wireless and Internet “space,” both of which are almost entirely non-union.

 

4. Unions are anti-matter in a matter-dependent world. Unions promote conflict instead of teamwork, opposition instead of collaboration. I asked a manager who previously worked in Verizon’s labor relations group what that was like. “Every little thing was a confrontation,” she sighed. It’s extraordinarily difficult for a company to succeed today if a core group of employees within its business maintains an allegiance to a third party that promotes its own agenda at the expense of the progress and success of the company providing the paycheck.

 

5. Union leaders are clueless. How else to describe a union management that calls a strike when the economy is nose-diving, unemployment exceeds 9%, many of the jobs covered by the strike require no more than a high school education and a strong work ethic, and the units affected by the strike have experienced a significant, irreversible drop-off in business as customers “pull the plug” and go wireless or use the Internet. You have to be a dim bulb to bluff in a game when you’re holding a lousy hand and your opponent can see all your cards.

 

6. Unions are obsolete. When workers labored 60+ hours a week in dimly lit factories and dust-filled mines, lived in whatever housing the company deigned to provide, and struggled to pay for necessities bought at the company store, the balance brought to the employment relationship by the collective representation of workers in a union was justified. That was then. Today, federal and state laws govern workplace safety, hours, and discriminatory termination. These laws apply equally to union and non-union personnel. All wear the same safety equipment for outside work and use the same high-tech equipment for inside work. Good workers, whether they’re climbing poles, installing connection boxes, or serving as call agents, are paid substantially above the average wage in their locales. If ever there was a purpose for unions in telecom, it’s long been served. Today, unions are anachronisms — rotary dialers in a digital world.

 

7. Unions have no valid arguments for their continued existence in telecom. In desperation, militant union members are resorting to violence and reverting to their simian forebears. Midway through the CWA/IBEW strike, Verizon obtained a court order prohibiting the strikers from, among other forms of assault, “throwing feces.” You know your opponent has lost the moral and intellectual high ground when a bout of constipation puts a dent in its arsenal.

 

8. Unions are out-of-sync politically. Most unions are highly dependent on the favoritism of Democrat politicians. But in today’s frail economic environment, even many Democrats struggle to justify special treatment for a well-paid constituency that whines for entitlements while so many other constituents are standing in line at the unemployment office.

 

9. Unions deceive their members. One Verizon cross-over told me how the union kept workers in the dark about the situation. Pre-strike, it delivered a few select tidbits of misleading information, lied about the company’s proposals, and assured her that the company would cave after a day or two of striking. When it was obvious that Verizon was not going to yield, she came back to work (in a right-to-work state) and learned the truth from earlier cross-overs. “I’ve never had a job before where I didn’t contribute to my health insurance,” she explained. “I thought the company’s position [proposing a modest contribution] was reasonable.”

 

10. Unions are self-destructive. Armed with information about customer accounts, union members called Verizon call centers during the strike and pretended to be customers, attempting to cancel service. Union members protested the award to Verizon of a $120 million contract with New York City’s Department of Education. Some even picketed at a Verizon customer’s home during a service call. How long will telecom unions survive if they destroy the customer base that provides their members with jobs?Not long. Indeed, that great sucking sound you hear is the quicksand enveloping the union dinosaurs as members and the public discover their pointlessness in the modern telecommunications industry.

 

Samuel R. Lewis is an assistant general counsel for a global telecommunications company. He writes commentary on current, past, and future events based on his diverse experiences as a former U.S. Army officer, parent, and participant in some of the most tumultuous events of the past 20 years in the business world.

[tosberg34]

Believe me, that is common place in most of the unions I've worked for or work with now. That is not to say all unions are like that. I have one friend of mine who works in the union side of Verizon who proudly lays out his normal work day (I kid you not, this is from his mouth and confirmed by 2 owners in my main league who are also union Vz employees):

 

Work Starts at 8:30AM

Come into work, eat breakfast and BS around until 9:15AM to 9:30AM

Get work assignments, pack up truck and leave garage 9:35AM

Stop for Coffee at Starbucks near the garage 9:45AM - 10:00 AM

Work until 12PM

Lunch 12PM - 1PM

Take warning cones out of truck and put around truck letting public know work is being done; however between 1PM - 1:30PM is nap time in the truck

Work from 1:30PMish - 3PM

Break from 3PM - 3:45PM (normally either more coffee or shooting the ish with other people on the crew)

Work from 4PM - 5PM

 

So, according to Kevin, Andrew and Will, they really only do 4 1/2 hours of work a day. And because of how the union structured their discipline procedures, every time Kevin was caught doing this:

 

1st time verbal warning

2nd time written warning

3rd time suspension with pay for 1 week

4th time suspension with no pay

5th time termination

 

All violation times reset after 30 days. So Kevin would get busted until he received the 1 week with pay suspense, took the week off with pay and then work enough to reset his violation number at the end of the month. Completely stupid and butt backwards.

 

Here are some more good reads:

 

Excellent post. Here is another dandy. Because damaging property and holding hostages is definitely a way to further your cause and get more sympathy for "Da Union!"

[twiley]

Believe me, that is common place in most of the unions I've worked for or work with now. That is not to say all unions are like that. I have one friend of mine who works in the union side of Verizon who proudly lays out his normal work day (I kid you not, this is from his mouth and confirmed by 2 owners in my main league who are also union Vz employees):

 

Work Starts at 8:30AM

Come into work, eat breakfast and BS around until 9:15AM to 9:30AM

Get work assignments, pack up truck and leave garage 9:35AM

Stop for Coffee at Starbucks near the garage 9:45AM - 10:00 AM

Work until 12PM

Lunch 12PM - 1PM

Take warning cones out of truck and put around truck letting public know work is being done; however between 1PM - 1:30PM is nap time in the truck

Work from 1:30PMish - 3PM

Break from 3PM - 3:45PM (normally either more coffee or shooting the ish with other people on the crew)

Work from 4PM - 5PM

 

So, according to Kevin, Andrew and Will, they really only do 4 1/2 hours of work a day. And because of how the union structured their discipline procedures, every time Kevin was caught doing this:

 

1st time verbal warning

2nd time written warning

3rd time suspension with pay for 1 week

4th time suspension with no pay

5th time termination

 

All violation times reset after 30 days. So Kevin would get busted until he received the 1 week with pay suspense, took the week off with pay and then work enough to reset his violation number at the end of the month. Completely stupid and butt backwards.

 

Pretty much what I've been told by guys in union jobs too. They know they have a cake job which is why they fight so hard to keep it.

 

Unreal.

[whoopazz]

Pretty much what I've been told by guys in union jobs too. They know they have a cake job which is why they fight so hard to keep it.

 

Unreal.

 

Yup, witnessed numerous examples like this and the one cited at Boeing during my traveling years doing consulting and contract work. Steel mills, power plants, all of em were terrible. Guys would be sittin on their arses all day...and proud of it.

[CowboyGal2011]

Unionize Babysitters

[CowboyGal2011]

Unionize Babysitters

 

 

Dang!

 

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-08...-watchdog-state

 

Well at least they tried, that's what my pappi said.

Edited September 9, 2011 by CowboyGal2011