Trump found guilty!

[SStockDart]

RTW is about letting employees keep their hard earned money and not donate to the historical thuggery of unions. Have you forgotten, I was once a union steward for the Teamsters before I was a manager a Fortune 500 company. I've lived on and seen both sides and prefer employees being able to walk up to a manager and have a conversation without consulting the union first. Who issued your pay check and probably paid for most of what you have? The company. You have them to thank not a greedy union that takes your money. Have a nice day. No need for unions anymore.

[Jeff Niceswanger]

Originally Posted by SStockDart

RTW is about letting employees keep their hard earned money and not donate to the historical thuggery of unions. Have you forgotten, I was once a union steward for the Teamsters before I was a manager a Fortune 500 company. I've lived on and seen both sides and prefer employees being able to walk up to a manager and have a conversation without consulting the union first. Who issued your pay check and probably paid for most of what you have? The company. You have them to thank not a greedy union that takes your money. Have a nice day. No need for unions anymore.

So.... the answer is to eliminate them. Thats your take on it Gary? Because that is what we're talking about. Trump is trying to wipe them off the surface. Not how much you personally like or dislike them. Your stewardship was back in the early, early days and I lived in that timeframe also. Unions are not remotely the same as back in the 60-70's. Somehow you think since you were a steward that all unions are just like the one you were in back in the day. Wrong. People that are currently, (not back in the hippy days), members of unions WANT them. And want left alone. You say Unions are not needed. Just go ask the members if they want to go without representation. Alot of people hate our noisy dragstrips too! Maybe we should just get rid of all those damn noisy places!

[Chevy55]

Originally Posted by SStockDart

RTW is about letting employees keep their hard earned money and not donate to the historical thuggery of unions. Have you forgotten, I was once a union steward for the Teamsters before I was a manager a Fortune 500 company. I've lived on and seen both sides and prefer employees being able to walk up to a manager and have a conversation without consulting the union first. Who issued your pay check and probably paid for most of what you have? The company. You have them to thank not a greedy union that takes your money. Have a nice day. No need for unions anymore.

The States with Prevailing wage laws and also allow Project Labor Agreements construction workers earn 2 to 3 times as much when including fringe. Contracts that are being signed this year are in the range of $14 to $16 hr increase over 4 years,.
Union trade school is free and you earn while you learn, your comment that Unions aren't needed today absolutely makes no sense!

[SStockDart]

Try this on.

1. A young man in high school decides what he wants to do in life.
2. He goes to college, trade school, or OJT to be trained in his chosen field.
3. He applies for a job. Is explained the details of wages, schedule, and benefits.
4. He accepts the job. If he doesn't like it, he quits.
End of story...no union

[SStockDart]

Quick note about "state prevailing wage". Who pays for that? (Hint...taxpayers)

[Jeff Niceswanger]

Originally Posted by SStockDart

Quick note about "state prevailing wage". Who pays for that? (Hint...taxpayers)

This taxpayer does not have any problem paying workers a middle-class standard of living. None at all. I do however have issues with millions upon millions that are given to huge Oil companies and such

[jmcarter]

Everyone has their own perspective on unions but I can share mine based on managing a team of 200 machinist members of the IAM. Negotiating contracts and the language for distribution of overtime and such was never a huge problem. Hourly rate was always negotiated fairly easily unless the fully burdened rate would render our products too costly to compete. Larger issues were implementing productivity and/or quality improvements that the union felt could chip away at the total number of paying members. The poor performers were shielded by the union because again, the number of paying members were of the utmost importance to the union, not the productivity of the shop. A huge amount of my time was devoted to the discussion and arbitration of fairly petty issues. After two years in that role I was relieved to return to managing salaried employees, not to mention cutting my workweek from 70 to 50 hours

[Jeff Niceswanger]

Originally Posted by jmcarter

Everyone has their own perspective on unions but I can share mine based on managing a team of 200 machinist members of the IAM. Negotiating contracts and the language for distribution of overtime and such was never a huge problem. Hourly rate was always negotiated fairly easily unless the fully burdened rate would render our products too costly to compete. Larger issues were implementing productivity and/or quality improvements that the union felt could chip away at the total number of paying members. The poor performers were shielded by the union because again, the number of paying members were of the utmost importance to the union, not the productivity of the shop. A huge amount of my time was devoted to the discussion and arbitration of fairly petty issues. After two years in that role I was relieved to return to managing salaried employees, not to mention cutting my workweek from 70 to 50 hours

Hi Jim
We found that the issue you speak of on any type of poor performance issue with select members was entirely the lazy company bosses that did not want to go through the correct, agreed upon process. The contract specifically lays out the steps taken to reprimand or terminate. It's agreed upon by both sides in negotiations. Bosses just don't want to mess with it. Many times, if they did actually do the process right, their previous inaction on buddy's, relatives, or favorites stopped a valid write up. When joe blows drinking buddy did the same identical violations last year and nobody said a Dag gone thing... why? One thing a local cannot tolerate is favoritism. Do it right or don't do it. We were fine with reprimand write ups and encouraged them if members were causing other members increased workloads at no fault of their own. We had nothing to do with the hiring or number of members in the workforce. That was clearly written up in Management Rights. They own the place; they staff it to their desire. Not real sure how your commits on staffing related to the local as most Management Rights are very similar. We did sit in on the interviews as the company wanted our input. Sometimes we could spot BS when management couldn't.

[Eddies66]

Originally Posted by SStockDart

Quick note about "state prevailing wage". Who pays for that? (Hint...taxpayers)

Because the prevailing wage law was implemented by the state, public works projects that are controlled by the federal government do not need to comply with its terms. However, only projects that are 100% funded by the federal government and under their management are exempt.

[Jeff Niceswanger]

Originally Posted by SStockDart

Try this on.

1. A young man in high school decides what he wants to do in life.
2. He goes to college, trade school, or OJT to be trained in his chosen field.
3. He applies for a job. Is explained the details of wages, schedule, and benefits.
4. He accepts the job. If he doesn't like it, he quits.
End of story...no union

Ok, lets try this,
1) Its 1980. A young man goes to trade school and upon graduation hires in at his new dream job. Its nonunion. He is told about this "great retirement plan he will enjoy after X number of years. He works there 25 years and to his dismay a notice goes up on the bulletin board that due to financial changes the company retirement plan and retirement plan health insurance will be modified. Nervousness sets in as he knows he still has another 10 years to work before his planned retirement. He patiently awaits his "packet that comes in the mail. He and his wife are shocked to find out his health coverage after retirement has been cancelled, and the "system' they use to calculate his pension has been modified to severally drop his monthly pension pay. All of his and his wife's lifetime dreams will have to be modified, many of them scrapped.
VERSES
2) Its 1980. I go to trade school and upon graduation hire in at my new dream job. It's a union shop. I am handed a contract book after my 3-month probation period. In that contract is my Pension and Health coverage. One year during negotiations the company announces they are getting out of the Pension business and are refusing to comply to what was agreed upon during my hiring. We go on STRIKE. After a month of standing out in the cold, we win our demands and in 2017 I retire with all my agreed upon benefits. You know who that happened to ??.... ME!. Well, at least the #2 version. See the difference? And you say Unions are for the birds. This bird likes security, and unions do their best to give it to their members.