What Is Your Experience With Unions?

[BoberFett]

Union: "Stop passing bad trade bills or we will vote your ass out of office."
It used to work great when workers stuck together. Union clout was at the ballot box.

Do unions force their members to vote a particular way?

For all the whining about corporations and churches telling people how to vote, some of you idiots sure love unions being all powerful.

 

[Squisher]

Increased labor costs forces US manufacturers to use lesser quality parts, reducing the reliability of their cars.

The major Asian brands are still vastly superior to the US auto brands. US brands have had a resurgence lately because innovative and nostalgic designs (post 2005 Mustang, post 2010 Camero, Challenger, Charger, etc,) that target the redneckish consumer base. This demographic will only last for so long. The future of the auto industry is in Asia. The Asian auto brands are forward thinking in both design and function. The US auto industry is still going to be confined to it's small rural/blue collar minded consumer base.

Bullshit. For every reliability/quality/consumer perception study you can quote backing your claim I can quote one that says the domestic auto industry is doing just fine. Your perceptions might have been valid 15 years ago, but a lot has changed, but I don't expect you'll ever believe this.

 

[JMapleton]

Wow, just wow. So an employer can limit your speech (I'm not talking about racist or sexist speech). How about someone talking about a union off hours or using facebook?

I think you should be able to do what you want on your own time. If you want to recruit a union outside of work, that's fine. But not on company time or property.

 

[JMapleton]

Bullshit. For every reliability/quality/consumer perception study you can quote backing your claim I can quote one that says the domestic auto industry is doing just fine. Your perceptions might have been valid 15 years ago, but a lot has changed, but I don't expect you'll ever believe this.

US auto brands are getting much better, I will admit that. But my point is that Asian brands are still far superior.

 

[FirNaTine]

That's really a shame voters have done that. By passing laws giving unions that sort of leverage, voters are begging for higher taxes and a likely city/county/state bankruptcy in the future.

Municipalities being choked by pension spiking, overly generous healthcare benefits, and high salaries will bankrupt their way out of it. Remember something, the unions never win. It's not economically feasible for them to.

In short, it would be hard for you to be more wrong. The County I work for has some of the lowest taxes in the region, and not by a few percent either. More like 20% lower. Our pension fund is actually one of the best funded in the area as well, because we have kept it as a separate public safety pension and retained more control over it by having police and fire trustees on the board as compared to a general government employee pension. (vesting requirement has an effect here also, see below)

Since getting the arbitration, we have actually increased the employee contribution split towards the pension without a change in payout and our portion of healthcare coverage has also increased. And neither of those issues were arbitrated. The pension change was actually a negotiated item.

The only thing arbitration has done, has been to balance the interests of the parties.

Like when they wanted to increase my hours of work by about 14%, but only increase my pay by 5%. We refused, went to arbitration, and won.

As far as the if you don't like it, leave, well that isn't exactly a feasible option. It takes us 20 years (barring a permanent injury, etc.) to vest in our retirement. If you leave at 18, you get back your contributions only. So how would you fell if your employer came in and tried a change like that when you have say 15 years toward vesting?

You can not transfer that retirement time towards another employer, and you would either have to leave the field entirely, or take an entry level position at another agency and start your career over.

 

[Squisher]

No...no they aren't.

Look at how much production has moved to Canada and the South and Mexico.

No...the same employees are not making the cars.

Since 2009 (crisis) US auto sales have increased by half (from 10.4m to 15.6m), but US auto production has doubled (from 5.8m to 10.9m). Yes, I said a lot has moved off shore, but there are still 10.9 million vehicles being made domestically.

 

[rudeguy]

Since 2009 (crisis) US auto sales have increased by half (from 10.4m to 15.6m), but US auto production has doubled (from 5.8m to 10.9m). Yes, I said a lot has moved off shore, but there are still 10.9 million vehicles being made domestically.

OK sorry. I thought your point was about the workers and not production.


Carry on. You dirty, nasty, smelly East Sider

 

[Exterous]

Where you live needs to fall off and float away

Did you have any friends that got squashed during the American Axle or Delphi meltdowns?

Delphi but he wasn't union. And where I live now is quite nice thank you very much. Its a mantra: 'Metro Area'

 

[rudeguy]

Delphi but he wasn't union. And where I live now is quite nice thank you very much. Its a mantra: 'Metro Area'

The smell still carries :awe:

I was over there when all those places started closing down. I was working at ABC and part of selling is finding out where people work. I swear every other person would say they just lost their job.

 

[Possessed Freak]

Unions had their place. Unions no longer have their place.

 

[Mixolydian]

Unions had their place. Unions no longer have their place.

...because...?

 

[db]

there are people who have actual experience and then there are those who are told stuff about something. People who are told stuff talk like they have had actual experience. They are useful tools for those who told them b/c they spread the message about stuff.