ALLSAINTS66

And do you know WHY the union tells them not to do that?

So it can't be FORCED ON THEM.

The idea that unions aren't needed any more is, IMO, a very
dangerous one. Unions are there to protect workers from
corporations. That's still a valid reason to have unions.
No, unions aren't always RIGHT, who IS? But collective
bargaining for workers is as important now as it ever was.
Because believe me, if there were no unions again, it wouldn't
take long at all to realize that when workers don't have a
collective voice, wages plummet, benefits plummet, working
conditions become hazardous beyond belief, and if a worker
complains... no job. THAT is why there are unions. Overzeal-
ous at times? Perhaps. But that HARDLY means that the
need for unions is outdated and over rated.

I personally have never made the jump that "union" = "hard worker".
I *do* make the jump that "union" = "blue collar". I hadn't personally
got that the jist of any of the union discussions was a paean to how
hard the person works or not. Hell, management, from my
personal experience, are some of the laziest people in all creation,
and proud of it. In fact, it gets worse the more wealthy most people
get. I know plenty of people whose idea of success is to live off of
interest and dividends and never have to work again. Most of them
are extreme fiscal conservatives when it comes to social issues, and
couldn't give a rat's arse about the quality of life of a working man
or his family.

I guess personally, the people I respect most are people who work
hard no matter what. No matter if they have money or not.
No matter if they get paid or not. I know it's not a universal value
or even a national one, but it's one amongst the people I love, and
it's how I was raised, so that's what's important to ME, and what
I value in people, whether they are football players, teachers,
janitors, or checkout clerks. What I also know from a lifetime
of observation, is that unions really protect people who can work
themselves to death, more than the lazy people. Unions protect
people with a good work ethic from being abused by corporations.
Lazy people are just lazy poeple, wherever they are found.

SAINT_MICHAEL

Hardly. They do it so they lazy tenured teachers won't look bad when they don't go the extra mile. To force teachers to have to work on weekends you'd have to force the kids to as well. We know that ain't gonna happen.

No, today's unions' goal is to get the most amount of money they can for it's members while performing the least amount of work possible. A person with a good work ethic would have no problem working their way up through better jobs with or without a union. Unions do more protecting of lazy workers that should be fired than they do of strong workers. Employers want strong workers...they don't need to be protected!

Believe it or not, all corporations are not monstrosities that are run as sweat shops only to torture the employees. Surprisingly, many have begun to realize that if you reward good workers with good salaries and good working conditions you get happy employees who do quality work. After all, there are plenty of workers in this country that are fine not working union jobs. In 2010, 88.1 % of the US workforce was non union:

Union Members Summary

So it seems that unions aren't always needed to protect the poor workers from the companies and their evil managers. 88 or so percent of us didn't need them in 2010.

skymike

amen.

and thanks for the magnet link! that sucker's going on my truck!

'66, you're really coming on this board with a bang. I disagree with a little of what you say, but thats what its all about. Dont take nothin
too serious. After all, B&G is all for fun, and we're rooting for the same
team.

If they'll get the season rolling, we'll get some tailgators going.

breesfan27

I don't get the whole badger thing. I must be out of the loop.

QBREES9

Kiss My Black Arse.

SAINT_MICHAEL

Well, apparently the main thing to remember about them is that they don't give a ****.

Danno

Its a must see, although I think its a guy thing. Most girls just roll their eyes.

Every guy thats seen it laughed their butts off.

skymike

exactly, Danno. My wife is not all that amused by honeybadger-- not like I am. she just doesnt give ....

you know what else? she doesnt like SouthPark. didnt think it was funny when Marsh was trying to get the world record for crapping. (measured in Courics--- HAHAHAHAHA)

she doesnt like butthead either? how is this so?

She doesnt that excited to drive around country roads, drink beer, and listen to old rock.

and she wont pee outside, if there's an indoor restroom available nearby.
What kind of people would rather pee indoors?

women. whats up with them?

She does however care about the Saints just like I do-- and she dresses up nicely for the games.

breesfan27

Hahaha! Alright then. Whatever keeps y'all entertained during the lockout.

BringTheWood

This isn't all together completely true. Just because someone busts their ass doesn't mean they are going to get their due. You can't honestly believe that. Ideally that is how it should work, but that's being optimistic. I can say to you, from experience, that I have seen more than 10 instances of workers being let go for less than substantial reasons. I live, and have almost always lived in Texas, an at will state. That means that you can be fired, at any given time, for no given reason, and you'd be surprised how often people get canned for no other reason than the managers don't like the people.

I won't disagree that some unions are leeches, because that would be a foolhardy thing to say. However, there are many that are not. To the same effect, as you stated, that while many companies are not unfair to their workers, some actually are. You have good and bad with anything. Personally, I support unions. That doesn't mean that I WOULD support EVERY union, especially the ones that I know are dirty. Objectively, unions are supposed to promote fairness and job security. Objectively, employers should take care of their employees, assuming they aren't terrible workers. How often are people objective though. Optimism and even pragmatism take a quick backseat to pessimism in this country. I try to stay optimistic and pragmatic.

To argue against unions fundamentally is just a bit wrong in my opinion. Any level headed individual can see that more often than not, it is the worker being screwed. Both sides do get screwed, just workers more often than not. Also, I feel that it is worth noting that RARELY would you have a PRIVATE company that would deal with unions. More often than not unions are there to combat corporations. Corporations elect leaders whose primary, and often only goal is the maximization of profits, without promoting well being in the workplace, worker incentive, or job security.

Lastly, without completely researching the EXACT statistics I would say that the 88.1% number you gave isn't because 88.1% of people are COMPLETELY fine without union support. There are a whole list of reasons why some people won't associate with unions, many of which aren't an ideological distaste. If you would have me elaborate on some, I could. And, truth is, Reagen went around in the 80's busting up most of the unions like Ryu against a car in a bonus stage. There just aren't nearly as many unions today as there were when America was more industrial. Lastly, to my last paragraph, America outsources so much freakin' work that many would form unions for, therefore we also see a drop in statistics. There just aren't as many industrial jobs in the states as their used to be.