Meredith considers going union

[This'nThat]

Originally Posted by jeffk

My Dad worked a union shop and the stories he would tell me.

Same here. One small story involving several unions on a job site (steelworkers, carpenters, electricity, etc.) The steelworkers needed to lay iron over concrete that had just cured. Before they could do that, though, the wooden frame around the concrete needed to be knocked away. No skill involved here, and no need to preserve the wooden frame. The only requirement was to simply take a hammer and knock the boards away. All-in-all, a 15-minute job for four people. Simple, eh?

Not so simple after all. This was the Carpenter's Union job (because it involved wood). Steelworkers were not allowed to touch lumber on the job site. Couldn't pick it up; couldn't move it out of the way; total hands-off. Union rules, dontcha know.

Well, the carpenters weren't available -- they were busy elsewhere, even though the construction schedule showed them removing the frame first thing in the morning. Wasn't until about 2:00pm that they became available. So, what did the steelworkers do? Just hung around until they could punch out at the end of the day. A whole day's wages by 8 steelworkers down the drain -- because of union rules.

That type of nonsense doesn't happen on non-union jobs. But it happens all the time on union jobs. Why? Because the union is all about power and self-protection, and they set up obscene rules to protect themselves; and they use intimidation (via threats of violence and via legal actions) to enforce the rules. These rules make no business sense at all, and they cost the nation big-time in terms of money, lost productivity, and innovation.

[SAMIAM]

Well said,jeffk.You pretty much covered it.Unions were helpful in the 30's and 40's but now they are a cancer.It was not business or government that drove jobs overseas......it was the unions.Demanding more and more by bullying and intimidating employers with threats of strikes......skillfully pitting employee against employer rather than one unit working for success for all.
That's why they want so badly to get into Walmart......so they can tear down another thriving business.I try not to rant too much,but unions get me going.

[ishoot308]

Couldn't agree more...Being a business owner in the construction trades with over 100 employees, we are constantly threatened by union takeover. In the specific trade we are in, there has NEVER been one single company in the state of NH to survive a union agreement. Most went out of busineess within one year!