Goodbye DPMS?

[Travis798]

I guess if we are gonna turn this into a union bashing thread I'll chime in.

I'm a union member. While I detest public sector unions as much as the next guy, you can't confuse them with private unions.

My union negotiates wages/benefits/working conditions with our contractors. When they are all in agreement, they draw up a contract and everyone signs it. If the contractor meets the obligations they agreed to in the contract period, we can't strike. If they don't, we can. Seems pretty simple to me. They live up to their word and we live up to ours.

We have multiple pay scales. Sometimes a contractor has a hard time getting work in locations that non union contractors have a stronghold. We have a low scale that drops our wages considerably in order to help them get costs down to a point that they can pick up that work. We have to do everything we can in order to insure our contractors make money, because if they go out of business so will we.

They still have to compete with the non union side, so with the extra cost our benefits bring to the table we try to make up for with skill and speed. We can get run off in a heartbeat if we aren't doing our job or if our skill set is lacking. If it's raining and the contractor can't work, I still get paid 5 hours and my perdiem, because I have to travel and live on the road and still have expenses whether we work or not. If we get rained out after working for 4 hours, I get paid for all day. The flip side to that is we rarely mud out. We work in mud bad enough I've seen many non union welders refuse to work in. We let the heavy equipment hook up to our personal trucks and drag us through it if we have to. We do what it takes to get the job done.

Do I like union politics? No. Do I like the fact that my local union, who's bread and butter is the oil and gas sector still pushes for democrats just because that's what unions do? Hell no. But I remain a member because I put in an honest days work for an honest days pay, and in exchange I receive health insurance and retirement.

Sorry for the long rant, but while there may be things I don't care for with my local unions, I don't see one redeeming quality to public sector unions, and it really bugs me when people go to talking about private sector unions like they are the same thing.

 

[turkeyrun]

Non-union worker, receive an honest pay for an honest days work, paid vacation, pay sick leave, health insurance and no union dues being used to promote political candidates I am against. We also have quarterly bonus profit sharing based on a set of 4 goals with each having a percentage of payout based on reaching a minimum with the payout going up expotientally. example: waste minimum is 1000Lbs / quarter = 1% of quarter salary, with a sliding scale to a maximum payout at 250Lbs of 10%. If we attain any payout on the 4 goals, we get that payout, regardless of performance on the other 3 goals. Max payout on all 4 goals, which we have achieved, is 40% of quarterly pay. Not reaching any goal during a quarter has no effect on the next quarter. Hard to explain here, but point is, it has nothing do with union, it is company management recognizing employees as a major part of success.

While most of Goobermint Motors problems may have been from MISS-management, unions contributed much to the failure. I know several union members and they are happy, more power to them. I know a few who have their job ONLY because of the union, but they SHOULD have been fired and other members KNOW it and agree, but they continue to collect a check.

 

[twoguns?]

And thats the problem , Most companys dont give a rats asss about theYre employees.

They only care about profit, exorbitant profit, at Any cost.

Theres always the exception to the rule ...Good for you turkeyrun, but although you may not know it ,,youRe the exception.

Dont throw stupid this or that in the conversation ,dont put words in peoples sentences, if you dont like it fine .

Life aint fair , sometimes ya gotta gang up on the bigger fellers to get them to see it the way it really is, but everyone should have a choice , based on facts.

Dont pull the anti crap, with your yaya bullshiit, you dont like it when the anti gunners do it ....yea yea I know...Go Ahead

 

[turkeyrun]

I totally agree with the CONCEPT behind the unions. Back when they were created, justified by the corporate abuse / treatment of workers, the voice of the worker was non- existent. Today, most unions are PAC and looking to perpetuate their own FAT CHECKS. They care nothing about the worker or mutual respect between the worker and the company. Some differences do exist between public and private sector, but the main goal of all unions is to maintain / expand themselves.

Your happy with your union and how they represent you, then good for you.

I have worked for several companies in several sectors. All non-union. Yes, I have been let go, terminated, down-sized, whatever you want to call it. It was a business decision, not personal. I have seen people fired, usually justified. I have seen those who should have been fired stay in their job because of unions.

Look at how the unions have lost out in the private sector and for the most part only exist in goobermint type jobs. Not to say the unions will arise, but companies that treat their employees with respect and for mutual benefit have no need for a union to raise company cost and take employee wages leaving both parties in worse condition.

Unions and HOA have a lot in common. CONTROL and perpetuating self interest.

I have no use for either. I was doing a job (contract labor) at a union plant. The head of HR came and offered me a job, because of a LACK of skilled labor in the area. Offered a very good wage, so it seemed compared to what I was making. Until I found out union membership was REQUIRED. After paying the union to allow me to do my job, I would be making less, with less benefits and costing the company more. NO THANK YOU, I will work elsewhere.

Dont throw stupid this or that in the conversation ,dont put words in peoples sentences, if you dont like it fine .
Dont pull the anti crap, with your yaya bullshiit, you dont like it when the anti gunners do it ....yea yea I know...Go Ahead

I don't see 'stupid this or that, yaya ********'. Seems you are pulling the 'anti-crap' since the whole thread isn't jumping in to agree with you.

I have a friend whose brother is 100% union. Doesn't matter what the conversation is, the UNION is right. Brainwashed sheeple is exactly what the unions and Babba ("everybody should belong to a union") want.

 

[twoguns?]

That wasnt intended for you.

And yea Ive been non union too.

Let go from jobs , jobs end , well wheres the Next one.

I was mostly giving an option for college , I know a lot who have Big debt that cant use theYre degrees( the market was flooded) so now theyre doing min wage with lots of debt.

Read closely what I said ...If you dont like it at least you have a trade to fall back on..

I'm not Union Strong , i always voted the way i wanted to, didnt pay into the PAC's either.

I'm really trying to say ...its a pretty good option, it just gets a bad rap and people are afraid of it,

A Union is what the members make of it , just like the largest Union of all...The USA

Its not hard to shake up the union officials ,LOL believe me

Make the best of what you can, dont be discouraged, Or discouraging....

Unions arent the end all , but theyre a pretty good option.

I dont know the circumstances of your job offer, but , yea I agree , I wouldnt take it either....Good Luck to You