I think it’s weird being a casual worker who is desperate for full time work that a lot of union people in this city do f*uck all when they are at work. Striking is like a religion. This is not Victorian England. You may be forgiven for thinking that it is because Halifax is as backward as you can get when it comes to progressive thinking. I will work for a decent pay cheque. Why is it that Union people walk around like they are better than everyone. I will guess that all the smug left wing types in this city don’t wear clothes or shoes or buy whatever from countries that use children to produce whatever crap they have to buy this weekend, when they phone in sick. Wake UP! Unions are a scam, especially in Canada, the number one place in the world to live. And I do want to know what people at the CBC make. It’s my tax money. —Struggling Lower Class Hero
This article appears in Jan 26 – Feb 1, 2012.
Unions have actually pushed the manufacturing sector out of North America with their greed and the tactics they use to get their way. It is so expensive to produce and manufacture thing in NA that it is cheaper to contract it out to third world countries where unions don’t exist, and the executives that run those corps get multimillion dollar bonuses every year for cost savings. Unions are outdated money pits stealing from their members, using mob mentality to insite unrest and dissatisfaction among workers. A happy, well paid employee, who takes pride in their work and is loyal to their company, is every unions worst nightmare. Stupid unions, cutting off their noses to spite their faces.
*pictures Ivan and Bro Tim dancing like Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker*
UNIONS! HA! YEAH! WHAT ARE THEY GOOD FOR? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! *to the tune of War*
unions are responsible for many things you take for granted. Workplace safety , workers rights, weekends, holiday pay, 40 hour work weeks, child labor laws, MINIMUM WAGE all brought to you by Unions
In my union a female worker doing the same job I’m doing gets exactly the same pay.
Unions are constantly pushing for training for its members. Our Union Dues, goes to pay life insurance premiums so if we are injured or killed, whether on the job or not ,our estate or beneficiary(s) have some money coming to them to help with expenses at such a difficult time. Or if it is a serious injury, to help pay for retraining etc.
When my grandfather was a teenager, working in the coal mines of Cape Breton. If you worked as a shoveler, you had to buy your shovel fromt he company. You had to buy your food from the company stores which had inflated prices, you lived in a company house & if hurt or killed, someone else from that house had to go to the pit, or you were given a week to get out of the house. The police were the company paid enforcers. Workers were virtually slaves, kept impoverished etc.
TOday if they could grocery stores would do the same…they already hire most of the work force as part timers, so as not to pay any benefits, & they can fire you without cause, because you are part time.
Union’s are under attack by the big shots for one very important reason…Having workers stand together, makes it difficult for bosses to raise their profit margins by cutting wages, cutting benefits, increasing hours , with no over time pay. These are things that if workers were not there to fight for , organized to care for the whole group. There is no doubt all that Unions have fought for all these years will be eroded away by those on top, who’s only desire is making an even bigger profit, by taking it from the working Men & Women.
Unions certainly had their place back in the day – as an advocate for workers who in most cases couldn’t read or write.
Those days are gone.
And what you are left with is a political organization who may (sometimes) be out “fighting” for their members, but usually at the detriment of the other 99% of the population who aren’t one.
@ SHITD about Unions being responsible for loss of manufaturing jobs.
It way more complicated than that…but you seem to forget this little piece of the problem as well as so called ‘free trade’, slave labour, covict (aka free labour)etc.
Check out this link
http://www.24hgold.com/english/news-gold-s…
Please scroll down to PETRO DOLLAR… it is in bold .
Read that & add it to your Union bashing , because it is a big part of the reason we’ve lost so much manufacturing in North America.
“GOOD GOD, Y’ALL!”
>; )
All you need to know OP is that Corporations are monolithic hive entities that reject the principles of democracy in their insatiable quest for money and power. So are Uunions, but only one of these 2 is honest enough to admit it.
I agree with You OP, Unions had their place way back in the day but nowadays are irrelevant. They have long since served their purpose,and mostly a disruption to the public that generally makes less than they do. It’s bullcrap.
Ya need to know what peeps at CBC make? Google it or FOIPOP it …… that’s done for today.
Union people walk around like they are better than anyone else? Union folks are working for the man, so I dare say they do not have anything to hold themselves higher than others ……… now, THE MAN, he be walking around thinking he is better than everyone else ’cause he fucking well is ………. ya’see, we live in a world where we put “like” with “like” so……. if ya need to figure this out we have the following:
“A-people” – achieved success on all levels
“B-people” – great income but can’t break that top rung on the ladder
“C-People” – fully employed but not fully appreciated
“D- People” – Call centre/contract workers etc. (hope to achieve “C” status before they die
“F-people” – monthly assistance from the gov’t while scamming a side-job (under the table) to offset their addiction.
Class is dismissed!
Thanks More, that was a very interesting read.
I’m not saying that unions are all bad, but this perception that well payed and compensated employees are being taken advantage of is complete bullshit. There is a formula to a business model, which labor cannot reach or exceed a certain percentage to allow that company to remain competitive. Unions, plain and simple, don’t care. In order to justify their existence they MUST promote unrest and the perception that workers jobs are always in jeopardy. This, for the most part is simply not true. A competitive fiscally responsible company, or corporation, will always need employees, and as that company grows in size and net worth, will require more and more employees. As we have seen in NA across the board, companies struggling to remain open, let alone actually be competitive in a soft market, have been strangled to near extinction with the unions unwillingness to budge on any issue. When times are good, company profits as well as jobs and benefits are plentiful, but, in times of recession, employee concessions must be made, and the ability of a company to make financially responsible decisions must remain intact, or they face crippling debt and a long game of catchup.
I will admit, that unions are not the only reason for manufacturing fleeing like rats off a sinking ship, inflated wages and benefits a company simply cannot afford in the long term with rising costs and inflation. But, they are an important factor.
Unions were necessary back in the day but now they are costing tax payers money. We now have labor laws that were not around when the need for unions existed. I see so much waste in Government sectors because of unions now. Unions are sucking the life out of government jobs creating all those good government jobs to be outsourced. There is no place in Canada for unions any longer because we have labor laws that protect everyone now. The lazy people that hid behind unions need a wake up call.
I have to say I agree. Unionized workers get all these guarantees whether they’re awesome or shitty at their job. Meanwhile the rest of us are one bad day away from being on the streets, and are guaranteed nothing.
Like, if a customer gets tough with me and I tell em to fuck off, I lose my job. Whereas I get smart with a public sector, unionized employee, they can tell me to fuck off and much worse and keep their job.
To hold public sector employees less accountable than their private sector counterparts (whose tax dollars pay their salaries) is unfair and hypocritical. Such is life though.
How about the union of pain and pleasure that is the Trombone Marionette, Sebastian? Your comment about the Lebanese made me all hawt.
Wpaul
there is a use for them? well,please explain so we will all know.
Work for IMP and tell me you don’t need unions anymore you stupid motherfuckers.
I’m willing to wager that the op has a casual position at all because of those union people. I’m also inclined to believe that the wage that the op receives is closer to the living wage mark than they would be able to negotiate for themselves. Unions have and continue to serve great purpose. Knowledge is power folks – good time to start reading.
I’m willing to wager that it is thanks to the ‘union people’ that the op has a casual position at all. I’m also inclined to believe that the op is making closer to a living wage per hour worked than the op would be able negotiate by themselves; likely without paying dues. Union people are walking around smug? Is it because they know that eventually you will figure out that one day that your voice has no volume on its own? We’re stronger together. We can be heard in unison. Knowledge is power – hopefully you’ll figure it out.
Guy’s I’m not saying all Unions are great.
I know that seniority can be a real bitch…which is why the Union I belong to doesn’t allow seniority to control who works. Who ever is the most qualified, even if new will get the job. We don’t allow bumping. When you are on a job, even if a qualified senior member becomes available, they cannot bump you from your position. These are things our members did…specifically because the lazy long time do nothing member(s) (and not all ,just a few) were giving us a bad name.
So we made a change…its our Union we the members are all identical in we each have 1 vote. Doesn’t matter if you became a member yesterday or 25 years ago. You got one vote & that makes us all equal on the floor of a meeting.
I believe many Unions need to clean up some of the problem areas, like senority, bumping etc. but with out us working at times fighting for better conditions, wages etc the rights of all workers union or nonunion will be eroded & we will once again eventually become no better than serf’s ! Plus if you look at China & other sweatshop labor countries, wages are on the rise, workers are fighting over there for better conditions, decent hours, benefits etc. We live in a global economy with many large corporations being in many different countries. We the purchasers have power. By boycotting places like Wal-mar we can make a difference to the bottom line & they hate us even more for that, than they do for being Union. I personally refuse to by china made if I can get it from anywhere else.
Without the spectre of unions hanging over their heads, a government in the pocket of industry could have us, our children, our pets and anyone with a heartbeat and legs working for nothing tomorrow. A little bit extreme, perhaps, but the end of unions would be the thin edge of a wedge separating 99% of us from what economic power we have left. How long, after the end of even the most egregiously-run union, before a law lifting restrictions on working hours or wage increases went before our legislature, or the House of Commons?
I love quality management systems because they replace arbitrary decisions and discriminating practises with policy and process.
I find it ironic that so many managers and organizations love quality management systems, yet they criticize Unions.
Afterall, a union seeks to replace arbitrary decisions and discriminating practises with policy and process.
Well put More and Halkell. Unions have good and bad points but, if they were to disappear, one would see a fast erosion of worker’s rights, safety and benefits. All of which we take for granted in the workplace came from the blood, sweat and tears of unions.
Some manufacturers set up base in third world countries as we know to take advantage of a lack of the most basic labour laws and wages. Sort of like here before unions.
If you want a taste of life without unions move to Indonesia and get a job making sneakers.
nice to see some give and take on the bitch, you should see some of the nasty vitriolic comments on other sites
A friend of mine worked at a place where many of the workers were unionized. One of the union people was caught stealing on company time and from the company. $10 000 worth of stuff. The punishment the union handed out was… two days paid suspension.
It only takes one bad apple to make the whole union look bad, unfortunately.
Starryday, I call BS. All collective argreements are public documents. Please show me 1 CA that says ‘stealing $10000 = 2 day suspension’. You can’t. It doesn’t exist.
Starrydays, I have some land in Florida to sell you, dipshit. I thought I was past letting ignorance anger me, but I guess I’m not. Oh well.
..I once worked for a former longshoreman in Vancouver..he said the only way to get fired was: to kill someone ..on the job..in front of a foreman…I believed him
The big problem with today’s unions is that there are far too many of them in government and education jobs. They are sucking valuable tax dollars and arguing for pay and benefits that no other individual would receive with the same education and training. There is often no regard for the financial status of the government or university – it is all about the union lining it’s pockets.
I manage several staff who are members of a union. I like all of them personally, but many of them do not care about their jobs, arrive at work at the last possible minute, leave at the earliest minute and complain if you dare speak with them about something job related on their mandated 1.5 hour lunch break – even if they are sitting at their desk and you have no idea that they’re on break (who the hell needs 1.5 hours for lunch in an 8 hour work day, anyway?!?!)
The other thing I am strongly in disagreement about is seniority. More’s union sounds far more progressive than most, but in the majority of cases young, ambitious union members (a lot of whom have more education than their 25+ year peers) can not progress at a decent rate despite their hard work, education, and creative ideas.
I have an education (a BA!) andl have managed to work my way up the chain in my 7 years since graduating with a Bachelor’s degree to a six figure job and a decent title (in the not-for-profit educational sector, no less). I have never felt that a union would better have been able to negotiate on my behalf, and like being able to set my market value based on my performance. I actually enjoy being offered a job, and negotiating for the salary I feel I am worth. I may be lucky that my field is in demand, but consistently outperforming expectations surely helps. Had I been in a union, and started at the ground floor (which I did in my career), no way would I have been able to work my way up so quickly. Yes, I job hopped, but I did it to advance my career – I didn’t need a union to help mandate a 3% increase each year (thank god, because I wanted much more)
Of course unions once have a place and perhaps they still do in the corporate world. I, for one, do not believe they have any place in taxpayer funded institutions.
Workplace safety, as has been mentioned, OP you jealous dumb fuck. Not all unions are perfect, but get rid of them and you would see more deaths in the workplace and more workers gtting ripped off by employers.
You get caught stealing in our Union & you will be grieved, tried & if convicted you will be gone.
Not only are you flung from the Local. We contact the International & they insure you’ll never hold a card in any local of our alliance.
I don’t know where or what local condones theft by a member & I have no way to prove you are wrong. I only have experience in my own organization to go on, but the only penalty for theft is to lose your card & what ever the courts decide, you get no help from the rest of us.
http://www.toronto-employmentlawyer.com/po…
I think there’s a place for unions, and I think there ought to be more of them in the private sector. When the retail and service sector gets away with employing practically everyone at close to minimum wage, and with pathetic benefits, I may be able to buy cheaper shit at the store, but I pay anyway indirectly through taxes, because of higher requirements for government-funded benefits to make up for what the companies don’t provide.
And given that we live in economies that are largely driven by consumer spending, I can’t for the life of me see how it’s a bad thing to have more people making more money.
I’m on board with the folks here who distrust and dislike public sector unions. What a frigging joke. Public sector unions are a relatively new thing actually, and never needed to happen. NS public sector unions are a slap in the face to every taxpayer who makes less than those bozos do (which is most of us), and who don’t get 4 or 5 weeks vacation a year like those bozos do, or a day off every 3 weeks like quite a few of those bozos do, and who would dearly love to have pension plans like those bozos do.
A final note: those public sector pension plans aren’t quite as generous as some of the hard-core right-wingers would have us believe. Not for most of the union members. But they are still generous, especially compared to nothing, which is what most of us have got.
very interesting, overuse of bozo tho. how many unions are there in canada? they have more collective bargaining when they absorb each other
fs, is this what you referenced? all kinds o shitty http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/56…