Scott, yeah, I know. Eventually I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.

 

Your pay and benefits cannot change without your approval??? How is that??
Sounds like something a union member would say?? Delusional even with a union contract. My pay has gone down the past 8 years even with a contract.

 

Management knows better than to decrease my base hourly salary or my benefits without letting me know why first. It's a good way to **** me off to where I'll leave and go elsewhere to work. And, I'll have to do some digging first to see for sure, but that may be against the law according to the GA department of labor.

 

http://www.iam751.org/2005_contract/

Please look at my contract, everything that has been brought up here is addressed.

People who act unethical, are lazy, "ride coat tails" are weeded out.
We just have language that the company has to prove it without doubt.

I recently had a member who was abusing computer priviledges "looking at ****"
27 yrs as a employee gone out the door without a peep from the union.
why? because the union won't tolerate people that abuse the system.

But say a "weak" member (handicapped or something along those lines) is unable to do the job he\she has held for say 10 yrs, is found to be unable do his\her job can bump a less senior person out of a job he\she can handle.

We sign a contract for 3 yrs, NOTHING CAN CHANGE IN THAT TIME.
Then about a yr before expiration the union and company sit down and start negotiations for the next 3yr agreement.
The company will almost always try to pass more medical expenses to the employee. But we fight back and tell them our members truly appreciate the benefits and that we as a union would consider that a strike issue.
It's called negotiations for a reason.

Quintin: If you are not under a bargaining agreement your pay and benefits are constantly being looked at by the company, if the company is loosing money they can under law adjust pay rates and benefit packages, unfortunely it is the worker who has to start giving up his\her money to make up for the gap.
It is a trend throughout every industry.

Screwbuilder: How can that happen? you and the company are bound by a contract ( unless the contract has stipulations allowing the company to do so)

Union contracts protect certain rights, protect benefits and the like.
They are not set in place to make a employee untouchable.

 

Say you run a wheelbarrow at work for x dollars, and another worker drives a dumptruck.
The driver is obviously paid more correct?
Now management asks you to drive the truck, are you going to take on more responsibility for the same pay?
Under a union contract you would be brought up to the appropriate pay scale for the job.
Otherwise the company would pay people just enough to keep them working.

 

Any fool would know to bring up the subject of increased pay. After that has been addressed by both parties then the wheelbarrow operator will decide what he wants to do. If they threaten to fire him then he has a decision to make... I have faced this multiple times in my 10 years working. I was reasonable as was my boss and everything worked out. If he would have been unreasonable I would have left, found new employemtn and moved up in another company. Never needed a union to hold my hand and do negitiations for me...

 

Now see I have said I respect people for their individual efforts time and time again, but it never fails they come on here saying "I don't need anyone to do this for me"
I'll say it again I respect you.

Of course any fool would bring up the pay issue, but under a contract you wouldn't have to bring it up, it is part of the bargaining agreement that you will be paid the higher rate.

You act as if union people tell the company what we will and won't do, that we are untouchable.
That is not the case, we work under a bargaining agreement, negotiated between the company and the union.
The company makes a offer they think is fair the members of the union look at it and if it is a fair offer we sign it, if they start taking away benefits or wages without good reason, we send it back with a representative telling the company what we think is fair, this goes back and forth untill both parties agree on the contract.

 

I figured an intelligent business owner could come up with something smarter than that to say, but I'll just have to agree that your opinion is commonplace with those ignorant to the facts.

 

You havent offered any facts, just your opinions. Here is a link for you with actual statistics
http://www.unionfacts.com/

 

http://yourpowerinside.com/
http://www.goiam.org/
http://www.jobwatch.org/
http://www.aflcio.org/
http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/

 

There are far more companies that are shady than there are unions that are crooked. That's a fact.

 

I still am wondering in which field the non-union people work.

They still think we are on the docks breaking kneecaps.
When the facts are corperate leaders are the ones stashing company funds in over seas accounts, Look at Alan Mullaly from Boeing to Ford getting 20+ million dollars before his first day on the job.
They screw their secretaries, and their employees and they laugh all the way to the bank.
They get big bucks from the sweat of my brow and call me greedy when I ask for 1\1000th of their pay.

I guess thats what happens when you have to keep up with the boss, have to keep up the image old boy!!!

I can tell my boss when he is abusing the contract, you corperate guys get brought into a room and told "Harold we appreciate your service but due to buget constraints (your bosses raise) we have to let you go, good luck

 

Man... couldnt you have just posted 1 good link. Now I have to go through these and read.... and read... and read on a saturday!

 

Hey man thats life! The last thing I would want keeping me around is a union contract. If I am not wanted or needed I would much rather leave and be with a company that respects me, not that is forced to repsect me by a piece of paper. I am EXTREMELY motivated and have never had a problem moving up. When you make a company money it is in its best interest to put you in a position where you will be most beneficial to them. Based on your abilities you can and should make your way to the top

 

There are far more companies than there are unions. So that would stand to reason