Sometimes working above and around everyone else does get you noticed. It did for me, and I wasn't really trying. I just did good work I guess. (Or at least the think so?)
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Are you a union member?
- Thread starter neo 7
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Sometimes working above and around everyone else does get you noticed. It did for me, and I wasn't really trying. I just did good work I guess. (Or at least the think so?)
You are correct . Sometimes it does .
It should all the time but it doesn't .
100% of lazy people don't belong to unions . They are spread out all over . And a lot of then get away with it . I've witnessed it for as long as I've been in the workforce. Matter a fact I witness it daily.
At least it appears that way.
It's been implied here that unions = laziness
Laziness was here first,and it isn't going anywhere ,unions or no unions.
Then you have to actually define laziness ,what you or I see as lazy another may not. Its another grey area. Yes there is pure laziness but there is a lot of implied laziness as well. Why is it everytime I take a break the boss shows up . I could be busting my ass for hours and take a break ,at the moment that can make me appear lazy.
I haven't worked union, but my husband has. Unfortunately his union shop had really ineffective leadership. If there were any problems and folks called into office to be questioned, disciplined, etc the union rep never showed up to do his/her job representing the folks being dragged into the office.
One of the supervisors started harassing my husband big time, gave him grief because he had a GEP rather than graduated from HS or had any college (supervisor graduated college), was telling line folks what to do without going through the 'chain of command' as she was supposed to by the union agreement. He made a formal complaint to the union. No one ever came down to talk to anyone about the complain, investigate, etc. When my husband had had it and quit two years later, still no action out of the union into the complaint.
That being said, I've also seen other unions, with good officers and representatives, who were really Johnny on the Spot when it came to investigating complaints, acting to protect their members when supervisors/management were trying to mess over the union pukes, and so on. All depends on the union officers as to whether the union is a good one to join, or one to avoid.
One of the supervisors started harassing my husband big time, gave him grief because he had a GEP rather than graduated from HS or had any college (supervisor graduated college), was telling line folks what to do without going through the 'chain of command' as she was supposed to by the union agreement. He made a formal complaint to the union. No one ever came down to talk to anyone about the complain, investigate, etc. When my husband had had it and quit two years later, still no action out of the union into the complaint.
That being said, I've also seen other unions, with good officers and representatives, who were really Johnny on the Spot when it came to investigating complaints, acting to protect their members when supervisors/management were trying to mess over the union pukes, and so on. All depends on the union officers as to whether the union is a good one to join, or one to avoid.
Unrepresented
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Anyone else think it's ironic that most of the posts complaining about union members from people with limited experience with them are about how they do too much to help members to the point of making them lazy and overpaid, and the people who have more experience with actually being in a union often feel that they're not nearly strong enough to protect them?
That's true here too. When I went to school (70's, early 80's), teaching was often a "fall back" job. Anyone with a degree could always fall back on teaching if they couldn't get work in their preferred field, and it was obvious they didn't want to be there.
I know from my nieces and nephews that it's much different today. Teaching degrees aren't so easy to get - and most teachers also have degrees in Child Psychology as well. I wish it was like that years ago, because 90% of my teachers were truly horrible; many of them were extremely ill-tempered, nasty and violent, and the rest were just completely disinterested (with a couple of notable exceptions). I'm glad times have changed.
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When we grew up and went to school,
there were certain teachers,
who would hurt the children any way they could.
By pouring out their derision,
upon anything we did,
exposing every weakness, however, carefully hidden by the kids.
Yep, that song always reminds me of my school days. Teachers berating kids for no good reason. Being dragged by the hair out of class rooms for talking, or once, I was smashed across the the back of the head with one of those big wooden metre rulers, and I have no idea why. It was truly Dickensian, and this was about 35 years ago in high school. My first grade teacher (1972) insisted that every student bring a handkerchief to class (tissues were unacceptable). If you didn't, you were put on the "Piggy-Sniffle List", and the other students were encouraged to laugh at you while you stood in a corner (true story). "Pouring their derision upon anything we did" - quite so.
Interestingly enough, the high school I went to is having it's 50th year anniversary this Saturday. There's 3 or 4 teachers that I'm hoping not to see (if they're still around). If I do, I'm not sure I won't knock them out on sight. My brother, sister and a couple of friends are going with me, so I guess they'll keep me in line. Then again, one of them might deck those same teachers as well. It should prove a rather interesting evening.
So sad to hear that. I call those teachers 'dream-stealers'. I like to think I'm a 'dream-builder'.
You just can't blame the corporations about Chinese labor.
We, the consumers in the USA, have become whores for cheap consumer products. The corporations are just filling the demand. This is now, and will be even more in the future, biting us in the butt as lots of good manufacturing jobs have gone offshore. I myself am tired of buying cheap crap from Asia. When shopping for consumer products I now look for "Made in America" stickers on the packaging. I don't mind if the product cost more. I would like to keep the jobs here.
EDIT: BTW, GK bass amps quit building in China and brought their production back to the USA. When I make my next amp purchase it will be GK.
slobake
resident ... something
slobake
resident ... something
There is a lot of truth to what you say but it is more compex than that. For instance there was a time when I thought imported cars from certain countries were made better than domestic cars. That may not be true anymore but I don't know because my current vehicle is 14-years-old.
I don't think the lack in quality was totally a problem with American workers. Part of it is about companies re-investing in their manufacturing process to enable American workers to compete. I will pay more for a quality product if it is available. If I have the money to do that up front it is often a more sound financial choice because a better product should last longer.
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There is certainly blame in the consumer as well for not supporting our fellow workers. If we'd simply refused as a group to tolerate the offshoring and outsourcing we wouldn't have seen it spread so rapidly or ubiquitously.
Unfortunately, it seems like we live in a ridiculously individualistic time, where taking advantage of the next guy's failure is preferable to helping them back up. Exploitation really is the zeitgeist.
Most of my gear is American made with the glaring exception of my German-made Warwick.
Buying cheap strikes me as wasteful in every way. Disposable consumerism is offensive to my sensibilities.
Read Cheap by Ellen Ruppel Shell for a relatively light reading on my thoughts.
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I hear nothing but good things about teachers these days, so thankfully things have changed completely. I'm glad to hear you're a "dream-builder" - I did have a couple of teachers like that who I remember very fondly indeed. I imagine it's a tough job, and you'd have to really love it to do it well.
Like anything else in this world, you only hear about the gross abuse.
My hometown is having some "issues" with the fire fighter's union. They're way over budget, were allowing spiking, and had more than a few retired members making ~$150k per year.
The same is true in Australia, and I agree that consumers have to shoulder most of the blame. They have "Australian Made" stickers on many common products (especially grocery items), but people tend to just keep buying the brand they're used to, or are just too lazy to bother checking, without giving any thought to helping the local economy.
I also blame the companies that are making huge profits here, but still move their manufacturing offshore to make even more money. It's all about the damn shareholders these days - too bad for the loyal employees, farmers, truck drivers, and everyone else who loses their jobs. Not to mention the customers, as the products are usually inferior, especially imported food and clothing, which is utter crap compared to the locally produced equivalent.
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Not picking on you here, but I also find it ironic that people get upset about a firefighter earning $150K/year, but see no offense in an executive earning 100x that amount.
Yes, one is private and the other public, but ultimately we all end up paying for the cost of services for both.
There aren't that many execs making that amount AND it's not on the city's dime. There were enough people within that particular union milking the city budget that the mayor stepped in.
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I'm sure it served someone's political career to rail against the excesses of bureaucracy and appear to be a champion for fiscal responsibility.
While that number does sound high, I'm confident that it was an isolated incident that got traction because it fits into a convenient narrative rather than an typical example.
No evidence, but it might seem that previous mayors might have been on the payroll or getting some sorts of benefits from allowing the out of control spending. The new mayor must not be getting any payoffs since she went after them tooth and nail.
For whatever reasons, the police union was forced to "behave" years ago. The fire fighter's union basically got whatever they wanted until this new mayor.
Most other unions in town don't have the luxury of threatening your safety if there are budget cuts, which was something this union did for years.
