UNIONS; THE HIDDEN COSTS

The Logical View ^ | 9/8/02 | MARK A SITY

[hosepipe]

Very good article.... well said...
Anyone wonder why the commies targeted the Unions as
a main front in their war agaist the U.S... in the 20's and beyond....(he.he)... similar simplistics...

[The Other Harry]

I realize I am generalizing about two companies based on the interactions with just 2 employees.

We probably all do that.

It's time for me to get off this and go try to do some constructive things around the house.

Thank you for the exchange.

[dalereed]

"Anyone wonder why the commies targeted the Unions"

They didn't target them, they started them and still run them today. Unions are socialistic garbage and any productive worker that belongs to one is getting screwed so that the non productive can exist.

[SauronOfMordor]

I think we need to contact our representatives and push for a law making it illegal for any government union to strike!

It's illegal for cops to strike, so instead they get "blue flu". It was illegal for the air traffic controllers to strike. They did anyway, so Reagan fired all the strikers.

What would be more effective would be to make firing mandatory for striking government employees

What would be most effective would be to make it illegal for a governmental employer to withhold union dues. If the unions had to collect dues from each member, they would be much less powerful

[logic101.net]

CF built a company called Freightliner; I work for a spin-off company of CF. My company was created as a result of the sale of Freightliner (which builds tractors) in the 1980's. CF had too much cash on hand and had to get rid of it or risk a hostile take-over. They started another new and unique company. They were forced to sell this non-union branch off later at the union's insistance. The union was afraid that CF would begin to shift "union freight" to the non-union side. Oddly enough; had they not sold us they would probably still be in business.

MARK A SITY

[logic101.net]

I know CF history; I got a lesson in it from my management after I'd been with the company for a year, since their history is ours. We are a CF spin-off.

MARK A SITY

[logic101.net]

Good point about how unions are a private army for the left.

MARK A SITY

[antisocial]

I agree with both of your suggestions!

[hosepipe]

"Unions are socialistic garbage and any productive worker that belongs to one is getting screwed so that the non productive can exist"

Uh!...does that include the Gov't Workers Union that runs Washington ?.. If so, The Matrix(the movie) was'nt fiction but a allegorical documentary on the guys, behind the gals, behind the guys, behind the gays, behind the guys. I still laugh when considering that Al Gore and G.Bush was the best the U.S. could come up with as Presidential candidates...

A certified moron and a guy that looks almost exactly like Alfred E. Neuman(MaddMag). I thought then and think today that somebody somewhere is laughing at (us) the American voter.. and the near TIE between Bush/Gore... was just a little too convienent to me... voting machine fraud jumps to mind.. Geees, Dale these people are making me paraoid.... What people!.......
I dunno.... nevermind...

[logic101.net]

I know the customer doesn't care how much their contractors pay their employees; but the point still remains at $20/hr+ these people were proclaiming that their company

Uses
People
Severely

At over $20/hr they should be grateful to their employer! I know I am!

MARK A SITY

[Willie Green]

Unions tend to create a wall of distrust between management and labor;

Poor management practices generate their own opposition as labor organizes to provide a system of checks and balances. Neither corporations nor unions are inherently "good" nor "evil". They merely exist as artificial entities representing the interests of their members/shareholders. Abusive misuse of the power that accompanies this representation exists on both sides of the issue.

[brityank]

I don't think ...

Don't brag.

History

The history of the Freightliner brand begins in 1929. That was the year that Leland James, a young trucker from Portland, Oregon, opened his own freight hauling company. It didn't take long for James and his Consolidated Freight Lines to prosper. James worked hard and was always on the lookout for new ways to boost business and increase profits. Trouble was, truck manufacturers of the day didn't share his enthusiasm for innovation. When James asked for lighter trucks that could carry more payload and stay within the 60-foot length in many western states, his suppliers ignored him.

So James adapted and began customizing stock trucks to fit his requirements.

[rottweiller_inc]

I think we need to contact our representatives and push for a law making it illegal for any government union to strike!

I think any raise for public workers, at any level, should be put on the ballot and let the voters decide if they want to pay more. Heh of course that would take the power from the unions, which, IMO should'nt be in civil service to begin with since they are taxpayer funded.

[logic101.net]

It is the "abusive misuse" that I address. Unions no longer truly represent their members and have their own agenda. I will freely admit that there are a number of managment teams that need a union to control them; I've worked for a couple. Yet, I have found that it is a much more friendly environment in non-union companies. There is a lot less tension between managment and labor. This is of course a generalization; when I worked summers for Nestle's, which was union, their managment was very good. Always pleasant (unless you really messed up of course). But as a rule, most union shops tend to have the "wall of distrust" as a result of activities during strikes.

MARK A SITY

[logic101.net]

Ok, let's finish the history lesson. Thanks for the name, but I think there was a partner invloved too, wasn't there?

Anyway, these two were milk haulers in the begining of the Great Depression. When the bubble burst, they weren't making any money hauling milk one way, and going home empty. They started taking back-loads of freight. It turned out that this was more profitable than hauling milk and eventually dropped the milk.

This was one of the very few sucessful businesses started in the depression. This is one of the reasons I am so sorry to see CF go. This post was in large part a tribute to it. I had a feeling one of the big union LTL companies was going to go under; but I was hoping for Overnight. I just don't like that company. Maybe that is because one of their drivers took off my side mirror while I was broken down trying to change an alternator belt on the side of the highway? Nahh! Couldn't have anything to do with that, could it?

MARK A SITY

[itsahoot]

Good point about how unions are a private army for the left.

They would not be, if the conservative view recognized that, the
working man is not the enemy. The working man it the consumer
no consumer, no need for products.

[logic101.net]

I like your idea about referendums for govt employee raises; but I like the idea of a referendum for any tax increase even better (including tobacco taxes!).

However, your proposal is not without some risk; work slow-downs and "blue flu"; etc. But then again; most of these guys, how much slower could they work? And as for the "blue flu", well; if we were allowed to defend ourselves that would not be a crisis!

MARK A SITY

[Spacetrucker]

I can't recall any goverment union-represented department ever striking, although in the 80's when the ATC's struck,
Reagan fired the lot and hired an entirely new crew.

[jmax]

WTG, brityank. Good link (HISTORY).

[logic101.net]

Excuse me, but Conservatives do not make the working man out to be the enemy! This is one of the liberal lies the media continues to present, in the manner of Hitler's "Big Lie" theory. This theory states that, 'If you tell a lie often enough, loudly enough, and with enough conviction; it becomes truth.' So said Hitler. This is what the libs do; remember the lies about the '94 congress? Starving children, kicking old folks out of their houses, denying them perscription drugs, making them eat dog food? And let's not forget the DC concept of a "slashed program"; a budget cut to a liberal just means that a program won't grow as much as they wanted it to! These are all lies, just as it is a lie that conservatives are the enemy of the working man/family. Hitler would be proud. (For more info on the subject of Hitler & the left go to: http://www.logic101.net/LiesAboutNazis.htm)

The true enemy of the working man is the liberals. Why do so many families need 2 incomes? Is it because of greedy corporations? Nope, because of greedy politicians trying to buy votes! Before the "Welfare State" existed usually only one income was needed. Tax rates were low on workers. Also, before the welfare state families were strong, especially black families. Since the introduction of the left's agenda 2 parent black families are almost a rarity. Few families can afford to have the mother stay home and take care of the kids. Children are raised by unrelated 3rd parties.

Do I really need to go on here?

MARK A SITY