Posted on 06/06/2002 5:39:12 AM PDT by Rodney King
A SICKING TALE OF THE UNION MENTALITY AT WORK
Matthew Barrick was eight years old when he died this past February. It was a brain aneurysm. Apparently Matthew was quite popular at the Roadoan Elementary School in Brooklyn. The funeral services were private, so an idea was hatched to plant a tree at the school in honor of Matthew.
The idea grew. Two local landscapers offered their help. Some local businesses like Home Depot got into the act. Soon about $3,000 in materials were obtained and the students gathered to plan the tree and do a little landscaping. They sang songs and wrote letters to Matthew.
Uh oh. It seems that some of the custodians at the school are upset. UNION custodians. You see, their duties include landscaping. They are not pleased that these students came over to the school to plant that tree in honor of a dead student. They want to be paid.
Yes --- you heard me right. The custodians want to be paid for the landscaping work. Never mind that they didn’t lift a finger. Never mind that the work didn’t cost them one single work hour at work. Goonion members Mark Hennings and Doug Scott want to be paid for the work. What’s more, they want to be paid at the time-and-a-half rate of $37 an hour because, after all, the volunteers did the work on a weekend!
The matter came up at a school board meeting in May. The union dopes insisted that the volunteer work violated their union contract. Other union members stood and applauded.
Now you see why I love unions so much?
This statement is chillingly terroristic. Do what we want or we'll make you sorry.
Why I do, of course. And I declare a living wage to be 1/4 of whatever I make. If that isn't enough, I need a raise.
Just kidding, of course. But I can see this type of mentality being used in part by the left to determine such a wage.
"I spent 4 years in college getting a degree in Phychology; I deserve more than that McDonalds worker even if my skills aren't marketable..."
It could be argued, then, that a union is a conspiracy to raise the price of labor through violence. Thus, unions could be considered criminal enterprises.
Or, as already mentioned, I say fine, pay the $7/hr and raise the price of my goods. Me and millions of other businesses do that, so the living wage has to go up, so at least one large round of inflation has to happen, even graciously assuming that it slows or even stops after that. That means that the college fund you've been putting into for 15 years is now good for the first semester, or the house down payment you've been saving up for is now another five years away, etc. Only fair to compensate people for that too, right? After all, it was a government decision, not some failing on their part, so subsidizing the education or the housing market is the right thing to do. After all, being a good Christian conservative, you wouldn't want people to lose their life savings, would you?
Australia's out, unfortunately, due to their silly firearms laws.
During a college summer break, I had a job drilling water wells. Once, another guy and I had to go to Dow Chemical to hook up the pump for a new well. We got the wires connected but union rules prevented us from turning on the switch to test the pump. So, an electrician had to come out to throw the switch. After the test, the pump was not to remain on, and neither we, nor the electrician who could flip the switch on, could turn it off. So, we needed a second electrician who was union certified to turn off the switch off. The pump housing contained a small pipe to divert condensation away from the motor. The pipe was uninvolved in the test, but a pipe-fitter had to be at the scene anyway. Union regulations stipulated that members had to work in pairs, so we actually had two electricians to turn the switch on, two to turn it off, and two pipe-fitters. The size of the crew required the presence of a foreman. They also needed a van and van driver to transport these "workers" to the site. There you have it, eight employees, probably and hour to assemble everyone, get to the pump, test the switch, and return to another assignment. All for something I could have done myself in less than a minute. UFB.
But to make $25 an hour on a union job, three other jobs had to be destroyed, or not created. The whole purpose of a modern union is to get more pay for less work for union members. If a company can't expand and create more jobs because of union wages, tough.
I've seen unskilled UAW workers, who make $50K per year on straight time, whine when the overtime vanishes, and they no longer take in $100K per year. They claim that their union status demands that the rest of us "buy union" so they can maintain their standard of living.
The strange thing is, union people still aren't happy with what they have. They constantly watch one another, making sure someone isn't working too hard, because maybe they will all have to. Or seeing someone getting away with less work, and trying to figure out how they can get away with it, too. You're no longer dependent on the company for your job (the union gave you your job), but instead have to stay in the good graces of the boss of your local union.
Like liberalism in general, unionism is based on envy, so you're in a constant struggle to get more for yourself with less work, while making sure that nobody takes anything away from you.
In addition to federal, state, and local government taking more and more of our money now, than they took back in the 50's, people also spend a greater percentage of their income on "non-essential essentials." Although automobiles, for example, were more expensive back in the 50's as a percentage of family income, most suburban families only had one car. I look around today and see two, three, sometimes four automobiles per household. People also have muliple TV's, VCR's/DVD's, cable bills, ISP bills, multiple cell phone bills, designer clothing, larger houses, built in swimming pools, home spas, health club memberships, lotto tickets, interest on credit card bills, and a host of other places to spend and many cases waste their money. If we all limited our spending to food, basic clothing, a "small house and a decent little car" and a once a year trip to Florida (where we stayed wirth relatives rather than in an expensive hotel), we would probably discover that even the so-called "working poor" make more than enough to support a family of four.
I was flying across the country on vacation and after a stopover in St. Louis I boarded the plane and they began preparing to pull away from the gate. All was fine and dandy except one of the overhead compartments wouldn't close. Two flight attendants tried, then the copilot. The pilot announced that regs required it to be closed or secured before we could leave.
Finally, after a half an hour of sitting and waiting, TWO union guys came on, took 2 strips of duct tape, taped the compartment closed, left the plane, and we were pulled back and taking off in less than 5 minutes.
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