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A SICKING TALE OF THE UNION MENTALITY AT WORK
Neil Boortz Website ^ | today | Neil Boortz

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?


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: lazy; plumberscrack; unions
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To: Labyrinthos
Except for the people that work in industries that develop/produce the ISPs, the cell phones, the tvs, etc., they would be out of work.
81 posted on 06/06/2002 8:30:21 AM PDT by stuartcr
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To: Chemist_Geek
This thread could go on for weeks if we start telling dumb union stories...

My personal favorite When the GM plant was closing in Cincinnati, Sen. HowWeird Metzenbaum was making a last ditch effort to save the plant. He invited the press to show up at the plant one morning so he could do a little show-and-tell. Unfortunately, it had to be delayed for 45 minutes because not enough workers showed up on time to start the assembly line.

82 posted on 06/06/2002 8:32:57 AM PDT by rrr51
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To: rrr51
Unfortunately, it had to be delayed for 45 minutes because not enough workers showed up on time to start the assembly line.

LOL! Priceless

83 posted on 06/06/2002 8:38:30 AM PDT by Cuttnhorse
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To: Rodney King
This is just part of the story. The union custodians did not complain about the tree at the school the dead boy attended. It was the additional landscaping at the High School and the School Board that they didn't agree with.
84 posted on 06/06/2002 8:39:07 AM PDT by Jack of Diamonds
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To: Cuttnhorse
Ahh, a miner!! I spent 4 years (78-82) at NTS with DOD. The miners were the people to turn to when you needed a job to be done. You could use two miners or 14 electricians, carpenters and pipe fitters to do a job.

Our janitor was fined $50 by his union because he changed a light bulb in the bathroom. That was electrician's work and he violated work rules.

One thing I neverunderstood---janitors were members of the Culinary Worker's Union--- Do you clean it then cook it????

85 posted on 06/06/2002 8:42:52 AM PDT by History is truth
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To: Jack of Diamonds
Imagine how much money they could refund to the taxpayers if the students did the landscaping at the high schools as part of an earth science course.
86 posted on 06/06/2002 8:43:47 AM PDT by meyer
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To: Jack of Diamonds
It was the additional landscaping at the High School and the School Board that they didn't agree with.

Yeah. They have a RIGHT to be overpaid for overtime for a job that kids are willing to do for free.

Of course, they didn't complain while it happend. If so, they might have actually have had to get off their fat lazy asses and do the work themselves. By waiting until later to complain, they have the prospect of getting paid for doing nothing, and getting patted on the back from their fellow union goons for a job well done.

87 posted on 06/06/2002 8:53:21 AM PDT by Rodney King
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To: stuartcr
Except for the people that work in industries that develop/produce the ISPs, the cell phones, the tvs, etc., they would be out of work.

No, but some of them might be doing different work like landscaping and non-union residential construction, which is now done in my area by illegal aliens from Mexico and Equador. And, some would continue in their old jobs because the middle and upper middle class is always going to spend discretionary income on non-essential luxury items. I'm just tired of hearing semi-skilled union lackeys complaining about how they need more money because they don't make enough to raise a family of four when the real problem is that they have three cars, a boat, four TV sets, cell phone accounts for their 11 and 12 year old kids, and a weekend house in the Pocanos, which they use three weekends a month, the fourth weekend being reserved for gambling junkets to Atalntic City and Foxwoods.

88 posted on 06/06/2002 8:53:44 AM PDT by Labyrinthos
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To: KS Flyover
Good job FreedomPoster!

Thanks! I wish I had been able to listen to Neal today.

89 posted on 06/06/2002 8:55:24 AM PDT by FreedomPoster
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To: ThinkLikeWaterAndReeds
Golly, now we are having a spelling contest. Because spelling is not our game, maybe we should play poker.

I just find an entire thread that is complaining about supposed incompetence on the part of some segment of the workforce and the person who wrote the column couldnt even spell the title of his own column correctly.

Even when it was in bold print and posted in html on the internet where it could be easily fixed.

Sorry, but theres just a small bit of irony about it.

90 posted on 06/06/2002 8:55:32 AM PDT by cascademountaineer
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To: perotista
What is YOUR solution? As conservatives know, productive people are SOLUTION oriented, not chronic complainers.

My solution, and in truth the only solution that won't drag everyone into poverty, is market determination of wages. The reason you have trouble understanding much of the debate here is that we are approaching the topic from different perspectives with different assumptions. On the one hand, I believe it is the responsibility of the individual to look out for himself. First of all, in youth, he should heed those with experience and prepare for his independence through education and training that will enable him to earn sufficient wages to lead the life he desires. If his wages don't support that life, I expect him to adjust either his ability to earn, or his desires. For example, I would not begin a family if my earnings were insufficient to provide for one.

You, on the other hand, believe that society as a whole is responsible rather than the individual. In this belief it is entierly understandable for one to assume the government has an obligation to provide a living wage. Of course, the government cannot provide such a wage and merely transfer the responsibility to an employer who is then expected to repeal the laws of economics and make a go of an enterprise in which he pays too much for an imput. Ultimately he will fail

91 posted on 06/06/2002 8:58:22 AM PDT by laredo44
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To: cascademountaineer
Irony? I suppose...but every normal human being I know(perhaps you are a glarding exeception) makes very obvious typos once and awhile. If this was a chronic problem on his website, I would agree? But is it?
92 posted on 06/06/2002 9:01:40 AM PDT by Austin Willard Wright
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To: Rodney King
Years ago a man called Rush saying that his child's public school was in need of general repair (painting, etc) but could not afford the work so a group of parents volunteered their time and materials to clean the place up. In the end, after a lengthy fight (during which time, of course, things got worse), the volunteer group was not allowed to do the job because it violated the union contract of the janitors, who had never been able to get it together to get that very work done.

Last night O'Reilly talked about the stupidity of having an agent represent you to get only a 2% raise--that's what the union leaders are able to do for their members. The union guys can be stupid sheeple if they want to. The sad part is that everybody else suffers because of the "fair play" these bullies insist upon.

And we made airport security personnel government union members???????

93 posted on 06/06/2002 9:02:52 AM PDT by MHT
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To: History is truth
I'd hate to tell you the dates I worked at NTS, but it was, ahem, "slightly" before you were there. I tramped to NTS after a big flood closed down the tunnel project I was working on in Northern California...I think about 6 of us cleared the hall but I was the only one who could pass the background security check! Because I was the youngest I guess??
I was always in trouble there because the union goons kept telling me I shouldn't be working so hard. That wasn't difficult to do as I could shine my lamp down any inactive drift and find guys sleeping.
Area 12...Tiny Tim Shaft
94 posted on 06/06/2002 9:05:41 AM PDT by Cuttnhorse
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To: cascademountaineer
couldnt ??

You might want to check your own spellcheck...maybe it is on strike??

95 posted on 06/06/2002 9:08:35 AM PDT by Cuttnhorse
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To: Rodney King
I recall a similar instance on Long Island, maybe 6 or 8 years ago. A local Boy Scout troop intended to clean up a local creek which had old tires, shopping carts, etc. The Village sanitation department (union) threw a hissy fit. Claimed the Scouts were taking their jobs! Kids were being exploited a slave labor to take work away from paid employees! Never mind that the creek had been that way for years as the "paid employees" never went near it.
Then there's the Sante Fe RR (pre-BNSF) breakman that hurt himself on the job. He and the union fought for years to be classified as disabled and get disability pay. After he gets it, 8 days later he sues the railroad for not giving him his old job back. claims they discriminated against him because of his disablity.
96 posted on 06/06/2002 9:12:13 AM PDT by wny
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To: wny
If you realllly want to start talking about abusive unions, there is no better place than the railroads! I have an acquaintance who is a locomotive engineer and I just about can't stand listening to the stories this nut brags about.
97 posted on 06/06/2002 9:17:02 AM PDT by Cuttnhorse
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To: perotista
but I'm not hearing how these workers are going to live without either a living wage or supplemental government income and the bureaucracy/taxes that go with it

OK...hear this: if the job that someone is working at is not paying a "living" wage, you leave that job and find one that does; if thats not immediately possible, enhance your owns skills/education until you can attain one.

All those things depend of course on whether or not the person is motivated to better himself, willing to work for himself to attain prosperity, and to believe that he deserves nothing less than what he's willing to work for.

Life, Liberty, Happiness (the real American dream)

Victimization, Entitlement, Discontentment (the liberal American dream)

98 posted on 06/06/2002 9:17:06 AM PDT by BureaucratusMaximus
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To: meyer
Imagine how much money they could refund to the taxpayers if the students did the landscaping at the high schools as part of an earth science course.

They'd also learn how much effort is involved, and perhaps, not be so agreeable when the federal government wants to fob off responsibility for some looney liberal's "good idea" onto states, local governments, business, or individuals.

99 posted on 06/06/2002 9:18:25 AM PDT by laredo44
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To: laredo44
Excellent example. Yet somehow it is Bush's fault that companies are moving their operations out of the country.
100 posted on 06/06/2002 9:26:59 AM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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