LOL! Joe The Plumber who inveighed heavily against socialism and unions in 2008 now knows at what trough to feed at. He'll be gobbling sloppy seconds when we gets his first paycheck. He got hired on at a Jeep plant. Alas, it was a union plant, represented by the United Auto Workers. Joe the Plumberthe rugged individualist and self-made manis now a member of the UAW. Who wouldve thunk it? http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/22/checking-in-with-joe-the-plumber/
It's the only way he could get the work. I am 100% alright with private unions like the UAW and Teamsters, except where they bulldoze their membership and force money from their earnings which are donated to the Democratic Party. That's not right if the Union Member doesn't want it to happen. No one should be FORCED to be in a union to get a job.
So in order to work and feed his family Party A gets a job from Party B and has to pay Party C for the pleasure. BTW, saying Joe joined a union is like saying a convict joined a prison - the guy had no choice.
Just because he needed to join a union in order to have a job and feed his family, does not mean he now likes them. Mandatory union enrollment should NEVER be a requirement to work. It is nothing more than extortion.
If it weren't for unions, there'd be no middle class right now. It's been nearly eliminated. I've been opposed to the actions of unions since I can remember. With all the illegal and legal immigration, I'm starting to change my views about them. Wages are down. Median income is down. Something has to give. I still believe in right-to-work. A person shouldn't be forced to join a union. - - - Updated - - - One has nothing to do with the other. That's a poor analogy, in my view.
Depends on your work experience or value. You could start your own business and pay yourself $100.00 an hour from all the money your business generates. The choice is yours.
Agreed. It has been proven that unions help increase wages and get better benefits for the workers, but they are supposed to represent the workers. If they cannot persuade workers to join, they obviously do not represent the workers and should either change or die.
I'm conservative like Joe. I work in a union. There are pros and cons to doing so. Think of a union like Walmart. It's squeezed all the little guys out. It's no fun being self employed anymore kiddos. Some guy like me or Joe trying to run a small company where you need to wear all the hats at the same time is a task you can only sustain for so long. Put in 8 hours of hard labor, go home, deal with the taxes, insurance, bids, phone calls and before you know it its 11 o'clock and time for bed. Now I clock in 8 hours a day and forget about it. No innovation, no deciding a best course of action for the next day, nothing. Do your 8 hours in robotic fashion in an environment where everyone is considered equal no matter how unequal you are. It's one of the most boring ways to make a living but it does pay the bills. Until,we price ourselves out of existence that is. Like the workers one state over from me have. They voted themselves in a big pay raise by joining a bordering large cities Union. Now their state has no work to offer them. Even the government cannot afford to hire them. They now drive or rent rooms in my state to make less money than before they voted themselves riches they don't really deserve. I say kudos to Joe the Plumber. It's probably one of the best ways to go Galt in this environment we have created for ourselves.
So people that work for others should not be paid fairly and compensated for their productivity and loyalty? Does that sound like the kind of nation the USA should be proud of being?
Huh?! So the guy needed a job and he had no choice if he wanted to work? You know, sometimes a person has to give up something in order to get something.......
That sense of compromise is not something liberals can relate to; they want it all and they want it all now.
I don't think unions should be mandatory, but if you aren't in the union, then you shouldn't be allowed to benefit from anything the union gets. If you don't want the Union to represent you, then, you can negotiate your own contract.
I manage union employees and I can tell you horror stories. But to respond to your post, first of all, my guys are over paid for the work they do considering the market they're in, but that's their business. What is my business is that the most senior and skilled guys are by far the most lazy and least ambitious of the bunch and actually tell the newer guys not to work hard. One day the copier was out of paper so after all the guys left I filled it up and wouldn't you know it that some unprinted copies were still inside and were now printing. It was a memo from the union's top dog in the state telling the employees to slow things down and tie up management with trivial matters. This work slow down was in reponse to the union wanting us to hire more people. And let me tell you something about union loyalty - there is none. Many of my guys would not be here today if their contract didn't protect their lazy asses. Their loyalty is only to themselves and not the company that pays them or the customers who pay us so we can pay them. If you want to hear union horror stories just ask.
I know.......giving up something in order to get something is what I told my kids starting in their teens and they learned to understand that - particularly my hard working son. And that boy of mine is now a true, hard core Independent thinker! Lol............
What state? Would be nice if you, or your liberal blogger, had mentioned. Maybe he's not fortunate enough to live in a Right to Work state.
Well all unions and jobs are different. I know of what you speak though. I'm a mason. Things are a little different in that trade. Jobs end when the building is done. You want to become a company man and move to the next job you have to earn your keep. I never worked so hard "in the real world" as I now do since joining the union. On the other hand I spent years trying to convince management there are easier,faster and more productive ways to accomplish certain tasks that will net a better quality outcome. There is little room for thinkers in a union, at least mine. Almost always shot down without thought. One thing in common, horror stories, I got tons.
Joe [not his name] the Plumber [not a licensed plumber] is only following the example of blowhards like Limbaugh, O'Reilly, and Hannity in becoming a card-carrying union member. He may not have made it to their status as celebrity media entertainers but, boilerplate rhetoric aside, he's still got to try to earn a living. . (It only looks as if he had been lying under a leaky faucet or an incontinent McCain. That's just media entertainer Lady SaPa's ever-present tele-prompter.) .