My "I Could Not Have Said It Better" Graphic!

Yes, I realize that many of my Forum Friends will believe this belongs on the Politics Forum.  But, there are some neighborhoods I prefer not to walk in after dark.  I like to stay in my own neighborhood, the Religion Forum.  And, since I devoutly, religiously, sincerely want to see Mr. Obama given his Pink Slip -- and I do mention Jesus -- I guess that makes it fit here.

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No, it doesn't "fit" here. And if you don't like the "neighborhood" why did you post it in the politics forum too???

Bill it looks just like the notice of termination given to G. Bush.

The name has changed but it appears “We The People” are still not running the show.

　

  Join a Trade Union.

 Join a Trade Union-The mafia needs the money.

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Teamsters Local 402

 

If it weren't for my union, I'd be stuck down here at the mercy of a lying, thieving boss-still working for table scraps, driving unsafe equipment on bald tires, bad transmissions, non-working speedometers, plain tapwater for engine coolant, mismatched brakes scavenged out of vehicles that were too far gone for service, electrical system faults (did you know it only takes about 3 1/2 minutes for a full sized conventional school bus to completely burn from end to end?) and a host of other, really bad conditions while the boss' favorites got all the extra work and good equipment. Although it was fun watching maintenance play 'musical tires'-putting the two good sets of tires we had on each vehicle (out of 40 or so) at a time when they were due to be inspected by the state. 

 

 

Now, at least work practices are fairer, our scraps are a little bit bigger, we have opportunities to make a lil' bit more money, we have a new boss who isn't a conniving thief, and the equipment meets state standards for safety.

You know...The reasons unions were created for in the first place.

Without our union and it's clout, I'm sure somebody would've gotten injured or killed by now.

 

Did you know that Teamsters business agents/members are booted for associating with members of organized crime families?  They are.

 

Personally I wouldn't care if Jim Hoffa and that Luchese guy were brothers.  My dues are cheap and the protection they afford me makes it all worthwhile. 

 

I was a member of the USW-IUJAT before I was a Teamster.  That's partly how I made it to the middle class in one of the most expensive places in the country to live. 

 

I got nuthin' bad to say about labor unions. 

 

 

Be on the side that HAS to pay and keep workers that aren't worth the powder it would take to blow them up. I don't know about where you work, but a company that would have shoddy equipment and dangerous working conditions are just asking for trouble, and to me, cutting their own throats business wise even without a union. We certainly wouldn't let our trucks and equipment get in that shape or endanger an employee. How about this RP, pay for workmans comp insurance and be told that even if you forbid a worker to do something, and they do it anyway and are injured, wc is liable. Nice huh? OR be told you can't sponsor any local sporting events because if one of the players is injured your wc is liable for that too. 

This is wishful thinking from Obama haters who have NO ONE to run against him.

 

 

I don't know why you'd think that. Talk about wishful thinking.

Did you know that Teamsters business agents/members are booted for associating with members of organized crime families?  They are.

 

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You may truly believe that, I don't believe it for one minute.

IF you t know why, then YOU don't know much. What planet do you live on?

This one, not the la la land one YOU live on.

Bring back Jimmy Hoffa.

If you didn’t receive a decent wage making it. They don’t haul it.

Best dear, we all associate with organized crime, they are called insurance companies. lol

Hi all,

 

Unions are like the horse and buggy -- a good and needed thing in their own time.  But, they have outlived their usefulness and today they exist primarily to rob America for the sake of union leaders' wallets and lifestyles.

 

I spent almost 50 years working in the computer industry -- which by the way was not unionized -- and, I do believe it survived.   At one company where I worked in the late 1960s, a union organizer tried to unionize the company -- and was firmly rebuffed by everyone.  

 

I have always said, and meant it -- if a company where I worked was unionized, I would leave.   No matter how good a job I had -- if it was unionized, I would walk out that day.  And, fortunate for me, at the company where I worked in the late 1960s, the majority of us felt the same -- and the company remained a good place to work.   Just my thoughts.

 

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

 

Bill

@Best:

I'm not just talkin' out ma ass here...

The Teamsters publish this information in their monthly newsletter. There are currently three former members of a local in the New York area who are currently being prosecuted for their dealings with the Lucchese crime family-Teamsters are also suing these former members to recoup lost funds as a result of these dealings.

 

It is in violation of union rules to associate with known members of organized crime operations.

They DO bust 'em when they find 'em.

 

Yes, it was that bad where I work.  Seems to be the way it is around here-stealing from your employer (and employees!) is viewed as a viable way to make a living here. I read the papers. It happens all the time, from small time cash-register sneak thieves to big time embezzlers.

 

I imagine it was easy to keep the shoddy equipment from the state inspectors.  I was amazed at how many vehicles got the same good parts swapped over to them every time inspections came around.

 

I don't even remotely claim to know everything about how all this stuff works...All I know is my union made it possible for me to work fairly, safely, and efficiently and gave me a chance to survive a little better than I could've if things had stayed the same as they were when I got here.  Had it not been for the fact that a group of concerned drivers got fed up and organized...I dunno if I'd be next in line for the dole...cuz there ain't much for alternatives in this area.

 

Are your employees union members? If they are and they aren't worth keeping-Hire new ones.

If an employee's performance is unacceptable and it's been documented as such, there ain't much even a good BA can do to save his/her ass.  Wrong is wrong.

 

As far as the w/c liability-We live and work in a very litigious society these days.

'Specially around here.

Don't believe me? Turn the TV on to The CW.

10 minutes of a show and 30 minutes of commercials for ambulance-chasing lawyers like "Super Charlie Pitbull" and "Alex Shibugna" , "Kenny Lugnuts" and those other guys...."Dewey, Cheatem and Howe."

 

Then there's the "Dis'bill'ty" law firms....

 

There's a guy I know in my neighborhood who recently got on SSI disability.  He's a goodly few years younger than I am (I'm 48). I see him driving around all over the place, wheelin' and dealin'.

Working on stuff...Doesn't seem to have any real physical disability.  Another guy I work with who's a part-timer. He's on disability for his bad back. He can be found on any given day humping bundles of shingles up ladders to fix roofs on his many properties that he owns or some such s#!t.

His whole family apparently is on dis'bill'ty.

 

Nice, eh?   Frickin' lawyers....

 

 

Is a company-sponsored athletic event considered 'on-the-job?'

 

If so, I could see their reasoning.

 

Seems car accidents and dis'bill'ty are also viewed as viable ways to make a living around here, too.

 

I wonder just how many of these wrecks are staged just for that purpose.

 

That was a booming business out in CA for awhile.

 

As far as the OP's topic....I personally can't wait for election time. I'm pretty sick of Obongo's America. It ain't what he said it'd be and I don't see him being able to improve on it.

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That mentality is what keeps the Shoals 30 years behind the times and broke.

 

Unions are still necessary, especially in right-to-work states where at any time, your employer can tell you you're done for no other reason that "your services are no longer required" and then replace you with somebody who'll work cheaper or put up with horrible working conditions and favoritism, or just outright abuse.

 

Like Chris Rock said: "Do you know what minimum wage means? It's your employer's way of saying to you-"If I could pay you LESS, I would.  But it's against the law."

You try living ANYWHERE on minimum wage.  I dare ya..

 

The job market is a whole different critter nowadays.  It's not like it was in the 60s-70s atall.

Companies are outsourcing work to other countries, cross-training fewer people to do more work or just working the ones they have to death while paying them less.  Meanwhile the cost of living keeps going up.

I love how the people who've never been union members or who've never needed a union are the biggest, loudest experts on unions.

 

 

Kinda like all those folks who've never seen god.

 

Funny how that works.

 

 

No our employees are not union. You can believe me or not but they don't have a high opinion of unions either. Like I said, try being a business that has a union and then try firing one of the sorry sobs and see what happens. Who's being worked to death and paid less? The business owners maybe.

Bill you don’t know what you are talking about.

  The computer industry is a good example of underpaid workers.

How do you think Bill Gates got to be the richest man in the world?

  Under paying his employees that’s how.

His employees are not enjoying the billions he could never spend if he tried.

  Where did the mentality come from that a skilled worker should kill himself for his employer?

Not from unions.

  Like I’ve always said learn a skill as a product or service provider under an apprentice environment provided by a union.  Be the best you can be at what you do and the union can represent you to a better life for you and your fam.

Hi Lex,

 

My Friend, you need to brush up on the history of Microsoft and its beginning.  I am somewhat under the weather today or I would bring you up to speed on how Bill Gates and Paul Allen became rich -- and, it was not on the back of others.  As a matter of fact, they have made many of their employees very rich. 

 

That is why my wife always asks me what happened -- I knew and worked with Bill Gates and Paul Allen at MITs before they started Microsoft.  I also was the one who persuaded Paul Terrell to represent the MITs line of microcomputers -- and from that grew the second computer store in the world and the first computer store chain, the Byte Shop. 

 

And, Paul Terrell's first Byte Shop computer store in Mountain View, CA, was instrumental in Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak starting Apple Computer.  In all these ventures, the principals not only grew very rich -- but, helped many working with them and for them -- to become rich.  And, all of this WITHOUT any unions.

 

And, when my wife asks me what happened and why I am not rich today -- I tell her that I am very rich; but, not in material things.  I have my God, I have my faith, and I have my family which has been greatly blessed by God.  What more could a person ask for or want?  And, all of this WITHOUT any unions.

 

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

 

Bill

My dad worked for the aluminum workers union(non craft, less pay) and provided our family with a  nice living. I learned to respect a picket line and buy American(which I still do), so  I wanted to join a craft union(better pay),  So take apprentice test, pass test- many tries, many declines. I notice friends who had their dad, grandad or close relatives get in, so I finally open my eyes, see the real world and finish my degree.

 

Anybody else had this situation?

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OK then, serious question.

 

If your employees are not union members-HOW DO YOU KNOW what you are talking about?

 

I've seen plenty of worthless bastids fired who were union members.  See, if the company has  documented JUST CAUSE (violation of company policy, violation of any state or federal law, or just plain crappy work performance), the company has every right to fire that worker and there really ain't squat the union can do about it.

I watched a union driver get fired because the kids on her bus laughed at another driver ( who was a homosexual) as they were passing by that bus. The other driver complained to management and under the company's brand new sexual harrassment policy-they determined that she must've ALLOWED her kids to laugh at that other driver-which was in clear violation of the policy. Hence she got fired and there wasn't anything the union rep could do about it.

 

I saw another driver get canned for showing up to work drunk. Union rep couldn't save him, either.

Another dipswitch got fired for robbing the candy machine in the drivers' room. Same deal. All Done.

 

Another one was just inept, kept having minor accidents, had trouble showing up to routes on time, couldn't maintain discipline on his bus and just generally wasn't cut out for the job.  After a couple attempts to retrain this driver-the company let him go. Union rep couldn't save his job,

 either because it was clear that the driver's performance wasn't up to the standards expected by the company or the board of ed.

 

I dunno where yer getting yer info on unions from-unless it's just the age-old southern tradition of saying 'ska-rue the unions', but ya can take it from somebody who's been a member of two different unions for a goodly few years-what yer saying ain't so.

 

Like I said-'armchair quarterbacks.'  It's been my experience that most of the people who are against unions are either business owners who want to get the most out of their employees while paying them the least amount of money possible ( like the company I work for), or they just heard somebody who was a business owner who just had a shop recently organize say something negative about unions-or they just heard other people talking out their asses and took it for truth.

 

Any union shop I ever worked in, once the kinks got ironed out of the contract, the management, the union, and the workers all got along fine-everybody did their respective jobs right, the customers were joyous and there was happiness in the land.

 

Don'tcha make fun of the way I walk 'til ya spent a day in ma boots.

 

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Bill you don't know anything about unions. I was fed on Union wages and fed my family with union wages. I served in the same union as my dad. I also served as an apprentice while learning the trade. I later worked as project manager on large industrial projects such as power plants, paper mills  etc. All union projects.

I know what I'm "talking about" because my father and brothers were union. We have friends in unions. Most of my husband's family are union. I've had employees that were in unions. I don't know why you don't believe people in unions tell stories about others that they work with being worthless but the union protects them.  Haven't you ever known of someone that needed their *** fired but was safe because of a union? Armchair quarter-backs? It's not a deep dark secret RP. Anyone in a union can and do tell you all sorts of stories. I know speaking against a union upsets some, but come on, you have to admit it is full of waste and fraud.

One other thing RP, you are upset about what I said about unions but you insinuate that businesses or companies won't treat their employees well without a union looking over their shoulder and forcing them to do so. That is just not true. I have never been in a union, my husband has never been in a union, and before we started our own business we worked for other companies. Neither of us can tell you any horror stories about being mistreated. If we had been mistreated and put in dangerous situations we'd have left.  And like I said, we would never put our employees in dangerous situations, make them use dangerous equipment or work like "slaves" for very little money. The only ones that ever worked like slaves for very little money around here are us! When someone mentions minimum wage my thoughts are "show me someone willing to work for minimum wage besides business owners". Now of course I don't mean all the time RP, but when things get tight do we cut our employees checks and tell them that it was a lean month? And lastly, we have no desire to mistreat anyone, employee or otherwise, and if employers do that, it's a very poor business decision on their part.

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Kinda contradicting yourself, aren’t you, Bill? “Bill Gates and Paul Allen made many of their employees very rich”.  

YOU were the one who “persuaded Paul Terrell to represent the MITs line of microcomputers” & you aren’t rich?

Your wife asked why you’re not rich? What are you hiding from the little woman Bill? Are you afraid if she knows, she might stop working/supporting you & you might have to spend some of those riches?  

I can’t stand a braggart & especially one that claims to be a Christian.

 

Hi Chick,

 

Yes, that is true -- Bill Gray has riches, but, not earthly material riches.  I worked WITH Bill Gates and Paul Allen (at MITs) -- I never worked for them.  Paul Terrell?  Once again, I was associated with him, did convince him to represent MITs -- but, never worked for him.  Hence, I am just Bill Gray -- rich in the glories of God.

 

If where I have worked and with whom I have worked is bragging in your mind -- so be it!

 

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

 

Bill

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OK, for one, I'm not upset about anything.

I just haven't ever seen a union employee NOT get canned for cause that should've.  Any union employees that deserved to get fired-GOT fired.  If the company has cause-there's not much even a good BA can do for him.

  Yes, I've heard stories from other union workers about 'so-and-so's worthless ass should be fired but the union protects him,' and it usually turns out that the person telling me about so-and-so just plain doesn't like him and wishes he'd be fired, but so-and-so doesn't actually deserve to be terminated. THAT'S how those stories get started.

 

  I didn't insinuate that companies won't treat their employees well without a union looking over-You assumed it, obviously.  What I DID say was that MY company was one of those that DID mistreat their employees until we organized.

 

The last place I worked, I outlasted two different companies 2 different contracts with the school board-23 years) because I liked working there so much.  The company took good care of us.  Everybody was happy. The board got excellent service from the same professionals for a lotta years, the company had pretty much ZERO turnover, Union employees were happy and proud to work there.  Not so where I work now.

  I dunno...Maybe it's because the terminal I work at is possibly a tax write-off for the company.  Maybe it was just the POS former manager got the company accustomed to not having very many expenditures at our yard, Maybe the company just doesn't like Alabamians....We are the only terminal this company has in Alabama.

  If it were not for the longtime professional drivers we have there now, people would hafta learn a new Spanish name for their driver every week.

Oh....wait.....not with Alabama's new immigration law... Nevermind.

 

When I first got here and started work, morale was extremely low, turnover was high, the equipment sucked and all that other stuff I told ya about up there ^.  Any one of us could've gotten canned just because the boss was having a bad day.

 

Once we organized and blew the whistle on our POS boss, the company came all the way over from the U.K. and kicked ass and took names.  Things got some better.  It never would've happened without forming a union.

Maybe you run your business right. Lotsa folks around here don't. Everybody steals from everybody else. I've seen it all around the area-I've read it in the papers... and ya can't convince me otherwise.  People steal here like nowhere else I've been.. Maybe cuz they can't seem to be able to make a living.  I dunno.. Where I'm from- 'fat dumb and happy' people don't need to steal.

Summin's wrong with the picture 'round these parts..

 

Lemme ask you this: What do you consider 'very little money?'

What would you figure a Class B CDL driver with a P and S endorsement and a quarter-century of experience, an immaculate MVR and clean criminal background check is worth per hour?

 

Where I come from he's worth $26/hour, currently.  Other places around where I used to work, he's worth at least $17.50/hour.  In Huntsville. AL, he's worth $17/hour.

 

Know what he's worth in Florence?  Currently $11.67/hour.

Know what he was worth two years ago? $10.77/hour.

No health insurance-Oh sure, the company offers it, but nobody can afford it...

 

(I tell people to not even bother giving me that crap about how I'm hauling the 'world's most precious cargo' when trying to justify the peanuts they pay me when the guy who transports my garbage to the landfill makes twice what I make a year.).

 

Show ya somebody who'd work for minimum wage?  Mexicans. They work HARD for it, too.  Not anymore, though.

I wouldn't want somebody who's only been in-country for a couple months and doesn't speak English well transporting my kid, either-whichever country he was from. That would just be a logistical nightmare.  I've seen it happen up north.

 

Nobody in my line of work in their right minds would work for minimum wage.  Not after what we hadda go through to get licensed and stay licensed.

I have to drive charters just to make ends meet. All the ones I can get.  Before we organized, nobody but the boss' buddies were allowed to drive them. Working 30+ hours per week while the rest of us were lucky to get maybe 12-15.

 

Turns out that charter pay is basically minimum wage.  Yup. Put somebody in a $65,000, 15-ton juggernaut and fill it with priceless cargo and send 'em packing to the football game a hundred or so miles away. For minimum wage.

 

("If I could PAY YOU LESS, I WOULD-But it's against the law...")

 

Does that make sense to you? How much is a kid worth? How about 65 of them?

Sometimes (and I shudder to think!)  You get what ya pay for. (That fat chooch who lost the bus over the bridge in Huntsville cause he wasn't wearing a setbelt)  Florence is very fortunate to have a group of drivers who love what they do and care about the kids they transport-cuz they sho ain't in it fer th' money.

 

 

 

Unions are still necessary. My workplace is a prime example of that.

 

Sure, ya hear about stuff-but unless ya live it-ya don't really know it.

 

 

I guess your post below, and the fact that you didn't say you didn't mean all companies and businesses is what led me to think that you think every business and every company needs a union. Then you have the union jack***** that wouldn't even be able to hold a job if a union wasn't holding a "gun" to the owner's head. We have one of those types posting here now.

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Now, at least work practices are fairer, our scraps are a little bit bigger, we have opportunities to make a lil' bit more money, we have a new boss who isn't a conniving thief, and the equipment meets state standards for safety.

You know...The reasons unions were created for in the first place.

Without our union and it's clout, I'm sure somebody would've gotten injured or killed by now.

Well I imagine it's possible that some locals have language in their contract that is nigh well in favor of the employees, be they good, bad, or ugly employees, but I've never seen an instance of a union employee keeping his job when the company had just cause to terminate him.

 

It was always a case of 'sorry pal...ain't nuthin' I can do for ya this time.'

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you cut their checks so you can get a French manicure I'll bet. That's low down.

 

i'd say you spend too much time on here is the reason you have to cut employee wages.

get up and go to work Ms Priss.

 

i knew you ran a sweat shop

I don't work on weekends or the holidays buff. I even give my employees weekends off, and right now they've been off since wed at noon for thanksgiving and they'll get paid.  Now tell me what kind of business I have and how it qualifies as a "sweatshop". Was that you they had to drag out of the water?

If you cut your employee wages I bet you give your kids a dime to go to bed without supper, steal it back after they are asleep then whupp’em the next morning for losing it.

I'd have about as much luck giving them a dime as I would cutting wages. A dime? How old are you anyway?? I wouldn't have thought you were that old because I'd think for sure you'd have "nastied away" before you hit your 50s.