If unions would operate in good faith I would be all for them. However I have seen otherwise especially in the construction industry.
As a young man I took a summer job building a power plant. Everything was union. It seemed as if one particular union was pitting itself against another on the jobsite. No cooperation there. The construction engineers would not dirty their hand for a minute with a shovel to scrape away a piece of dirt. They insisted on having a union laborer standing around all day to do 15 minutes of light work. Water pump maintenance people who would not want to lift a pump out of a pit, wanted a laborer to ride around with them all day to do that. It was inefficient to say the least. Or an electrician who is on a ladder asks me to please hand them their tool bag and for that I get screamed at by a laborer boss telling me not to do it because it is the job of an electrician to do. No wonder we can't afford to build nuclear power plants
A family member worked union as a plumber doing a hospital. He was diligent in his job. He installed four commercial toilets a day. All others were slackers doing just two. He was directed to slow down because the job would be done too early and put jobs at risk. This is why we are unable to build cost effectively. No one really looking at the big picture here.
I think back to Bethlehem Steel and how a very very greedy union sunk the place. They had benefits out the gazoo. Eventually unable to compete with others it went down. 43,000 jobs lost forever. They were an economic engine for Baltimore. Now without those jobs and the many businesses they supported Baltimore is a waste without much opportunity for the working Joe. I blame part of the Baltimore woes on that union.
I am not completely anti union. But I am often very skeptical because of the rubbish I have seen and experienced.
Is it really possible to have a stand up good union? I would hope so but have many doubts.
As a young man I took a summer job building a power plant. Everything was union. It seemed as if one particular union was pitting itself against another on the jobsite. No cooperation there. The construction engineers would not dirty their hand for a minute with a shovel to scrape away a piece of dirt. They insisted on having a union laborer standing around all day to do 15 minutes of light work. Water pump maintenance people who would not want to lift a pump out of a pit, wanted a laborer to ride around with them all day to do that. It was inefficient to say the least. Or an electrician who is on a ladder asks me to please hand them their tool bag and for that I get screamed at by a laborer boss telling me not to do it because it is the job of an electrician to do. No wonder we can't afford to build nuclear power plants
A family member worked union as a plumber doing a hospital. He was diligent in his job. He installed four commercial toilets a day. All others were slackers doing just two. He was directed to slow down because the job would be done too early and put jobs at risk. This is why we are unable to build cost effectively. No one really looking at the big picture here.
I think back to Bethlehem Steel and how a very very greedy union sunk the place. They had benefits out the gazoo. Eventually unable to compete with others it went down. 43,000 jobs lost forever. They were an economic engine for Baltimore. Now without those jobs and the many businesses they supported Baltimore is a waste without much opportunity for the working Joe. I blame part of the Baltimore woes on that union.
I am not completely anti union. But I am often very skeptical because of the rubbish I have seen and experienced.
Is it really possible to have a stand up good union? I would hope so but have many doubts.
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it very well may be the time. But as we know some years down the road it may go too far yet right now, workers want a piece of their CEOs pay not just crumbs.
