A SICKING TALE OF THE UNION MENTALITY AT WORK

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[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?

[Rodney King]

Want to get paid for doing nothing? Join a union.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

My husband's company had a government contract a few years back. Because he had to hire Union workers and pay their scale, these "helpers" were making more than my husband on the job! lol

This story though, is worse than sad, it is pathetic.......

[RabidBartender]

Wow. This sickens me.

[E Rocc]

Boortz may actually have picked up on this story here. We had a pretty extensive thread on it awhile ago.

-Eric

[Valin]

I have two words for these union custodians. Care to guess what they are?

[Cuttnhorse]

This thread could go on for weeks if we start telling dumb union stories.....like the time in Butte, Montana, a strong union town, when the city awarded a large waste dump contract to a non-union company. As expected, the local unions were picketing and raising a stink because the city awarded the contract to a non-union company from another city. Weeeellll, it turns out, none of the local union-tied companies even bothered to bid on the job because they knew they could not compete. These guys constantly shoot themselves in the foot...or slightly higher.

[Psalm 73]

The only thing worse than a Union is a Management that makes one necessary.
I belonged to a Union (UAW) for 14 years, and spent 14 years' as non-union.
Conclusion? Power currupts, no matter WHO has it.
People are basically (to a greater or lesser degree) selfish, lazy, and evil (yes, even me).

[Rodney King]

Boortz may actually have picked up on this story here. We had a pretty extensive thread on it awhile ago

Oh, sorry, didn't mean to post it again.

[SauronOfMordor]

I was working at Pan Am Airlines in the eighties. Their computer operations was unionized by the Teamsters. Programmers were not allowed to use terminals to type in their programs -- they had to write the code down on paper and give it to the unionized keypunch operator to put on punchcards (any old geezers remember punchcards?), with 24-hour turnaround. I quit in disgust after 3 weeks. Pan Am went bust not too long after (I wonder why?)

In the 90's, I was working in a building in NYC. One guy got tired of waiting for the building guy to replace a burned-out light above his cube, so he got a florescent light out of the storeroom and fixed it himself. The building guy comes up to him and says "Hey! What are you doing? You're taking food out of my kids' mouths!" My friend replied: "Good. Your kids are too fat anyway". My friend got in trouble over that remark...

[bert]

We must not forget that it was union thugs who beat up the FReeper "Physicist" in Philadelphia prompting the March for Justice.

[FreeTally]

In the instance of wages, I believe the most pragmatic and realistic approach is to have the government pass fair wage laws.

I have no right to work for whatever wage I want? Your "fair wage" laws infringe on the right of contract.

[Rodney King]

I remember the 50's when most working class men, like my father, working 40 hours a week, earned enough to support a family of four, buy a small house and a decent little car, and took a family vacation to Florida every year.

Perhaps the problem is that in the 50's, despite high marginal tax rates, the government actually took very little of this average guys income. Now, it takes half. Maybe if the government didn't take half of everybody's money, things would return to the way they were.

In the instance of wages, I believe the most pragmatic and realistic approach is to have the government pass fair wage laws. A minimum living wage for any American working a 40 hour week, period. Beyond that, let the market rule.

The problem is that the labor of vast swathes of the population is not worth the "fair" wage. In which case none of them will be employed at all.

[biblewonk]

I do believe we need to regulate a minimum wage that is a living wage.

I can see right now yer mind ain't right.

[Cuttnhorse]

I do believe we need to regulate a minimum wage that is a living wage.

Just curious, who gets to decide what a living wage is??

[Old Fud]

Among my happiest moments in adult life was the day, this year, I sent my polite but scathing resignation to the musician's local. The president, a trumpet owning attorney, returned a reply that would make one wonder what century we're living in. Lot's of stuff like "If it weren't for union "influence", we wouldn't have publicly funded sports arenas -- the kinds of things we all benefit from".

Thieves.

[Rodney King]

We must not forget that it was union thugs who beat up the FReeper "Physicist" in Philadelphia prompting the March for Justice.

It wasn't Physicist, he was a witness. It was Don Adams.

[cascademountaineer]

A SICKING(sic) TALE OF THE UNION MENTALITY AT WORK

Mr. Boortz has apparently never heard of using spellcheck.

[Cuttnhorse]

Key words: Plumbers Crack
LOL!!!

[Rodney King]

Unfortunetly, mine is the only post that comes up when that keyword is clicked. We'll have to get some more in there.

[IYAS9YAS]

Does it not bother anyone that the time and a half for these lunkheads is $37/hour? That works out to $24.67/hour regular time. Never should have gone to college and gotten a degree if I'd known I could join a uselession and make $5.00 an hour more than I make now on regular pay. Accounting doesn't seem to pay anymore. Unless you worked for Enron or AA.

[hellinahandcart]

Okay, it's time for you to fess up.

When you were registering here, you REALLY wanted to call yourself "naderista", didn't you?

[MrB]

You're gonna get roasted on this thread.
No one supporting a family works for minimum wage. Entry level people (kids) work for minimum wage. The market should determine all wages.
The only thing that minimum wage laws do is raise the amount that the goonian thugs can extract for doing a minimum amount of mediocre work.
Union scale is x amount above minimum wage. Unions push to get that minimum wage increased.

[KS Flyover]

FReeper FreedomPoster sent this to Neil Boortz this morning from this thread:

Volunteer landscaping prompts union protest - Post #8

Good job FreedomPoster!

[Chemist_Geek]

Perhaps the problem is that in the 50's, despite high marginal tax rates, the government actually took very little of this average guys income. Now, it takes half. Maybe if the government didn't take half of everybody's money, things would return to the way they were.

Don't forget state and local income taxes, and property taxes, and sales or use taxes, and gasoline taxes and...

Is it me, or did Western Civilization reach its zenith in roughly 1957, and has been going downhill since then?

[stuartcr]

I bet that in the 50's, your father wasn't paying a monthly fee for cable tv, internet access, cell phones, pagers, $1.55/gal for gas, satellite radio access, a car for his wife to drive to work, a car for each of his kids, etc., either.

[Frank Grimes]

Perotista was on a thread the other day talking about how he(she) was a recovering liberal. Sounds like he's not quite fully recovered yet. ;^)

[m1911]

If someone chooses not to work

If job X adds $5.00 of value to my company per hour, and it is mandated that I MUST pay $7.00/hr, guess what's going to happen to that job? Someone will "choose" not to work, that's what. If I was allowed to hire someone at $4.50/hr, I could add to someones household income, but that would be evil of me, I suppose.

[E Rocc]

But the union movement has failed. This is one place where I believe in central government regulations. I do believe we need to regulate a minimum wage that is a living wage.

if you did that it wouldn't be one for long. Prices of so many things would go up enough that the "new" minimum wage would have about the same purchasing power as the old one.

So then there'd be a push for a new "living wage" (or worse, to automatically tie the minimum wage to the cost of living). Then you'd have a nice inflationary engine that would wipe out savings and send interest rates screaming upwards. It's a recipe for disaster if I've ever heard one.

-Eric

[Alberta's Child]

We are a Christian nation, we are not going to watch people starve to death on the streets.

Interesting perspective -- I would say that most peoples' definition of a "living wage" these days would be far more than what is required to keep them from starving on the street.

In fact, I would say that the whole debate about a "living wage," the necessity of two incomes to support a family, etc., is pretty meaningless in an era when people expect the government to regulate the price of something as extraneous as cable television.

[TomT in NJ]

I would push it back 3 years to 1960, when Kennedy beat Nixon. It's been downhill since that year.

[Aria]

You know, I've been thinking the same thing. I look at my mother who is 79, originally from Minnesota, and think that she has seen the depression, WWII, the 1950s (the Ozzie and Harriet and Lucy years) then then it gradually started to fall apart - Kennedy being shot, Vietnam, drugs, sexual revolution with women demanding that they have the "right" to kill their babies so then can have careers, the rise of the cynical society dictated by lawyers and the media, and now this. The world is exploding. Its impossible to imagine that we will ever get back to the good years. I heard that Australia is like the US was in the 50s. Maybe its time to check it out.

[Cable225]

You say that many people are not worth a "living wage" -- but they still have to live. If you don't pay them a "living wage", then you're going to be supporting them in other ways with your tax dollars. We are a Christian nation, we are not going to watch people starve to death on the streets.

On a thread yesterday, you said something to the effect of being a recent escapee from liberal thought. Another poster replied to one of your left-leaning statements that maybe you weren't all the way off the reservation yet.

After following you on that thread and now here, I think it's safe to say that not only are you still on the reservation, you don't even have your bags packed yet.

However, since you don't resort to attacks and name-calling when disagreed with, you must be at least thinking about your positions, so there is hope for you yet.

[Cagey]

This story though, is worse than sad, it is pathetic.......

It certainly is. And like the title says, it is the mentality of these idiots that causes things like this to happen. They are so conditioned to that mentality.

I was in Philadelphia for a trade show and two of us were setting up our booth. Booths have been simplified in recent years and it only took us about 20 minutes. The last thing to do was place a light bar on the top of the booth and no sooner did we have the light in our hands, a "union" electrician came by and said it is required in his contract that a union electrician set the light up and plug it in. When we left the show we got the bill for the space rental and there was a $50 dollar electricians fee attached. That was the last time I went to that trade show.

[sphinx]

A minimum living wage for any American working a 40 hour week, period.

Do you really believe every 16 year old with a summer job at McDonald's should be paid as if he were the sole support for a family of four? That's exactly what the "fair wage" crowd is demanding, although for obvious reasons they don't use this example.

Another problem. You can pass any fair wage law you like. Before you answer, let me drive you by a couple of our local parking lots where crowds of Mexican men have gathered by 7 a.m. for day labor. We already have a very substantial underground economy. Jacking up the minimum wage merely exacerbates the problem.

[Rodney King]

So isn't the simplest solution, least paperwork and bureaucracy, least use of tax dollars, to just regulate a living wage for a 40 hour work week?

It is a simple fact that employers will simply not employ people who cost more than they are worth. End of story.

If we are going to have to support them, we might as well not distort the employment market in the process.

[laredo44]

So isn't the simplest solution, least paperwork and bureaucracy, least use of tax dollars, to just regulate a living wage for a 40 hour work week?

I don't think so. The solution is fraught with unintended consequences. Employers who want/need to dodge the high wage you impose have poeple work 39.5 hours per week. Does a single person get the same "living wage" as a the breadwinner in a family of four? Is the wage pro-rated based on how many "mouths" are being supported? Want a raise, have another baby. What happens if two or more single wage earners share expenses? Are wages reduced accordingly? What is a living wage for someone who also enjoys income from a trust fund?

The factors in deciding this "living wage" are nearly infinite. The market allows individuals to sort the marginal utility of each option creating much better solutions the government. Government merely politicizes the entire process and rewards those that maximize their power.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Just another, in a long line of reasons, to stay out of Philadelphia........lol

[laredo44]

If you really don't want to do that, then in fairness, you have to pull the regulations off the unions, too, like "sister strikes", and things are going to get REAL ugly.

This statement is chillingly terroristic. Do what we want or we'll make you sorry.

[meyer]

Just curious, who gets to decide what a living wage is??

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..."

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

They want to be paid? Then pay them. In lead birdshot. 20 gauge. In the ass. Then tell them their next payday will be 12 gauge buckshot.

[dighton]

Not a "War of Northern Aggression" post.

I was deliberately wasting your time, sir.

[Chemist_Geek]

Then you have to take the gloves off everyone, including the unions. You can't have it both ways -- the government regulating "them" but not "you".

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.

[Ramius]

OK, I'll bite: How many people should be paid more than their work is worth? Why stop at "living" wage? Why not make it a "comfortable" wage? Let's raise the minimum wage to $100,000 a year. Why not? I mean... then everybody could afford to pay $100 for a Big Mac, right?

[KC_Conspirator]

I would say that is unfrigging believeable, but then again its union. I worked for a computer company about a decade ago and we used to get deliveries of equipment at the back of the loading dock everyday. I remember one day we set some equipment on the back dock to be picked up, but it was raining so we moved the equipment back a couple of feet underneath the awning so that it would not get wet. Lo and behold the union morons came by and refused to pick it up because they claimed that the equipment was not in the proper pick up place as stated in the contract. It was literally 2-3 feet from the end of the loading dock.

[m1911]

If the job isn't worth $7/hr, it's not worth $37/hr either, so it still wouldn't get done. The difference would be that I could go to the union or individuals and try to make a deal to get workers at a wage I can afford to pay, not an option with a living wage law.

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?

[Chemist_Geek]

I was born in 1973, so I have no direct experience of the times. However, from books and films and talking to people wo were alive then, it seems that there was national self-confidence, optimism, politeness, that are missing today, to name a few.

Australia's out, unfortunately, due to their silly firearms laws.

[Black Agnes]

It keeps arguing based on 'Conservative Christian Principles'. I think it's a troll.