The Unions are out of control

The problem with unions is that they are not exactly for worker's rights. This varies greatly from union to union, however, a number of unions work in this way:

You are a brick-layer. You lay bricks. You will lay no more than 800 bricks in a day. Laying 801 bricks in a day can compromise your union membership. They need someone to hold a ladder for another contractor on the site, you are not a ladder-holder, and therefor cannot do it.

That's -way- beyond worker's rights. It has swung from being a way for workers to have fair compensation and protection from abusive employers to being a different set of arbitrary Stalinist regulations. It has become a way for workers to demand unfair compensation for their services. Sure - everyone wants to work above minimum wage. But you don't deserve $25 an hour for ratcheting bolts on the assembly line, getting paid for 8-hours of work but having 3-hours of breaks. Sorry - when a kid with common sense and lacking any certificate of formal education can do your job with a day or two of OJT to bring them up to speed... you should feel lucky to get $9.50 an hour with benefits. At that point - your only discriminators are personality, work ethic, accountability/punctuality.

Unions are not inherently a bad thing - but they tend to overstep their bounds and original purpose. It's the common problem of every institution - an institution seeks to set new goals as it accomplishes them - raising average hourly wage by $5 took two years, now let's raise it by another $5. In some cases, more extreme groups need an enemy to fear and/or attack in order to maintain cohesion.

The unions were formed as progressive groups from the beginning, not as oversight groups. This is their primary flaw - as many still retain a 'progressive' agenda despite the vast majority of injustices they were formed to combat being extinguished. This leads to making rules and goals to achieve simply for the sake of achieving new goals and keeping membership up. Now that they have power - they are afraid to let it go.

Again - this is not saying that all unions are bad. This is simply telling it the way it is. Many unions have lost sight of their original goals and have swung the opposite way - becoming the manipulative, gerrymandering thugs they were formed to combat. While they may still represent workers in claims and the like - they continue to push beyond reasonable bounds, and in order to maintain their authority, have restricted the actions (and rights) of their members within the work-place.

For that reason - I will never join a worker's union. I can represent myself well enough, and realize when I'm getting the shaft. I will discuss this matter with my employers, and seek alternate employment if I feel it necessary after the conversation has been had. I don't need a union to protect me so long as I adhere to their rules. I'm a believer in "we're all here to do the job, let's get it done so we can move on." Unions believe in "you are here to do this job and not to be exploited to do jobs not in your contract." The two views are, more often than not, mutually exclusive.

While there was once a time and place for unions, that time has come and gone.


Unions now are just like religion. They are all about power and control. Unions today are a haven for retards, degenerates, lazy asses, and losers. The solutions to unions is twofold, and it includes the following:

A middle finger, and a generous portion of pointing and laughing at union losers.

Originally posted by BigTimeCheater
While there was once a time and place for unions, that time has come and gone.
Unions now are just like religion. They are all about power and control. Unions today are a haven for retards, degenerates, lazy asses, and losers. The solutions to unions is twofold, and it includes the following:
A middle finger, and a generous portion of pointing and laughing at union losers.

I speak as a former chief steward, and my biggest job was policing the mutually-agreed upon contract.

If not for unions setting the bar, North American workers in general would never have had it so good. The best example is provided by the state of the union...now that China owns your industrial base and Wall Street is doing right-nice thanks to globalism. I'm afraid it's China wielding that finger.

Unions are, and always have been lies to extort money from the people whom believe they are part of something, only to find out that there dues go to absolutely no representation.

Originally posted by Whereweheaded
Unions are, and always have been lies to extort money from the people whom believe they are part of something, only to find out that there dues go to absolutely no representation.

As the one who provided the representation, I did a good enough job that management enlisted me to assist with some of their white collar problems, too. And I was by no means unique.

So...who is doing the lying, here?