Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: Slick Wilhelm

Unions are a good thing, per se.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns

quote:

ORIGINAL: Slick Wilhelm

Unions are a good thing, per se.

Unions have been utterly corrupt almost since their inception in the US. A total lack of oversight at the top allows them to basically forcibly tax their membership and funnel those taxes (dues) anywhere the corrupt leadership sees fit to funnel it.

In the early days it was the mafia that leached on to the union funds, today it’s the Democratic Party. Personally I think the politicians are far worse than the mafia ever was. At least there was some chance at accountability when it was criminals at the reigns, but now the foxes are guarding the henhouse. So what we have right now is simple bribery and theft. The unions bribe the politicians via political donations and the politicians then allow the unions to commit theft from the public coffers every chance they get by granting unreasonably absurd benefits every time they vote.

Any kind of investigation into how unions operate is swiftly shut down these days by their controlling political party. To them unions are a way of taxing people and forcing them into supporting their political careers whether they want to or not and there isn’t a dam thing the union workers can do to stop them.

If a worker pitches a bitch about how his dues are being abused, he’s tossed out of the union on his arse. So what we are left with is the situations we have today in America where politicians have granted the unions anything and everything they ever wanted for decades and now there’s no way to pay for the promises. But as long as the unions keep the cash flow spigot open, the politicians are willing to drive the country off a financial cliff at 100 miles an hour.

I’m not saying unions shouldn’t have a right to support politicians, but if they do, then those same politicians should have to recuse themselves from voting on any legislation concerning regulating those same unions.

Union workers should also have guaranteed protections from unjust persecution from their union leadership if they try and reform the corruption within their own unions.

Jim

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns

quote:

ORIGINAL: Slick Wilhelm

Unions are a good thing, per se.

Unions have been utterly corrupt almost since their inception in the US. A total lack of oversight at the top allows them to basically forcibly tax their membership and funnel those taxes (dues) anywhere the corrupt leadership sees fit to funnel it.

In the early days it was the mafia that leached on to the union funds, today it’s the Democratic Party. Personally I think the politicians are far worse than the mafia ever was. At least there was some chance at accountability when it was criminals at the reigns, but now the foxes are guarding the henhouse. So what we have right now is simple bribery and theft. The unions bribe the politicians via political donations and the politicians then allow the unions to commit theft from the public coffers every chance they get by granting unreasonably absurd benefits every time they vote.

Any kind of investigation into how unions operate is swiftly shut down these days by their controlling political party. To them unions are a way of taxing people and forcing them into supporting their political careers whether they want to or not and there isn’t a dam thing the union workers can do to stop them.

If a worker pitches a bitch about how his dues are being abused, he’s tossed out of the union on his arse. So what we are left with is the situations we have today in America where politicians have granted the unions anything and everything they ever wanted for decades and now there’s no way to pay for the promises. But as long as the unions keep the cash flow spigot open, the politicians are willing to drive the country off a financial cliff at 100 miles an hour.

I’m not saying unions shouldn’t have a right to support politicians, but if they do, then those same politicians should have to recuse themselves from voting on any legislation concerning regulating those same unions.

Union workers should also have guaranteed protections from unjust persecution from their union leadership if they try and reform the corruption within their own unions.

Jim

quote:

ORIGINAL: apathetic lurker
Ummm.....no

I am one of the biggest bitchers at our local.Probably stems from me once running my own company. Still there..My arse has not been tossed........I wish I got unreasonably absurd benefits.....If I paid for full family medical it would cost me one weeks pay for a month of coverage through my union. My wife who is non-union(a private company), gets fully paid family medical coverage.Yeah, my union benefits so outstrip anything available to her non-union job(note sarcasm here). .The big thing separating us from the non-union part of our bus company? The management cant just fire us and we have seniority for bus runs.....Yes, our company is both union and non-union. Depends on the terminal..Guess which terminal gets very high turnover of drivers?......So no, don't go painting all unions with the same broad brush.....

quote:

ORIGINAL: Perturabo
So, they can behave exactly in the same way as corrupt, abusive business?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns

quote:

ORIGINAL: Perturabo
So, they can behave exactly in the same way as corrupt, abusive business?

Except for one thing. It’s the politician’s job to negotiate wage and salary benefits with the unions. And they are supposed to negotiate on behalf of the public good, not on behalf of the unions. They’ve sold out their fiduciary responsibility to the public in the interest of furthering their own political careers.

That’s a big difference over the corruption normally seen when big business buys politicians. I’m not saying that is acceptable either, only that one makes them morally and criminally responsible for the conditions that lead to the theft on a personal level.

Jim