Massive Union just voted to join the Occupy Wall Street protests!

reply to post by crimsongod21


there are unions that actually behave with integrity with respect to their pension accounts, notably the largest in the country, CALPERS - the public employee union of California. They run their money in-house, pay a fraction of investment management costs that these other unions do, use social screens to eliminate what they consider offensive investments from their portfolios and they hire top talent (and pay them top cash) to run their own money. For the folks from CALPERS to be protesting Wall Street would be a far different business, because in practical terms they have rejected Wall Street and are going their own way. For the Transit Workers to hire 100 private equity/hedge fund managers while simultaneously protesting that industry, yet benefiting from that very industry, is hyprocy IMO. Of course they should look to generate the greatest returns for thier shareholders that they can, they only need to be honest in their display of public outrage regarding how they are using the industry to line their own pockets.

we'll just respectfully agree to disagree on this point.

Originally posted by Vitchilo

Originally posted by Fitch303
Unions have destroyed just as much of our industrial base as wall street has.

Listen, the leadership of unions has become corrupted because it has grown too powerful.

But most people in the unions just want to keep their rights and get more rights at work. They are good people.

This is what keeps the major corporations in business.The unions get powerful then the corporations are to big to fail.

Originally posted by Cuervo

Originally posted by Fitch303
Unions have destroyed just as much of our industrial base as wall street has.

You like not having to work 61-hour workweeks as an average? You like weekends? You like that children aren't allowed to be exploited for slave labor? You like not being fired if you are out because of an injury or sickness? You like equal opportunities in the workplace?

You can thank unions for all of those. If it weren't for unions, we would still be living like we were in the industrial revolution. We owe them.

Yes, we owe them, but the Unions of today aren't the same ones we owe, per se.

folks should occupy wall st and keep on gaining new activists for years...these fricking idiot cabalist banks don't get it yet

bank of america now wants to charge you 5 bucks extra a month to have a debit card now...u know..an atm card

scum bags

reply to post by Vitchilo


We should all join, but we should show up with muskets or ball and cap pistols!

Originally posted by crimsongod21
reply to post by nenothtu

 

You are correct there are no unions involved in your current job position, you are an independent contractor of some sort. If you have employees (and i don't have the foggiest if you do) i would imagine that they really do like over time, weekends and all the other trappings that come along with modern work.

I'm a Security Contractor. No employees. I'm a shop of One, precisely because of Unions, the SEIU specifically. They are currently trying to Unionize security in this area, and I'll not hire a single soul other than myself until they move on to somewhere else. If I'm the only employee, I know how that vote is going to go. The only Union Shop I ever worked in was also SEIU, and that didn't go so well. It was a different industry, but they're like octopii - have their tentacles stuck in everyone's business. Probably the third biggest bunch of thugs I've ever run across.

I lived through the teamster riots in Ohio in the 70's, and the UMWA riots in southwestern Virginia in the 70's and 80's. I wasn't in ANY union or company during those times, and STILL lived in fear of the Union thugs and their indiscriminate violence against any convenient target. I learned mostly how to make myself a smaller target. I also learned how to meet violence. Perhaps, in a roundabout way, the Unions ARE responsible for where I am today. Not my working conditions, but my ability to respond to violence, honed over time in other employment areas, but initiated as a response to Union violence when I was younger.

I also learned not to live in fear.

I don't know what your union is, but if you're happy with it, I'm happy for you.

Now as far as people complaining that they have no say in there union dues and what said money is used for, at least in my union that is not true, by being active in my union i have a voice and an equal vote as to what "our" union does.

perhaps, but no one in the SEIU asked me who they ought to make political donations to. had they asked, I'd have told them they have no business making ANY political donations - union dues ought to be for the benefit of union members, not politicians. if politicians want to spend union dues, they can form their own union.

If I want to give my money to a politician - or anyone else - I know where my wallet is right now. Don't need a union board to think for me.

thank you and good day/night depending on your location in this universe.

It was a pleasure speaking to you.

The labor unions want to be in on this if it picks up and the changes are made they want a voice in the change it makes alot of sence for them to go. With the way the current system is they will be out of contracts and jobs in a matter of time how many states have been slashing unions in the last couple years. They see there future threatend if a change isn't made.

1980 - Average CEO's Pay was 42x the average workers pay

2010 - Average CEO's Pay was 343x the average workers pay

What did these CEO's do to "earn" that money??? Well they stripped and chopped and shipped American jobs overseas while simultaneously robbing the country of real assets using banking scams. An example would be CEO Stephen Hemsley who "earned" $102 thousand dollars an hour and accounted for 1 dollar in every 700 dollars spent on healthcare.


The reason they are protesting...

The number of young Americans without a job has exploded to 53.4 percent — a post-World War II high, according to the Labor Dept. — meaning millions of Americans are staring at the likelihood that their lifetime earning potential will be diminished and, combined with the predicted slow economic recovery, their transition into productive members of society could be put on hold for an extended period of time.

Read more: www.nypost.com...

That is allot of angry young people Hope you have allot of sandbags for you and your Royalist friends.

reply to post by Fitch303

Unions have destroyed just as much of our industrial base as wall street has.

That's only true if you believe that American Corporations should be able to lobby the snot out of (bribe) the Congress and Executive Branches of our government (What was that saying? Of the people, by the people and for the people? I think i read that somewhere)while at the same time abandoning our shores to become international corporations which use sweatshops and slave wages to rake in fantastic profits.

No wait, even then it doesn't ring true...

If you don't stand for something you fall for anything!

Originally posted by greenCo

Q. You like that children aren't allowed to be exploited for slave labor?

A. Can't say that I care. that properly is their parent's lookout, not mine.

Fail !!!!! That´s exactly the problem.... you really don´t care a thing about others my friend.

I care enough about their independence and that of their parents to leave that decision in THEIR hands. Ain't nobody else's business.

I went to the "We Are the 99%" in Lexington, KY today and it felt great.

The one thing that I am really worried about is this whole thing being hijacked by someone or some group. Like when the Tea Party started out as a grass roots movement that had no party affiliation but then all of a sudden chodes like Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and other cancerous people started speaking for the Tea Party.

reply to post by nenothtu


As i know little to nothing about the union you worked for i would dare not comment on them, other then to state this if the union heads were not representing there members in a fair and equal way they should be disposed of like yesterdays garbage. I still to this day think of the Teamsters as a group of thugs, though i was not born yet when there reign of terror was what it was, i have read about it and done some independent research. (also my wifes father is a teamster so maybe im a bit biased....lol)

I'm a member of the ibew local.... well thats not important and before our local endorses any candidate it is discussed in our local union meetings, i'm still in the ape phase of my training but even so our BM came to us and discussed all the options in a way that even a moron could understand. I have been a member of this union for just over three years now and i have seen them support Republicans, Democrats and Independent political reps.

We do have our flaws and i have been more than willing to point them out to the right people but for the most part we have it good.


thank you and good day/night depending on your location in this universe

p.s. it has been an honor to have a civilized conversation on this subject with you and i would be remised (sp) to not mention Dolphinfan as well in this as well.

reply to post by felonius


I love how you hate everything that is for the people openly, scream communist at anybody and everybody, and I also find it very humorous that you have an Iron Cross on your picture. Do you hate Jews per chance.

The best part about this? I can watch it all vicariously from my TV, errr computer.




Listen to this while we wait.

reply to post by SuperTripps

bank of america now wants to charge you 5 bucks extra a month to have a debit card now...u know..an atm card

No doubt! I had a checking account with them when I was Field Engineer in the Telecom industry.

A while back I took a check that was drawn on them, to them to cash. It was written by a realtor. Since I no longer had an account with Bank of America they charged me $6 to cash a check for $30. At the time I had recently moved to Washington State and hadn't opened an account here yet so I had no choice, I thought. Didn't know about Safeway at the time...

Since then I have opened an account in the area. And based solely on my previous experiences as an account holder I probably would have used them again. However, based on this $6 fee, and one other factor, I went across the street to a local bank to open my new account.

The other factor? Until the recent sale of Banc of America it was owned through 2 Irish trusts by the Rothschild family. Follow the money...

reply to post by deadeyedick

This is what keeps the major corporations in business.The unions get powerful then the corporations are to big to fail.

That makes no sense. You have the cart pullin' the horse here!

reply to post by crimsongod21


The union I worked under was the SEIU. You see them occasionally on the news beating on folks who they disagree with. Last time they made the news around here was for beating passersby to a protest they were holding in the next town over. They didn't do much for me (that was at a grocery store) in the 90's other than collect dues every week. I only worked there 6 or 8 months. The job was crap. paid 6 or 7 dollars an hour, and the union was completely useless. So much for their "wage improvements".

Now they're trying to organize Security firms around here. I don't think it'll be all that great when they have low paid, ticked-off people with uniforms and guns to direct in their protests, given their track record. God help us if they get the Police unionized - that's another effort going on, although I'm not sure which union is having at it.

Thank you for the civil responses - THAT is how things get accomplished!

Hmmmm..

I'm happy for you guys, i'm impressed so far. No doubt about it.
The things is, there is no solution to the reasons(problems) they are protesting for.
The only solution is cuting military budget.
...

Good luck.

Originally posted by colin42

It is often said Labour unions are undemocratic yet I have a choice in what union I join and support

How so? the union shop I worked in had ONE union to choose from. Not much choice there. Didn't even have a choice NOT to choose it - the only choice was not to work there, which is the choice I eventually made.

I’m sure I’m going to catch hell for this. But it needs to be said…..

The banks made it easy for just about anyone to get a home loan. Good credit/bad credit, just about anyone who had a job. You could get a loan for a home. The banks should not have allowed such leniency. They were out to make a buck! AND they made a lot of it!

But at the end of the day, Americans put themselves in this financial mess! One thing I’ve learned over the years is to live to my means! We live in a society where everyone want’s this, that, and everything else! If you can’t afford it, then don’t buy it! If there is one thing that Americans lack, it is the ability to manage money! Is it really that vitally important for you have to keep up with Jones’s? I still have everything! And it’s not because I have an awesome job, it’s because I learned how to manage my money wisely! I have a brother that makes $200,000 a year as an engineer. He has everything that money can buy! Now unfortunately, he is so far in debt that he has to claim bankruptcy! The banks gave you the option to sign on the dotted line for that home loan! But at the end of the day, it was still you who signed on the dotted line! YOU made the decision! No one but you! The banks should have made it more difficult to give the loans, but they didn’t. EVERYONE wanted the American dream! EVERYONE! And most people were willing to do just about anything to have it!

Though somewhat unrelated, I thought I would address this as well….

As for the issues concerning jobs…When I hear that people can’t find jobs out there, I just want to throw-up! The fact of the matter is that there are MANY employment opportunities! Just NOT the ones most of these dead beat lazy azzes are willing to do! I could have easily sucked unemployment dry! But I didn’t! I don’t even make a fraction of what I made! Not even close to what I made in unemployment! What happen to America working hard for anything? When I hear people whine about they’re unemployment running out after 2 years, I find myself embarrass! Embarrassed that my fellow American can’t do what’s right or true anymore! There is a difference in WANTING something, and there is a difference in NEEDING something! I have 2 children I love very much! It doesn’t matter to me how big my house is, the car I drive, shoes I ware, people I know, etc... As long as I can work hard for something, give my kids a warm safe happy place to live, food in their mouths, than I am happy! If you have to be on unemployment for over a year, than I consider you a welfare sucking reciprocate! If you can’t step up in life, than move out to another country that will provide the world to you for free! Oh…What am I thinking? That is already happening in America!

“Destiny……It’s not a matter of chance, it’s a matter of choice”!