“A union brings collective bargaining, democracy on the job, protections for whistle blowers, rising standards of living, stronger tax base for the community, and much more. Overall, the standards unions negotiate help build communities up. The economic impact for the family and the community are clear. Workers who have a union receive fair pay and benefits and they have a voice on the job. They are protected against unilateral management action. When you have a collective bargaining agreement (a contract) in place, you know what your raises are going to be, and you know what your health insurance premiums are going to be – you can spend accordingly and plan your life. More tax money goes into local communities. But there’s more. Unionized workers are more stable, more productive, and produce with higher quality. Unions help train and educate workers, and the protections provide a workforce with the freedom to act without recrimination. The protection a union contract provides results in a workforce empowered to blow the whistle when necessary. That means they can perform as effective worksite stewards, and therefore as effective environmental stewards.
If we want the benefits of green jobs to be sustained, we should make sure they are union jobs.”
This is an excerpt from the UA web site summing up why Green Jobs should be union jobs. As a contractor I agree. But who is protecting the union member from threats from within the union? Who protects the worker that wants to standup and have his or her ideas heard in a union meeting? The yelling, and degrading comments made and the outright threats bring fear into the members. Fear of those that were elected to protect them. When the president of the local writes “If they fail to keep up their additional payment for their dues they will be forced out of the Union and loose their medical and pension.” How do you legally take away someone’s pension who is vested? Apparently the rule of law does not matter.
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On Sept 19th there was a post on the “602-Steamfitters-Online” blog titled “Hang Together Or Hang Separately”. I honestly believe most of the members I know would rather not “hang” at all.
I know the majority of our members have watched the news and paid attention to what’s going in the world around them. They understand that while we have been spared a lot of the anguish currently experienced by others around the nation, things here are still not good. We are blessed to have the work that we do but most contractor’s backlog has evaporated to almost nothing. A good number of them have told me they are bidding work at or below cost in hopes of staying afloat and keeping their good people. Others have had no choice and are starting to lay people off.
As contractors, there is little we can do to resolve this situation. It is up to the members who are sitting back, the proverbial “silent majority”, to stand up and bring reason to THEIR union. I’m not suggesting rolling over but instead to look at the current situation rationally. If these members look hard enough they might just realize that the enemy they feel breathing down their neck is from within! These rational members need to get to the meetings and exercise solidarity by standing up for one another instead of sitting back and letting those with “liquid courage” in their veins, those who can’t keep a job and don’t have a mortgage payment, dictate through intimidation the path that leads over the cliff. Most importantly they need to take a hard look at their leaders and remember what they see come the next elections!
What is about to happen to our local is like nuclear war! IF THE UNION STRIKES THERE WILL BE NO WINNERS … ONLY LOSERS!!!
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