Unionism 101

[Tom Iron]

I was brought up in a union household. The clothes we wore, food we ate and the roof over our head were all paid for by union earned money.

I followed my father into the Structural Ironworkers trade. At that time, it was known as a father-son local as far as getting into the work, although this only gave a son a "shot." He still had to measure up. You made your own name. If you didn't, you would have a hard time earning a living doing that work. And this didn't mean a good man without any relations in the business couldn't get a shot. It was only a bit of favoratism. In my own case, I thought my own father would rather have seen me killed, rather than have it seem he was favoring me. It was not a happy experience to have to learn your trade from your father. This was the norm, and it effectively weeded out those who didn't belong there. Many a son of an Ironworker had to find work in some other area of work.

When the blacks were forced on us, the above started coming apart. White Union members, who previously, never would have brought a son around said, listen, if you have the blacks coming (court order forcing their presence) in and they can't do the work, then you should take my son too, even though he can't do the work either. It's hard to argue with that logic.

In the early fifties, only after Unionism had become safefly established in our society, did city (NYC) and state workers start organizing. Before that, they'd been on the side of capitol (many times the police worked as goons for employers) in the war between labor and capitol. That's why I completely reject the idea of public service employees as unionists. They are not unionists and they can never be unionists.

The only thing that's held the so called public service unions together is greed. They don't give a rat's behind about the work. It's only about getting their paws on more and more money and benefits with them. nothing more. There is no union idea of a "fair days work for a fair days pay," or "an injury to one is an injury to all." Those concepts are completely alien to them and those are the ideas that started unionism to begin with.

Tom Iron...

 

[DixieDestroyer]

Tom,

Thanks for that insight sir. I've mixed feelings on unions. On 1 hand, it seems they served their purpose (many) decades ago and have strong socialist leanings. On the other hand, my Grandad worked 30+ years at Ford, and UAW took care of him and my Grandmother. I'm also not a "corporatist" (although I work for a large one) as they've (too) fully embraced a globalist agenda rife w/ cultural marxism.

 

[Tom Iron]

Hostess bakers have gone out on strike and 20 plants are shut down. There are 18,000 Hostess employees. Hostess is in backruptcy and says if the strike lasts five days, they'll liquidate. The first plant went out Friday.
The court forced a new contract on the bakers and that's why they're allowed to strike, because the contract was forced on them. It calls for an 8% reduction in pay, 17% reduction in health benefits and elimination of pentions as of 2013. This was in the NYPost, but I haven't seen any other mention of it in anything else yet.

Tom Iron...

 

[Tom Iron]

Well, Hostess Brands management has thrown down the gauntlet to the workers. They've announced that if the strike doesn't end by 5PM eastern time, they will seek to liquidate tomorrow. I guess that's it. We'll know tonight.

Tom Iron...

 

[werewolf]

Unfortunately, the unions have been co-opted and corrupted, and all that the unions fought so long and hard for, like safety measures and health benefits for the working man, is being destroyed by the zio-capitalists, whether it's Mexicans working with zero safety equipment and zero benefits or the proliferation of the non-union Walmart octopus or the shipping of almost all industry outside of the country to take advantage ofvirtual slave labor.

IWW Union hero, Joe Hill -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYS0zal7ObI


I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
Alive as you and me.
Says I "But Joe, you're ten years dead"
"I never died" said he,
"I never died" said he.
"In Salt Lake, Joe," says I to him,
him standing by my bed,
"They framed you on a murder charge,"
Says Joe, "But I ain't dead,"
Says Joe, "But I ain't dead."

"The Copper Bosses killed you Joe,
they shot you Joe" says I.
"Takes more than guns to kill a man"
Says Joe "I didn't die"
Says Joe "I didn't die"

And standing there as big as life
and smiling with his eyes.
Says Joe "What they can never kill
went on to organize,
went on to organize"

From San Diego up to Maine,
in every mine and mill,
where workers fight,
to defend their rights,
That's where you find Joe Hill,
it's there you find Joe Hill!

I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
alive as you and me.
Says I "But Joe, you're ten years dead"
"I never died" said he,
"I never died" said he.

 

[white is right]

I was brought up in a union household. The clothes we wore, food we ate and the roof over our head were all paid for by union earned money.

I followed my father into the Structural Ironworkers trade. At that time, it was known as a father-son local as far as getting into the work, although this only gave a son a "shot." He still had to measure up. You made your own name. If you didn't, you would have a hard time earning a living doing that work. And this didn't mean a good man without any relations in the business couldn't get a shot. It was only a bit of favoratism. In my own case, I thought my own father would rather have seen me killed, rather than have it seem he was favoring me. It was not a happy experience to have to learn your trade from your father. This was the norm, and it effectively weeded out those who didn't belong there. Many a son of an Ironworker had to find work in some other area of work.

When the blacks were forced on us, the above started coming apart. White Union members, who previously, never would have brought a son around said, listen, if you have the blacks coming (court order forcing their presence) in and they can't do the work, then you should take my son too, even though he can't do the work either. It's hard to argue with that logic.

In the early fifties, only after Unionism had become safefly established in our society, did city (NYC) and state workers start organizing. Before that, they'd been on the side of capitol (many times the police worked as goons for employers) in the war between labor and capitol. That's why I completely reject the idea of public service employees as unionists. They are not unionists and they can never be unionists.

The only thing that's held the so called public service unions together is greed. They don't give a rat's behind about the work. It's only about getting their paws on more and more money and benefits with them. nothing more. There is no union idea of a "fair days work for a fair days pay," or "an injury to one is an injury to all." Those concepts are completely alien to them and those are the ideas that started unionism to begin with.

Tom Iron...

Public service unions are around so lazy incompetent employees aren't canned. When I was a delivery driver I used to see government run offices with a million clerks flying around doing virtually nothing. The same office run by the private sector would have half the employees with double the efficiency. Also I can't tell you how many times I would get that's not my job talk to employee X and the other employee would be 2 feet away doing virtually the same job. The welfare office or drivers licensing center is an example of this..:frusty:

 

[Tom Iron]

• 
  
  

Hostess Brands Inc, the maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, said it will ask a bankruptcy judge for permission to liquidate after failing to obtain wage and benefit cuts from thousands of its bakery workers.
The company said a strike by members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union that started last week was too much to overcome.
The case is In re: Hostess Brands Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-22052. (Reporting by Tanya Agrawal in Bangalore and Carey Gillam; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty





Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/industri...nd-down-operations-sell-assets/#ixzz2CORHR8aW

Well, Gentlemen, This looks like the end for Hostess. I'm sick. Look at that last paragraph. Notice where the report comes from and who reports.

Tom Iron...

 

[Bronk]

Very interesting thread, Tom Iron.

My dad was a lineman for the telephone company and a member of the Communication Workers of America until he joined management with a promotion to supervisor. When I came out of the Marines, I landed a job as a cable splicer (very good money in those days). I joined the CWA. What turned me off was the monthly, 12-page union newspaper that supported the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, the Farabundo Marti in El Salvador and every other left-wing cause that had nothing to do with the fundamental state of U.S. workers. Though I would continue to splice cable to earn pocket money for college, I left the CWA forever in the early 1980s.

You might notice the flurry of union activity in the Obama years. The plain fact is that most union pension plans are under-funded sometimes as much as 50 - 55 percent. The leadership of these unions have spent the money on themselves, to fund numbskull leftist causes and to fund the campaigns of their political allies. They desperately need new members to pay dues and replenish the union coffers. This is why Walmart is such a target; Walmart has a sea of non-unionized workers and the unions need to make inroads with that workforce or die.

 

[Tom Iron]

Gentlemen, Union people were the greatest long before the blacks were forced on us by ignorant judges who had no idea of such labor. Their world consisted of the spoken and written word. They had no idea of the damage they were doing to our workplace. Anyway, look at our wonderful Union men the way they were. Too bad all this is gone. I had a buddy who used to say, "If God had thought of anything better than Ironworking, he would have kept it for himself" I sure agreed with that and threw myself into that work 100%. Except for we had hardhats and riveting was done, everything you see of the Ironworkers in this video is the way I found it. It was wonderful - Enjoy.

New York Documentary - YouTube Jan 24, 2010 ... Empire State Building Construction circa 1930by wdtvlive4216,240 views; (Part 1
/10) New York: A Documentary Film - Episode Two: 9:25 ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m0TpUhylKc - 196k - Cached - Similar Pages

Tom Iron...

 

[Kaptain]

Tom, I'm not understanding your logic according to your story. Is it - if it's your union it's bad but mine and my father's union it's all good? Or is it - Hey, unions are to blame for multi-culturalism not our government?

In my union meetings (public sector) multi-culturalism never comes up. In fact, my union has protected and still protects me from being replaced by someone with a more preferable (darker) skin color.

A friend of mine is a union construction worker. His employer has stated that he is glad he has union workers. Union or not though, jobs that use government money in any way have to follow our stupid multi-cult laws. As a result, he has to work alongside of women and clueless lazy minorities. That's not the union's fault.

 

[Tom Iron]

Kaptain, Good afternoon Sir, To answer your question first read my essay on work (Blacks and High Steel | American Renaissance). When the blacks were first introduced/forced on the American workplace by judges, it was obvious to a blind man they couldn't do any effective work. Especially as work existed then. The best word that can be used to describe the American workplace of those years was "Dynamic." In order to fit into that workplace, illusions had to be created and enforced. So they went after my union first to break down doors. They had to. We were the most in your face trade. So they went about forcing obviously inept blacks into an area of work they had/have no abbility to perform, even after all these years, and after watering down the tempo of work so much, they still don't measure up.


As far as the public sector goes, it should have never been allowed to Unionize. Unionism was started in the private sector for private sector workers. In that there's no tangible end result to a public sector employee's workday, they can't be considered Unionists. This in no way is meant to be an insult to you or anyone else. It's just the way things are.

 

[Tom Iron]

Kaptain, Sir, take a look at this film. Everything in it except two things is just the way I found things when I started work. Those two things is Riveting was done and in my day we wore hardhats. Everything else you see, I did. The blacks never could do work like that and they never will be able to work like that. Nor will hispanics and of course women. Everything you see today more or less as far as work goes is a carefully maintained illusion.

New York Documentary - YouTube Jan 24, 2010 ... Empire State Building Construction circa 1930by wdtvlive4216,240 views; (Part 1
/10) New York: A Documentary Film - Episode Two: 9:25 ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m0TpUhylKc - 196k - Cached - Similar Pages

Enjoy the video. Every White man should love this.

Tom Iron...

 

[Kaptain]

Ok, I thought you were blaming unions for forced multi-culturism. Of course I agree that whites of union or non-union type are better workers than blacks of union or non-union type. No arguement there.

Public sector unions, private sector unions, and non-unions all have problems with forced diversity. All workers of all type do. The Mayo Clinic and IBM are two biggest businesses in my town and they are both non-union. At both places you will find high diversity in the work place. A common sight are blacks and other non-whites (often foreigners) meandering around in the work outfits doing absolutely nothing. I have relatives that work at both places and can tell stories. I have a private sector construction owner friend that is forced at times to hire blacks for certain jobs. They basically show up to the work site and tell him to F-off - no kidding. He can't fire them because he needs the numbers. Thankfully, in my public sector job I don't yet have to deal with too much of this as of yet as lazy blacks just don't want to put up with dealing with kids.

This is why I'm a little curious as to why public sector unions are attacked in particular. Especially certian types. Why are police and firefighter unions often exempt from anti-union laws? What's the logic?

Hostess is private sector. As far as I'm concerned if the union workers weren't satisfied with the contract it's none of my business to tell them they must work for less. Especially since that less is less than 15 dollars an hour and about a 30% cut to boot. I'd quit too. What they needed was a stronger and smarter union. Then the company wouldn't have the right to raid their pensions and have several purposefully planned bankrupcies while lining their own pockets. I'm not naive enough to blame a baker at $15/hour for such a mess of a company.

At some point and time the working people of America shouldn't have to listen to that tired old line of "just be happy you have a job" while we have an increasing number of people who never work a day in their life and get everything for free. I guess people working for $2 dollars a day in India could be "just happy they have a job" too. But I'm guessing they are not that happy.

 

[white is right]

Ok, I thought you were blaming unions for forced multi-culturism. Of course I agree that whites of union or non-union type are better workers than blacks of union or non-union type. No arguement there.

Public sector unions, private sector unions, and non-unions all have problems with forced diversity. All workers of all type do. The Mayo Clinic and IBM are two biggest businesses in my town and they are both non-union. At both places you will find high diversity in the work place. A common sight are blacks and other non-whites (often foreigners) meandering around in the work outfits doing absolutely nothing. I have relatives that work at both places and can tell stories. I have a private sector construction owner friend that is forced at times to hire blacks for certain jobs. They basically show up to the work site and tell him to F-off - no kidding. He can't fire them because he need the numbers. Thankfully, in my public sector job I don't yet have to deal with too much of this as of yet as lazy blacks just don't want to put up with dealing with kids.

This is why I'm a little curious as to why public sector unions are attacked in particular. Especially certian types. Why are police and firefighter unions often exempt from anti-union laws? What's the logic?

Hostess is private sector. As far as I'm concerned if the union workers weren't satisfied with the contract it's none of my business to tell them they must work for less. Especially since that less is less than 15 dollars an hour and about a 30% cut to boot. I'd quit too. What they needed was a stronger and smarter union. Then the company wouldn't have the right to raid their pensions and have several purposefully planned bankrupcies while lining their own pockets. I'm not naive enough to blame a baker at $15/hour for such a mess of a company.

At some point and time the working people of America shouldn't have to listen to that tired old line of "just be happy you have a job" while we have an increasing number of people who never work a day in their life and get everything for free. I guess people working for $2 dollars a day in India could be "just happy they have a job" too. But I'm guessing they are not that happy.

If you take India or Bangladesh as an extreme example that's why unionism was created in North America and Western Europe. Back in the late 19th century living and working conditions weren't much better than India is today for the lowest of Indian workers. If you read about child laborers who literally died or were mamed, companies used literally send in the next worker to replace the downed worker. Similar to a football coach stating"next man up..."