These are my opinions on what Unions are doing for our country today. Some of the m are doing some things, but others are holding up progress. I'm not an anti-union guy, really I'm not. However let's understand some of the facts. Look at the states that are growing, and the ones that are losing population. The states with the heaviest union presence are declining while the states that don't have "strong" unions are growing.
At one time in this country we needed unions to ensure fair wages and benefits and work conditions. Even today we still really need unions. The worst unions are the trade unions. For years they were infiltraded by the mafia and their severences were lost or stolen. Today members of the trade union harrass and set up picket lines outside of non-union construction sites because they feel that they should protest because the companies doing the work don't pay fair wages. They don't care about the wages of the workers, they care about their own pockets. When a union company does the work then the union is the one who gets paid for the job. If the union is so concerned with the wages of non-union employees why is it that some of their protesters resort to physical violence to get their point across?
Another complaint they make is that the companies won't hire locally. I was recently reading an article about another union protest at the building of a supermarket, and the union boss was complaining that they're not going to hire local people to do the job. He's claiming they'll bring people in from the other half of the country. Really? I can't imagine how a compaanies would take less money and drive across the country and pay hotel costs and all the other costs that come with traveling across the country.
Trade unions are so bad they'll break windows and hold up progress of construction sites to let their unhappiness be known. I heard of a story from Staten Island where a construction union was protesting a job inside of a supermarket. One of their members saw a reset being done inside a store and the union boss came in and threatened to protest if they didn't get hired for the job. A re-set isn't a construction job, it's just something a supermarket does to straighten out the shelves. Anyway, the union threated to protest if they didn't hire men to come in and put the hooks on the dairy wall. The hooks are literally a half turn and they're in. I woould estimate that there are roughly 60-100 in a store? So they protested for a twenty-five minute job and ran up the costs.
Trade unions don't save costs. Instead they run up the costs. Unions are the reason so many companies have moved overseas. They're the reason our country is in the worst recession we've had since the depression. They're selfish and only think about themselves. What's worse is they have politcians fooled. Politicians make a big deal over getting a union's endorsement. In return they get favors and jobs. When President Obama signed the stimulous that he said would create jobs the unions were happy. It didn't create any jobs. It just put more jobs in the hands of companies that already had work. The unions didn't hire any more help, they just kep the help they had and lined the pockets of the unions.
I work for a supermarket, and we're a union store. Overall I think the union of a member of has it's pros and it's cons. The pros which a lot of people overlook are the benefits. I understand by having a union they've negotiated decent benefits for us. Not as good as the union I was in prior, but I have benefits and I won't complain.
When it comes to the pay of my union it actually works against us. When someone gets hired they take a certain position in terms of seniority. When someone is hired a week later they're technically under that person. In other words if I hire a guy today and he's a great worker compared to a guy I hired three weeks ago who is terrible, I have to give the terrible worker more hours because of the union.
Another reason it hurts is the union has a set standard when it comes to raises. Every so often you get enough of a raise to get a pack of gum each week until you get to what they call top rate where you get a decent raise. After you reach top rate you'll only get a tiny raise on a yearly basis. I'm not disputing the fact that it's fair, but it rewards lazy workers and hurts hard working workers. Compared to another company who is non-union where they can pay whatever someone is earning and they can reward a good worker with more hours and not have to worry about someone going crying to someone who comes in the store once a week.
One of our local competitors is a non-union store. They start people out at a higher wage and they even give better raises. They'll start someone out at the same wages as it takes someone three years to make in my store in some cases. When I started with the company it was irrelevent because there were no non-union stores. Although I've been with the company long enough where it doesn't matter what store I work in because I make a decent wage and I have good benefits. The reason this hurts the union store is if someone comes in at minimum wage and they work for three months and then they find out they'll make about $3 more per hour at the store around the corner why would they stay in our store?
The point I'm trying to make is that if Unions want to have the support of people anymore they have to be the ones making concessions now. They don't have to run up employee wages to the point that companies are hurting like A&P recently had happen. Although a lot of that was because of A&P because they ran that into the ground, but I digress from that.
If the unions want to survive they're going to have to reform and change they way they operate. I still believe everyone has the right to organize and be rewarded with all the good things that unions provide to their members. They need to allow companies to pay more to those who deserve it and let the companies use their personell the way they see fit. It benefits both companies. They need to stop strong arming companies and politicians need to stop falling for their acts.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Monday, August 30, 2010
Military
I was a member of the military. From 2000-2004 I served in the United States Marine Corps. While in the Marines I worked as a photographer, and when I got out I decided I didn't know enough about Photography to do it professionally and to this day I still believe that and continue to do it as a hobby. Today I am a manager in retail where I make a good living money wise and I have full benefits that cover myself, my wife and our son. I have been trying to find another job for the sake of spending more time with my son and wife. I do like my job, however I don't like the time I spend away from my family and have been searching for a better job for quite a while now.
Before leaving the Marines I went through a week long class on transitioning to civilian life. All Marines have to do these classes where they get "de-programmed" for lack of a better term. There they begin to use first names as a way to address someone and break the habit of calling people by their rank and their last name. It's also during these classes where they tell you how well off you'll be because you have military experience and everyone loves to hire someone from the military. BULLSHIT.
When I left the Marines I fully believed that. I believed that my future was in my own hands and that before you know it I'll be raking in the dough and attending college. I was twenty-two and believed it to be true. Seven years later I'm now twenty-nine and I have figured it out after years of denying it that it's not true at all. I have tried with almost two dozen companies and a few government jobs in the seven years since leaving the Marines and have only been to two interviews.
One with a growing company where the job was set up through an employee I was friends with. The other one was with a government agency I won't name. After going through the process of testing, and an interview and a phsycological test I had two more steps to complete and was called one afternoon to tell me I'm no longer eligible. I asked if it was something to do with my Psych test and was told no. I was told that they had hired enough people to fill all the positions available. That's fine, they told me in a year I could re-apply.
Among the companies I have applied for over the years are Home Depot, Lowes, Southwest Airlines, Waste Management, Philadelphia Police Department, US Capitol Police, Pennsylvania State Police, Victory Beverage, Merck, Wells Fargo, Comcast, Frito Lay, Whole Foods. Not one of those companies have contacted me back about an opportunity to work for them. All of them I have listed my experience in the Marines. Granted I don't necessarily have experience for all of these organizations for what they're known for, but they all have entry level positions.
The problem I have is that they tell veterans they can get a job anywhere. But they aren't telling us the whole truth. What they should be saying is that you can get a job as a veteran if you're an officer because you already have a college degree and none of these organizations believes younger enlisted men and women are the way to go. Why? I don't know. But the truth is that these companies and other companies show up on lists for veteran friendly websites for appearance only. They want veterans spending their hard earned money thinking that if they ever need it these companies will be there for them when they need it the most. They won't be, they'll turn you away and they might give you a letter saying they regret to inform you that they have selected someone else.
Another organization that annoys me is RecruitMilitary.com. Here you have a few guys who were in the military and decided to start a website where employers can get their name out there again as a veteran friendly organization and they can make some money themselves. What a scam that has turned out to be. I have filled out over a dozen in the past year through their website and haven't gotten one call back. Not one. And they hold job fairs where companies come out and will blow smoke up your ass and then probably go back and laugh about it how these veterans believe they have a chance. We don't, they only hire idiots out of college with no real world experience who only go by the manuals given to them by their organizations. I have relayed my concerns to them, and obviously haven't gotten back to me probably because they hope I go away. They realize someone is onto their little game.
If companies really wanted to hire veterans just coming out of the military, why has it been seven years and the only job I have had was the one I had before I was in the Marines? Why have a few that I served with been in and out of work for years since leaving the military? Why do I not know one veteran working for any of these organizations on the list? Why? Because just like everything with government and what they tell service members and veterans it's all lies. We were lied to when were were being recruited, we were lied to while we were active, and we were lied to before we left the service and they continually lie to us today to make us feel all warm and fuzzy and think we're being watched over. Well I now know in my later years that it's not true. My goal is to let everyone know my opinions on everything so that hopefully some idiot from some organization changes things.
Before leaving the Marines I went through a week long class on transitioning to civilian life. All Marines have to do these classes where they get "de-programmed" for lack of a better term. There they begin to use first names as a way to address someone and break the habit of calling people by their rank and their last name. It's also during these classes where they tell you how well off you'll be because you have military experience and everyone loves to hire someone from the military. BULLSHIT.
When I left the Marines I fully believed that. I believed that my future was in my own hands and that before you know it I'll be raking in the dough and attending college. I was twenty-two and believed it to be true. Seven years later I'm now twenty-nine and I have figured it out after years of denying it that it's not true at all. I have tried with almost two dozen companies and a few government jobs in the seven years since leaving the Marines and have only been to two interviews.
One with a growing company where the job was set up through an employee I was friends with. The other one was with a government agency I won't name. After going through the process of testing, and an interview and a phsycological test I had two more steps to complete and was called one afternoon to tell me I'm no longer eligible. I asked if it was something to do with my Psych test and was told no. I was told that they had hired enough people to fill all the positions available. That's fine, they told me in a year I could re-apply.
Among the companies I have applied for over the years are Home Depot, Lowes, Southwest Airlines, Waste Management, Philadelphia Police Department, US Capitol Police, Pennsylvania State Police, Victory Beverage, Merck, Wells Fargo, Comcast, Frito Lay, Whole Foods. Not one of those companies have contacted me back about an opportunity to work for them. All of them I have listed my experience in the Marines. Granted I don't necessarily have experience for all of these organizations for what they're known for, but they all have entry level positions.
The problem I have is that they tell veterans they can get a job anywhere. But they aren't telling us the whole truth. What they should be saying is that you can get a job as a veteran if you're an officer because you already have a college degree and none of these organizations believes younger enlisted men and women are the way to go. Why? I don't know. But the truth is that these companies and other companies show up on lists for veteran friendly websites for appearance only. They want veterans spending their hard earned money thinking that if they ever need it these companies will be there for them when they need it the most. They won't be, they'll turn you away and they might give you a letter saying they regret to inform you that they have selected someone else.
Another organization that annoys me is RecruitMilitary.com. Here you have a few guys who were in the military and decided to start a website where employers can get their name out there again as a veteran friendly organization and they can make some money themselves. What a scam that has turned out to be. I have filled out over a dozen in the past year through their website and haven't gotten one call back. Not one. And they hold job fairs where companies come out and will blow smoke up your ass and then probably go back and laugh about it how these veterans believe they have a chance. We don't, they only hire idiots out of college with no real world experience who only go by the manuals given to them by their organizations. I have relayed my concerns to them, and obviously haven't gotten back to me probably because they hope I go away. They realize someone is onto their little game.
If companies really wanted to hire veterans just coming out of the military, why has it been seven years and the only job I have had was the one I had before I was in the Marines? Why have a few that I served with been in and out of work for years since leaving the military? Why do I not know one veteran working for any of these organizations on the list? Why? Because just like everything with government and what they tell service members and veterans it's all lies. We were lied to when were were being recruited, we were lied to while we were active, and we were lied to before we left the service and they continually lie to us today to make us feel all warm and fuzzy and think we're being watched over. Well I now know in my later years that it's not true. My goal is to let everyone know my opinions on everything so that hopefully some idiot from some organization changes things.
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