Well I've worked union since 1976 and have never been sorry. I also have never needed the union to stand up for me in all those years. I millwrightd in a paper mill till 2 years ago and understand why a union is needed in a big plant cause there are hole in the butts who use a little power to make life miserable for folks under them. On the other hand the union is kept busy standing up for deadbeats. I have joined the millwrights union out here now and its all different. There are 2 ways to get work, hall callouts and direct callouts from employers that know you or heard of you. At 57 yrs. old I have found that my skills and work ethics are getting me more calls than I can say yes to. The only thing that ever motivated me in that mill was my own pride and and the drive instilled by my parents. So my union experience is quite different but I do know there are still crooked powerful unions out there. Glad I haven't run into that. Noah, I always enjoy your thought provoking writings. Keep it up bud.
I hired on with a big company back in 1974...from the very beginning the old hands stayed on me to join the union...when my 90 days were up someone showed up with the paperwork and I joined right then...Well, I was glad to do so because that first job was a hell hole and the supervision was nasty...well at least half of them...not going to the details but it was like a prison in that particular part of the company...we dealt with the production of metal. We got escorted to the lunch room and minutes were counted, we were escorted to the shower room...just a bad atmosphere...and if you were a good worker the supervision would try to write you up for anything just to keep you there...in other words...if you tried to bid elsewhere you were more than likely be turned down with a bad record...So the union really came in handy at that location...one day this supervisor went balistic on me and that was it...I came in early the next morning and signed the bid sheet that was coming down at 7 am...same location but on the shift work end of metal production when the molten metal was made into different alloys and shipped out to the buyers...I thought I died and went to heaven...the work was tolerable even though we didn't get many breaks...and the supervision was tolerable...
one day I recieved a call that an uncle in lubbock, texas, had passed away...it was during one of the mini recessions and we had about 5 extra folks just floating and cleaning up where it was already clean...I asked my foreman if I could take some days off to go up to lubbock and to the funeral and he said no...I talked to my union stuart and he said it was a crock of chit...all these extra folks and I couldn't take off...he went over this foremans head and the superintendent said...take all the days you need...if you have vacation days use them or if you don't you can take off but without pay...
One thing I can tell you is that being a good union stuart pays big...My union stuart at that time was good all around...got along well with management as well as with the union men...but he always did his job right...so he was respected by all...
I reckon I should mention and define what I see as a bad union stuart...I can spot one pretty quick. either they try to kiss managements butts or they are always anti company...that is all I have to say about that...
Well, my brother calls me and tells me to bid over to his department because it is an awesome place to work...I placed my bid and several months go by and the same foreman that didn't want me to go to the funeral walked up to me and asked if I had placed a bid... I said yes and he said well they turned you down and walked off...I went and asked him why and he said something about my record...went back to the union stuart and he asks me if I was evr written up and I said no...so he set up a date for me and him to review my work record with the production foreman...we look at my record and he goes aha...says right here you were given 2 days off without pay...I couldn't remember ever being off without pay until we looked at the date when it happened...it was for the funeral leave...I couldn't figure out why I was turned doen because I never missed work, always setting production records etc. etc...but I did party hard when I was not working...in my younger days
So I got the bid and moved on to the type of work I loved for the next 30 years...explosions, gas releases...lots of fun...but most of all coming up with solutions to make the plants more reliable and less labor intensive...the learning curve was limitless...I often went wher no man had gone before as far as coming up with process/plant improvements...the only thing I lost on that deal was that one person got ahead of me on senority because of the delay...senority was a big deal back in those days...if you had senority you hand the choice jobs that came available...so the union was very strong and good in those days...it helped me...the union does not see color, religion, clicks, suck a$$es...it protects all who belong...
not too much later I could see the hand writing on the wall...little japan made junk and then they converted and started making high quality stuff...and the third world countries were stepping up and trying to compete...and we had the US government handing down tuff and hard to comply regulations that wer about killing us...then we had a union that never changed with the times...we had union members that needed to be fired because of poor work ethics and they were protected...I could do a job in five minutes but the union wouldn't let me because that job belonged to another craft and the job could only be done by the craftsman...and this required at least one or 2 hours of preperations and then it was 2 craftsmen that came to do the job...
it didn't take me long to seperate myself from these so called working ethics we had as a union working in the plant...I always felt like the union could be strong and be a close friend to the company...I felt like we needed to stand together so we could compete against the world (China) and always be the best...to me it looked very simple to do...the majority got along well with each other (union and management)...I liked the fact that even when a sorry ass boss came on board that the union kepted him in check...It seemed to me that if the management treated the workers fairly, and the union dealt with low performers...all could get along and it would't have to be us and them...the union has gotten weaker because they did not adapt accordingly, and we also have governmental laws that tend to protect to a certain extent...in the big companies anyway...
I transferred to a non union plant in 1993...I learned real quick when to speak up and when to keep my mouth shut and I knew who my friends were and who felt threatened by my experience and know how...around those guys I learned to not question just follow orders...my goal was to retire and not get laid off...just something we have to deal with when not in a union...it took a few years but those guys were dealt with and I moved up into those shoes...just have to know how to play in the system...just like in the wild...we must learn how to adapt to our environment...or we will go by the wayside...
But now that I am retired from that company...I still work out there but not directly for... but almost...and it is a cush job...
and I like to think and believe that I earned it...
I see how some of the small companies can sometimes hire some no account type of foremans that create clicks...like drinking buddies, or, they hire their friends, or they take care of the kiss butts etc.etc. and the hard and reliable workers get screwed...and they don't get the raises but the ones in the clicks get the raises...and it is a hard pill to swallow when I see this around me...just ain't right...and I think...these guys need a union...but really the foreman needs a good as whipping and upper management needs to be more involved with the workers out in the field...and yet I see that the foreman is in a click with a drinking buddy that is in management...more than likely that is how the foreman got the job in the first place...it can be a dog eat dog worldout there...
Hey Noah...not trying to steal your thread just my thoughts on the Unions...by the way...good story...I really enjoyed it...like I told you before...you need to write a book...
