Amazon Alabama Union Vote Redo

[rayg]

FedEx is non-union, right? Didn't they hire a driver who dumped some loads in an Alabama ditch?

Sometimes unions get the employer a better grade of worker.

Not true..the union protects problem employees. When I was in management, because of the union, it was hard to get rid of a poor employee.

[Vern Humphrey]

Not true..the union protects problem employees. When I was in management, because of the union, it was hard to get rid of a poor employee.

When I was training General Motors engineers, I saw the UAW first hand -- what a racket! I came upon a glove lying in a hallway, picked it up (someone might slip on it) and was told to put it back. It seems picking it up was a "union job."

[oscars]

Where were you Humphrey? Neither the tech center at Warren MI nor the proving grounds at Milford MI have many UAW members.

[Vern Humphrey]

Where were you Humphrey? Neither the tech center at Warren MI nor the proving grounds at Milford MI have many UAW members.

Where were you, Oscars? However many they have, they have enough to the company to run scared. You couldn't plug in your telephone connection to get your email without calling a Union electrician.

[togor]

When I was training General Motors engineers, I saw the UAW first hand -- what a racket! I came upon a glove lying in a hallway, picked it up (someone might slip on it) and was told to put it back. It seems picking it up was a "union job."

That's a joke up north that used to be told a lot in industrial settings. I've heard it (maybe said it) a bunch of times.

I wonder if they thought "rube" when you took them seriously!?!!

[togor]

https://www.ksdk.com/article/weather/strong-storms-possible-friday-missouri-illinois/63-76239251-65df-4481-8c2b-a1dbbb946d70

Amazon facility in Illinois has tornado fatalities.

Another thing that is common in many parts of "tornado alley" are hardened shelters within the large industrial space. I'd like to think that this Amazon warehouse had one, that it was a code requirement. Moreover I'd like to think that the plant managers were on the ball regarding the severe weather, and were doing what they were supposed to do to make their workers safe, and that this was one of those events outside reasonable precaution.

I'd like to think that but I'm more likely to guess that it's the holiday season and shutting down the warehouse for a tornado drill was judged too big a hit to site productivity.

We will see.

[togor]

When I was training General Motors engineers, I saw the UAW first hand -- what a racket! I came upon a glove lying in a hallway, picked it up (someone might slip on it) and was told to put it back. It seems picking it up was a "union job."

And with that joke they may have been deflecting from an awkward moment that you created when you picked up the glove.

You were after all a guest in their establishment. Rule #1 of polite guest behavior is: don't notice the mess.

So for example, when you drop in on friends and out of the blue start straightening up....they may be offended by that.

[togor]

Now I'll tell a story that has a much greater chance of being true, and which gets at a truth of labor-management relations.

As a young man my father got summer work at the Pabst Brewery. It was a union shop, but there was summer seasonal work, I suppose to cover vacation shifts for the regulars. Brewing as we know involves grain, which then and now is packaged in sacks, and had to be moved by hand all of the way up to the top of the mash kettles. It can be young men's work, and when these summer kids were going about it too quickly, one of the old guys took my dad aside and said "hey, slow down, yer showing up the older fellas".

In other words, at that time, in that brewery, no freebies between labor and management. Everything was through the contract. When it gets like that I think the business suffers. But it doesn't get that way overnight and it's by mutual effort that it got that way.

Amazon doesn't want unions and it spends a lot of time telling employees why they shouldn't either. But if they were showing them with better practices, then the unionization drive doesn't get off the ground in the first place.

[RED]

Unions served a purpose once upon a time, long, long ago.

I was in St Louis setting up a section in a new Schnucks supermarket. I had 12 feet of spices and 8 feet of sauce and gravies. I was at the store when the door opened at 6:30. By 10:00 I had the shelving set, spice racks assembled and partially filled. Then the union steward arrived and I had to empty the spice rack, remove the racks and stand by as the union workers that didn?t know chili powder from celery seed as they reset the section. The next day I had to call in help from my supervisor and it took us 10 hours to fix the total mess. Hundreds of little bottles of extracts and cans of spices dumped into shopping carts.

Unions set up antagonism between workers and management. Unions that have been around for 150 years hate the companies and management hates them. Many non union companies have management and employees that form a team and help each other.

[Vern Humphrey]

At General Motors, our work space was being renovated. They brought in Banker's Boxes, told us to put in all of our stuff in, and write where it was supposed to go. "When you get to work Monday, it will all be there."

I started down the hall with my box -- the new work place was just a few feet away and down the stairs.

"Put that box down! That's a UNION job! If a union member sees you carrying it yourself, they'll file a grievance."

[lyman]

Now I'll tell a story that has a much greater chance of being true, and which gets at a truth of labor-management relations.

As a young man my father got summer work at the Pabst Brewery. It was a union shop, but there was summer seasonal work, I suppose to cover vacation shifts for the regulars. Brewing as we know involves grain, which then and now is packaged in sacks, and had to be moved by hand all of the way up to the top of the mash kettles. It can be young men's work, and when these summer kids were going about it too quickly, one of the old guys took my dad aside and said "hey, slow down, yer showing up the older fellas".

In other words, at that time, in that brewery, no freebies between labor and management. Everything was through the contract. When it gets like that I think the business suffers. But it doesn't get that way overnight and it's by mutual effort that it got that way.

Amazon doesn't want unions and it spends a lot of time telling employees why they shouldn't either. But if they were showing them with better practices, then the unionization drive doesn't get off the ground in the first place.

another veiled insult?




contracts vary by marketing areas, shops, factories etc etc,

one marketing area when I was in retail had a part of the contract, at that time, where a manager could not go in the backroom and grab a box or even a can, and put it on the shelf,
even to help a customer,
w/o a grievance filed


unions are, by nature, confrontational with companies, it the nature of their existence,

however they also push too hard sometimes, or have in the past,

management may or may not have created the need for the union, but in a lot of cases they (management) don't know how to deal with them, and actually are as confrontational as the unions are,

there is crap on both sides, and good workers on both sides,

the smart hourly associates realize the union is what it is, and dumps them (in right to work states) or at the minimum quits the union, the job,



I had a guy that worked for me when I was a meat guy, he later came to work for me when I was a store manager,
I would not tell an associate if they should or should not join the union, but I could tell them to go talk to Scott,

he was anti union, and saved many a new person some money (dues are expensive and the return was almost 0)

[Vern Humphrey]

I was also there for the Detroit Newspaper strike -- and saw the Union eat their young.

https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/24/b...n-detroit.html

THE Detroit newspaper strike that ended last week has been called the strike to end all newspaper strikes. As many as 2,000 people are out of work because of it, careers were cut short or shunted on to new, less gratifying paths, homes were forced onto the market, any sense of community and solidarity among journalists there was shattered, and for what?

Ten days ago, the strikers offered to go back to work, and not even under the terms of their old contract, but under the more restrictive staffing and benefits rules the management adopted during the 19-month walkout. Even so, many of those workers will not get their jobs back, at least not right away, because management, which used replacement workers to publish during the strike, said it would hire the strikers back only as opportunities arise.

At the beginning of the strike a union spokeswoman explained why they were striking. The newspapers had decided to institute merit raises. "This means that in order to get a raise, you'd have to please your boss!"

Well, duh!