RNs protest Gov. Snyder’s “Right to Work” corporate takeover - Page 11

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  1. Guide
    Dec 14, '12 by
    I am sorry you were not an active union member. Good unions work for the members, all of them. Yes, they will represent those who are not the best workers. Everyone deserves to understand what is expected and if the person is not meeting the needs they have the right to understanding. That is what Weingarten was about.

    I see this frequently. People complain about the union, or dues, or the fact that the union defends members but they do not get involved. I did. We were able to raise wages for CNAs and nurses because we did our homework and we worked to represent all of the members. When our members needed assistance they could get representation. In one case I fought, successfully, to have a plane fare covered and other health care costs covered. We got better work conditions passed. We stopped the night shift from being asked to work an extra 1/2 hour without pay.

    A good union will get after a poor employee long before managemnt gets involved. Peer pressure is a very strong influence if people choose to use it. I always got more out of being in a union than I would have not being in one.
    tewdles, CrufflerJJ, herring_RN, and 1 other like this.
  2. Jan 14 by
    Quote from Jolie
    Perhaps not your choice of a news source, but that does not make the information inaccurate.

    Would you prefer the Detroit News version of the story?

    Money pours in to replace hot dog vendor's equipment destroyed at Capitol | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com

    I posted the article to observe the response here, which was quite predictible. Unless I missed a post (and I sincerely apologize if I have), herring is the only non-conservative poster I saw who decried the violence that characterized this union activity.

    Thank you, herring.

    And thank you cjbacjba for your input. It is revealing.
    I didn't realize that if we were not conservative that we were supposed to decry the violence during that union activity.

    I am a peace nick hippy...violence is not my thing
    aknottedyarn likes this.
  3. Guide
    Jan 14 by
    If one works from the positive rather than to put down all the negative consequences of unfair labor practices it is not the same as accepting violence as acceptable.

    I stated my view very clearly. I did not get into the violence aspect because nothing is gained by rehashing something most people can agree is not what is wanted in any demonstration.

    I find it telling that so many are willing to accept poor wages and benefits and bad mouth unions. People died in the union for many generations as the Pinkertons and other thugs beat and shot them.

    I dreamed I saw Joe Hill is not a love song. It is a song of struggle and protest. We look back not to have to repeat the past.
    tewdles and herring_RN like this.
  4. Jan 14 by
    Quote from aknottedyarn
    I am sorry you were not an active union member. Good unions work for the members, all of them. Yes, they will represent those who are not the best workers. Everyone deserves to understand what is expected and if the person is not meeting the needs they have the right to understanding. That is what Weingarten was about.

    I see this frequently. People complain about the union, or dues, or the fact that the union defends members but they do not get involved. I did. We were able to raise wages for CNAs and nurses because we did our homework and we worked to represent all of the members. When our members needed assistance they could get representation. In one case I fought, successfully, to have a plane fare covered and other health care costs covered. We got better work conditions passed. We stopped the night shift from being asked to work an extra 1/2 hour without pay.

    A good union will get after a poor employee long before managemnt gets involved. Peer pressure is a very strong influence if people choose to use it. I always got more out of being in a union than I would have not being in one.
    Apparently you know little about the actual workings of a union and it's members. Union members see the company as the enemy, an enemy that is constantly trying to cheat them and negatively affect their livelihood. The members see any member that can screw over the company as a quasi hero. Unions don't police their own. That's a bunch of bologna.
  5. Guide
    Jan 14 by
    Quote from HM-8404
    Apparently you know little about the actual workings of a union and it's members. Union members see the company as the enemy, an enemy that is constantly trying to cheat them and negatively affect their livelihood. The members see any member that can screw over the company as a quasi hero. Unions don't police their own. That's a bunch of bologna.
    Sorry, I was shop steward for close to 10 years, president of our chapter, active in state and regional activities. I have walked picket lines and I have seen the destruction caused by the attitude you describe. It does not have to be that way.

    Unions are often characterized as you have. It takes dedicated workers to make sure the union does not become an us v them. When it does everyone loses. Negotiation skills are very important and people who cannot see a symbiotic relationship will never understand how it works.
    tewdles and herring_RN like this.
  6. Jan 14 by
    Quote from aknottedyarn
    Sorry, I was shop steward for close to 10 years, president of our chapter, active in state and regional activities. I have walked picket lines and I have seen the destruction caused by the attitude you describe. It does not have to be that way.

    Unions are often characterized as you have. It takes dedicated workers to make sure the union does not become an us v them. When it does everyone loses. Negotiation skills are very important and people who cannot see a symbiotic relationship will never understand how it works.
    I was a union steelworker for 18 years and UTU represented freight conductor for almost 5 years. What I described is exactly the way it was at US Steel and at Norfolk Southern Railroad. They looked for ways to get rid of the dead weight (chronically late for work, do a sloppy job, do just enough to look busy, etc) and the unions would spend thousands of dollars representing those poor misunderstood souls. If you are paid to do a job, just freaking do it. That is all most companies want from their employees. Do the job they are paid to do.
  7. Guide
    Jan 14 by
    Unions are not the same. Here is what some unions are doing -- http://nurses.3cdn.net/a70aeebe6eccdff4bb_1rm6vtx0w.pdf
    BrandonLPN, tewdles, aknottedyarn, and 1 other like this.
  8. Guide
    Jun 10 by
    Union Membership Decline Boosts Corporate Profit At Workers' Expense

    Corporate profit has been soaring for years at workers' expense and a decline in union membership is to blame -- not a rise in technology, a new study found

    Union Membership Decline Boosts Corporate Profit At Workers' Expense | Portside
    The study: [COLOR=#000000][/COLOR][COLOR=#0000ff]accordingto a study by Tali Kristal[/COLOR]
    [COLOR=#000000][/COLOR]
    aknottedyarn and tewdles like this.
  9. Jun 10 by
    Here's the bottom line...imagine our world without unions, without any of the benefit that they have had, without any of the costs that they have had. Okay...done

    In order for me to want to live in THAT world I would also have to imagine that corporate people are generally moral, ethical, and altruistic as applied to their goals. Uh...still working on that one...

    Rick Snyder, I suspect, will go down in history as one of the most destructive governors in the history of Michigan.
    aknottedyarn likes this.
  10. Jun 12 by
    Quote from heart2serve
    I live in a right to work state and work at a magnet hospital. You don't have to be in a union to deliver great patient care. Not a big fan of unions.
    *** I left a non-union Magnet (can there be a union Magnet hospital?) hospital with very unsafe staffing levels, crappy treatment of nurses by management, low pay and poor benefits (typical Magnet hospital) for a nice (voluntary) union, non Magnet hospital. I nearly doubled my pay, get treated with respect, and actually get to provide good care to my patients.
    aknottedyarn and herring_RN like this.