Quote:
Originally posted by no substitute
"I am in a union now and I do not care for it one bit. It makes it impossible for me to be individually valuable and compensated accordingly. Where is my incentive to be better than the next guy in that situation? If I am - I get nothing for it. Screw that - when I can find something else I will surely take it."
I'm sure you could find a lower paying non union job. Go for it.
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True true and if my wife wasn't expecting I would be more active in my search. ( I Didn't take that personally by the way)
Honestly speaking I work for the government and my job is not at the moment "classified" and hasn't been for 6 months. What that means is that I fall under the least possible bargaining unit. Which is the union. When I'm classified I could be classified as management or union. I won't know until that is done - when I was hired I had no idea there was anything going to happen regarding a union. It was never mentioned to me and if it had been I would have probably told them to shove it as I am anti union for myself at least. I was a victim of my own ignorance and I make no bones about that. It didn't even cross my mind at the time to ask (6 months ago). They only classify jobs once a year and that's this month - my job may or may not be classified in this round. If not - I have to wait until NEXT year. At the moment I am accruing vacation at the lower union rate which seems to be the only difference in benefits. If I am found to be in the management bargaining unit I will get my vacation adjusted from day one to the management rate. That's cool but like I said - if I had known - I would still be at my job in the cable company or I would have found something else. I had been commuting 100 miles a day which sucked and was the major reason for changing jobs.
My pay did not change much and if it went up - it was because of the savings in gas and vehicle maintenance. At the old corporate job there were spot bonuses, yearly bonuses and much more vacation time as well as better benefits. Oh, and no union. I could negotiate my salary with my employer and it was between me and his perceived need for my services. We had negotiated things on a yearly basis and I was very enticed to make myself more valuable to them every year. I took this job as a stepping stone and I don't truly regret it based on the union problems I'm having. It's given me the time I need to prepare for the growth of my family - with the same pay I had at the other job where I Was working harder and did feel like I was more incentive to do so.
My benefits at the corporate job were also better, better retirement, paid paternity leave (2 weeks but that's more than the govt give me) and the ability to telecommute on occasion.
Anyway - as far as this union squabble is concerned - the unions are going to change their own environment. Look at the cable companies who aren't union and the power companies who are. They are both encroaching on the Telecoms. The cable companies by offering the basic services and the power companies using their own infrastructure to provide local loops and long hauls for data delivery. All of this at a fraction of the cost the existing telecoms do it for. While I agree that there needs to be some pride in American labor there also has to be some reality on the part of the labor force.
Vote with your dollars - buy American and the companies who aren't won't make the money. It's that simple - know where you spend your money. Wal-Mart and places like that are more likely to use over seas product because they are exponentially cheaper than American products. Look at where products are made and if it isn't American (or German) then buy a product that is. We should vote with our dollars and regulate ourselves rather than expecting the government to do something about it for us. We have the power - we just have to exercise it.