[john70t]

My personal experiences with unions have been pretty lousy.

Went through the Teamsters strike in 1997 and they didn't pay us anything in stike wages. What, they were broke? The AFL-CIO finally had to step in and throw out some rent-money scaps(I think it was about $50/week).
The lazy-ass rep at our building was very much pro-managment, and even went so far as to say he "didn't have any grievance forms because he moved last week and they fell out of the trunk of his car"LOL.

In the IAM, I didn't see our local rep for the first year and a half until he was replaced by a new guy who walked around with a smile and a hearty handshake and then disappeared for good.
They took my $65/mo, but were much, much,much less than helpful before and after my work injury. F'krs kept sending me letters that I was kicked out for not paying dues, so I would have to remind them that injury dues were $3/mo not $65.

Despite all those personal feelings, Unions have been the only thing preventing the benny-popping Mexican semi's (you know-with the wiggly tires) from flooding our freeways, manufacturing jobs from dissapearing altogether, and keeping new welders/electricians/plumbers properly trained.