Millwrights

very nice pictures.

Gravy Sucking Pigs?

On 8 Mar 2007 19:07:47 -0800, with neither quill nor qualm, "millwrightron" quickly quoth:

Union spam, eh?

.-. Life is short. Eat dessert first! ---

While millwrights are indeed a unique and skilled craft set, one American cannot do without....the fact is that the Union component is a rapidly dying and largely self terminating bit of reality.

Unions have done such good work over the past 100 yrs, in changing the labor laws, that they are largely unneeded, though handy to have. On the other hand..they have also priced themselves out of the market, and in suiciding..have taken far far too many good companies to the grave with them.

The only reason there are any unions at all today..is because they managed to get into the Government, and unionized government workers make up the vast majority of the remaining union membership..

Gunner

"Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for Western civilization as it commits suicide"

- James Burnham

Note that the two on the website, are sitting.

Cheers Trevor Jones

The skilled trade unions do a good job of training their people. My brother was in the IBEW where he recieved his electrical training. Part of the deal is that you have to work as a union worker for 10 years or so to pay off the training.

By brother got tired of not working and went out on his own. He wrote the union a check to pay the training expenses to leave cleanly. (There is an exit clause in the contract)

Currently a lot of the union types that looked down their noses at him are scabbing on the side as Michigan's economy hasn't been so good lately.

Wes

My observation exactly. Break time. No doubt paid break time. Can you believe that many people think that paid breaks are mandated by law?

They are in California.

A real honest-to-God millwright is a skilled worker worthy of high respect.

Few union "millwrights" I've known met that description, but I did know a couple. They were sometimes at odds with the union because they seemed to overachieve by union standards. They did their work with ease and could no more slack off or malinger than they could jump over the moon. They couldn't help it, that's just how they were made. A real millwright is competent in a wide diversity of skills.

I was a "shirt" so my millwright fishin' bud and I had a lot of fun bantering. Geez, I dassn't haul the small outboard to the small boat on Little Lake X lest I get a grievance ... freakin' shirt couldn't haul the bait or beer much less the motor and get it right...

We caught us some bass, Ol' Son, yessiree!

That may be so in some cases but it is not so with millwrights.

Sorry about the double post -- perhaps if I was in a programmers union . . . . I admire the individual skills of some of those that can call themselves Millwrights. OTOH, unionism solely for job protection of those that don't deserve it is an archaic idea at best.

Bob Swinney

How apropos.

Union bashing seems to be a favorite passtime for some in this group. To these folks I would suggest a re-read of the history of unions in North America to get a proper grip. After doing that take a hard look at present-day practices - specifically the Simon Legree' type treatment of undocumented workers - both foreign and domestic workers. The bottom line is that unions (and eternal vigilance) are still needed to protect workers and maintain a standard of conditions that we all too frequently take for granted.

Ken.

Essentially they were formed to prevent a good number of the things that are now their own hallmarks, like favoritism and selective hiring, dictating who can and cannot work on a jobsite. About the only thing that the unions don't do (that can be traced back to policy, anyway) is break the legs of those that don't do it their way.

My stepfather is a retired longshoreman. I hear enough about the bullshit that they pulled, to understand completly, why the cargo handling in the worlds biggest ports is going automated.

Cheers Trevor Jones

I believe job wage and security should be dictated by performance, not how many years you've been able to stick around. If you don't like where you work, work somewhere else.

Ken Davey wrote in article ...

And, after reading the history, they should consider the present-day affairs of unions for the most accurate picture.

Aw, geez! Here we go again. Have you ever looked at how some other law-breakers are treated when they are caught "in the act" by some upstanding Americans?

It's shameless, I tell you.

Punching a punk in the face just because he pushed an old lady over and broke her arm taking her pocketbook. He was just trying to make a living, ya know?

We've got to come up with more politically correct names for purse snatchers, child molesters, and punks in general.....

......you know, just like using the term "undocumented worker" in place of "illegal alien."

Ah, yes......yet another proud, well-documented, union "tradition". The support of illegal activity. Has the union considered "organizing" illegal aliens ("undocumented workers" to the PC) yet?

People have broken U.S. law to come here and work. Many of them pay absolutely no taxes and are a drain on hospitals, schools, law enforcement, and other things supported by taxpaying Americans and legal alien workers.

Don't they DESERVE a union.

Ken Davey wrote in article ...

Here's a thought......

Why don't YOU go on down to Mexico and organize the workers there in order to give them such a great union life in their home country that they won't want to illegally enter the U.S. to work illegally?

Shouldn't be such a great task for the unions where such a great need exists....

Or is there some sort of problem laundering Pesos that doesn't exist with U.S. dollars?

From what I read, the standard union practice of buying off corporate heads should not be a problem in Mexico.

What's holding you back?

...

I've been in a large number of both Union and non-Union facilities.

I think the real bottom line is that every single non-Union facility I've ever been in has happy people working.

Every Union facility has a bunch of bitter angry people working.

An oversimplification, as I have not been in every plant in the US. But by and large, in the Automotive world, non-union == happy.