Toon: Ten Reasons we're Against Unions

[Ichingcarpenter]

[pscot]

1. I love piece work

So what if they keep raising the rate.

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. Psychotic America

voted Republcans

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

2. Purrrrrrfect

[DefenseLawyer]

4. When I was in college I spent a summer working in a factory that made cardboard for boxes

Last edited Tue Dec 2, 2014, 05:31 PM - Edit history (1)

It was a temp job, the pay was low but it was a late shift and there was a lot of overtime. It was a horrible place to work. The temperature around the "corrugator" was well over 100 degrees and when you were assigned to that job, there were literally no breaks. No lunch, no breaks at all, for your shift. The managers were idiots and people were routinely fired for next to nothing, so everyone was on egg shells all the time. Of course I was an idealistic college boy, so I was shocked. The thing that shocked me most though was how virulently anti-union the workers there were. They worked under horrible conditions with no benefits but had all been convinced that unions were crooked and any attempt at organizing was someone trying to take their money and play them for suckers. It was both fascinating and sad.

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. I was at a Salon with Country Joe McDonald

where we discussed those issues until the wee morning at my house

True story ...... I even have the photo

[Enthusiast]

12. That had to be fun. And enlightening.

[MindPilot]

9. Similar circumstances right after I got out of the Navy

Small shop that made aircraft parts...horrible place to work...I was there for maybe eight weeks.

One of the things I witnessed was a supervisor actually get physical with a guy whose jacket had a UAW patch. He grabbed the guy ripped the patch off--along with most of the front of his jacket--and and fired him on the spot, all the time screaming at the top of his lungs about how much he hated unions.

That was probably the most abusive and toxic environment I've ever worked in; a place where it wasn't unusual for the boss to get physical with people. Today, he is probably a manager at Foxconn. Man, I remember that like it was yesterday.

I quit / got fired when I found after the fact that having Thanksgiving & the Friday off meant working the Saturday & Sunday, and I didn't show up for four days.

[Enthusiast]

14. This story is very common. I've been in similar circumstances.

Fascinating and sad indeed.

[hifiguy]

6. The propaganda has worled.

35-40% of this country's population - not just those who vote - would happily agree to their own execution. Creating such a huge number of nihilistic zeroes who are willing to off themselves economically has to be seen as a supreme triumph of propaganda. Never in history has there been anything like it.

[hunter]

18. This is exactly right.

I agree with your percentages too.

35-40% of the people are easily manipulated by corporate mass media propaganda.

[GeoWilliam750]

19. Not sure that I can get to 35-40%

But te number is undoubtedly absurdly high. Reading about the start of WWI, and it is truly astonishing that so many millions of bright, wonderful people died for the vanity of two old, deranged men.

[abelenkpe]

7. K&R

[Blue_Tires]

8. #11:

"I don't like my union-member neighbor to have all these benefits that I don't!! Why should he get them? Just because he's in a union??"


#12: "But big corporate CEO overlord says they will move our jobs overseas if their factory doesn't remain right to work!!" (2 years later the factory moves those jobs overseas anyway)

[blackspade]

11. ^^This^^

[Enthusiast]

10. K&R! This post deserves hundreds of recommendations!

Thank you, Ichingcarpenter.

[Derek V]

13. Kicks, too!

[deist99]

15. Interview

Saw an interview a few years ago with some vp at Apple. He was talking about a big order for iPads they received and they were able to call up the plant in China at midnight, and since the workers lived at the plant, they were woke up and were able to start immediately filling the order.

He then stated that we don't have that kind of flexibility here in America. I don't call it flexibility I call it slavery and I wish no company anywhere had that kinda of "flexibility".

[world wide wally]

16. This is absolutely accurate all too often.

And then when someone notices things like this and calls Americans stupid, that person is vilified. No wonder we're stupid.

[Pharaoh]

17. A goog one to seng

The right wing nuts!

[alfredo]

20. Knr

[melm00se]

21. there are several challenges in forming a union

(and I am not going to get into the actions of management).

1) People have to be unhappy with their work environment. If they are happy (or i should rather say not unhappy) with their job/work environment (whether an outsider thinks that they should be or not), it will be almost impossible to get them to vote for a union. Look at Mindpilot's comments: "horrible place to work" and "most abusive and toxic environment I've ever worked in"; ditto for DefenseLawyer's: "It was a horrible place to work" and "people were routinely fired for next to nothing, so everyone was on egg shells all the time." Those places would have been a slam dunk to organize and get a positive vote.

2) those who are voting to organize must see a value in organizing. if workers see no value in organizing (and in paying union dues), you might as well be trying to push a 5 ton boulder up a sheer vertical cliff.

if these 2 issues are not addressed, getting people to vote to organize will, more than likely, fail.