Speaking from experience, that man was speaking his mind to be heard by his former co-workers more than he was to be heard by the cretins at city hall. His brothers are the ones that let him (and others) down. Government employee unions exist for the sole purpose of giving the illusion of some bit of self-determination in employment while what they really are is just a control mechanism of dem leadership to cut lucrative deals with union bosses in return for their financial support at the expense of their members in the form of "dues" and suppressed wages.
95% of the other firemen and other city workers like cops/garbage men don't care, as long as they get their paycheck and add to their pensions, they don't care. I live in NYC and have family members in all of those unions and that's all the city workers care about. They will actually tell you that also.
I would go as far as saying that MOST of the membership is pretty based on an individual level, the "Union" is used as a tool to keep them in line with their government overlords. I'm speaking from my personal experience in a fire union for a small city fire department. The membership lacks the historical perspective because there are always new people coming in and the ones that know the score prefer to leave quietly. It's amazing how many of our self elected union leadership people wind up promoting to the top levels of the FD and then sit on the opposite side from the union during negotiations, doing the bidding of the government. They are mostly boot-lickers that got their positions based on their ability to screw over their coworkers. It takes a while before you notice the pattern but, by the time you do, you are close to retirement and don't give a crap what the union does. You do your best impersonation of that one mole that never pops his head up in the "wack-a-mole" game because all you do when you cry foul is make yourself a target.
Speaking from experience, that man was speaking his mind to be heard by his former co-workers more than he was to be heard by the cretins at city hall. His brothers are the ones that let him (and others) down. Government employee unions exist for the sole purpose of giving the illusion of some bit of self-determination in employment while what they really are is just a control mechanism of dem leadership to cut lucrative deals with union bosses in return for their financial support at the expense of their members in the form of "dues" and suppressed wages.
95% of the other firemen and other city workers like cops/garbage men don't care, as long as they get their paycheck and add to their pensions, they don't care. I live in NYC and have family members in all of those unions and that's all the city workers care about. They will actually tell you that also.
I know all that - that was my point. Fire service pushes "the brotherhood" but it's every man for themselves when their pension gets threatened.
Did my reply seem to you that I supported unions?
I would go as far as saying that MOST of the membership is pretty based on an individual level, the "Union" is used as a tool to keep them in line with their government overlords. I'm speaking from my personal experience in a fire union for a small city fire department. The membership lacks the historical perspective because there are always new people coming in and the ones that know the score prefer to leave quietly. It's amazing how many of our self elected union leadership people wind up promoting to the top levels of the FD and then sit on the opposite side from the union during negotiations, doing the bidding of the government. They are mostly boot-lickers that got their positions based on their ability to screw over their coworkers. It takes a while before you notice the pattern but, by the time you do, you are close to retirement and don't give a crap what the union does. You do your best impersonation of that one mole that never pops his head up in the "wack-a-mole" game because all you do when you cry foul is make yourself a target.
Amen