I knew several people that paid their union initiation fees upfront to get a job, plus they had to purchase safely equipment on their own dime - taken out of their wages of course. Once their probation period was over in 90 days, they were dumped and the union kept the fees. Come to find out, it was a revolving door between the union and the company.

Some others working for another company were convinced to go on strike for better benefits. They were told by the fat POS Teamster Union rep that it would only last a couple of weeks. They were on strike for 3 months. Many lost their places to live and were behind on their bills because strike pay was shit. Once or twice a week the fat POS union rep would drive his Cadillac up to the company and tell everyone what a great fricking job they were doing marching with their picket signs. He never once joined them. Yeah, in fact one of the employees busted the fat POS in his Cadillac one day out with someone other than his wife. In the end, they got 10 cents an hour raise and lost benefits - including getting worse medical insurance and losing some holiday pay.

Also know several union employees that had grievances that their union did nothing to help them with, and in fact, the union hung them out to dry. Know of others that were skipped over for good jobs that were given to friends and family members of the hierarchy. The people I knew were given the crap jobs that only lasted 2 weeks, so they ended up at the bottom of the list again. Then, they had to spend the next 6 to 8 weeks on unemployment till their name made it back up to the top of the list just to do it all over again. After several years of that crap they would give up and look for other jobs. They realized they would never get enough hours to have medical insurance for more than a couple of weeks every few months or be able to earn a retirement from the union - unless they wanted to spend the next 70 years trying to get enough hours. So, excuse me if I don't have glowing report about how great unions are. As I said, they are only as good as the people that run them. Some do not live up to the promises.

I knew several people that paid their union initiation fees upfront to get a job, plus they had to purchase safely equipment on their own dime - taken out of their wages of course. Once their probation period was over in 90 days, they were dumped and the union kept the fees. Come to find out, it was a revolving door between the union and the company.

Some others working for another company were convinced to go on strike for better benefits. They were told by the fat POS Teamster Union rep that it would only last a couple of weeks. They were on strike for 3 months. Many lost their places to live and were behind on their bills because strike pay was shit. Once or twice a week the fat POS union rep would drive his Cadillac up to the company and tell everyone what a great fricking job they were doing marching with their picket signs. He never once joined them. Yeah, in fact one of the employees busted the fat POS in his Cadillac one day out with someone other than his wife. In the end, they got 10 cents an hour raise and lost benefits - including getting worse medical insurance and losing some holiday pay.

Also know several union employees that had grievances that their union did nothing to help them with, and in fact, the union hung them out to dry. Know of others that were skipped over for good jobs that were given to friends and family members of the hierarchy. The people I knew were given the crap jobs that only lasted 2 weeks, so they ended up at the bottom of the list again. Then, they had to spend the next 6 to 8 weeks on unemployment till their name made it back up to the top of the list just to do it all over again. After several years of that crap they would give up and look for other jobs. They realized they would never get enough hours to have medical insurance except for a couple of weeks or be able to earn a retirement from the union - unless they wanted to spend the next 70 years trying to get enough hours. So, excuse me if I don't have glowing report about how great unions are. As I said, they are only as good as the people that run them. Some do not live up to the promises.

I knew several people that paid their union initiation fees upfront to get a job, plus they had to purchase safely equipment on their own dime - taken out of their wages of course. Once their probation period was over in 90 days, they were dumped and the union kept the fees. Come to find out, it was a revolving door between the union and the company.

Some others working for another company were convinced to go on strike for better benefits. They were told by the fat POS Teamster Union rep that it would only last a couple of weeks. They were on strike for 3 months. Many lost their places to live and were behind on their bills because strike pay was shit. In the end, they got 10 cents an hour raise and lost benefits - including getting worse medical insurance.

Also know several union employees that had grievances that their union did nothing to help them with, and in fact, the union hung them out to dry. Know of others that are skipped over for good jobs given to friends and family members of the hierarchy. The people I knew were given the crap jobs that only lasted 2 weeks, so they ended up at the bottom of the list again. Then, they had to spend the next 6 to 8 weeks on unemployment till their name made it back up to the top of the list just to do it all over again. After several years of that crap they would give up and look for other jobs. They realized they would never get enough hours to have medical insurance except for a couple of weeks or be able to earn a retirement from the union - unless they wanted to spend the next 70 years trying to get enough hours. So, excuse me if I don't have glowing report about how great unions are. As I said, they are only as good as the people that run them. Some do not live up to the promises.