posted
In most of the cases I've looked at, the working conditions at the companies in question were a result of either the manufacturing process itself or were created by the workers themselves.
One example was a large paperboard company in New England where the workers were complaining about how hot and damp the plant was. It's a PAPER MILL, it's going to be hot and damp! However, they joined a union, demanded enviromental controls and won. This forced said papermill to collapse due to the extreme costs, and 3,000 people lost thier jobs.
Another one: Workers were being injured on the job at a maker of packaging films. They demanded through thier union better working conditions. The company invested millions in worker safety training and equipment. It is well documented that the workers then proceeded to ignore the safety training in order to earn production bonus-rewards. Then they demanded that the company again update the safety program. This happened four(!) times before said company collapsed.
-------------------- Like A Bat Out Of Hell...
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
"When there's trouble you know who to call..."
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Nothing like corperate money overpowering those sillly safety concerns.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Styrofoaman: And why should I not be bitter about the "asian thing?" In 10 years we'll be totaly dependent on imports from China and they'll be able to dictate terms to us.
Hah. The stupid "gwai lo" thinks it will take 10 years. Thank goodness for Americans that underestimate the reach of our ridiculously circuitous plan to take over the world.
Oh wait, I've said too much already.
Registered: Mar 1999
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-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam: Canada is planning to take over the world?
Mind control via beer.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I remember my mom being in a closed shop communications union in the late 70's. The union went on strike putting everyone out for about four or five weeks. But, THEY WON! my mom got a whole 15 CENT raise! Let's see, she was making $15.00 per hour......off for five weeks......
Huh....
-------------------- I am the Anti-Abaddon. I build models at a scale of 2500/1
Registered: Aug 2003
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quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam: Canada is famous for beer?
Well they sure as hell arent famous for mind control, are they?
yet.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
Hear, hear, Styrofoaman. This from a person at the centre of the political spectrum.
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Unions seem to suffer from the same curse that eventually afflicts all special-interests: they never go away, even when they've already accomplished everything they ever set out to do. Unions did a lot for workers in the UK in the first half of the last century, but ultimately they became too political. Result: the 70's were a decade of unrest, and when Thatcher came to power she proceded to destroy this country's industrial heritage in order to make certain the Unions would never again threaten the corporate interests she represented.
That said, there's a lot that unions could do for worker's conditions in the US. Yet there seems to be this all-pervasive hatred of them which I just don't understand. It's more than just examples of union idiocy cited above, just something in the American character I guess. Like you associate them solely with socialism or something.
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