re: USW strike...** POSSIBLE END IN SIGHT **

LINK

Convent and Norco will be walking out at midnight tonight

No I'd just like one of these Union guys to defend why they're asking for money if it's about safety

For all of you with the frick a union attitude.....
mind you all you see is greed cause of your envy and just like with any organization there is the possibility of corruption but

a few tidbits

Union Facts: Many of the benefits and protections workers enjoy today came about as a result of union efforts. These include the minimum wage, social security payments, an eight hour day and weekends, overtime pay, the American with Disabilities Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act which requires employers to meet safety standards for their workers
1. Unions Gave Us The Weekend: Even the ultra-conservative Mises Institute notes that the relatively labor-free 1870, the average workweek for most Americans was 61 hours— almost double what most Americans work now. Yet in the late nineteenth century and the twentieth century, labor unions engaged in massive strikes in order to demand shorter workweeks so that Americans could be home with their loved ones instead of constantly toiling for their employers with no leisure time. By 1937 these labor actions created enough political momentum to pass the Fair Labor Standards Act, which helped create a federal framework for a shorter workweek that included room for leisure time.
2. Unions Gave Us Fair Wages And Relative Income Equality: As ThinkProgress reported earlier in the week, the relative decline of unions over the past 35 years has mirrored a decline in the middle class’s share of national income. It is also true that at the time when most Americans belonged to a union between the 1940's and 1950's — income inequality in the U.S. was at the lowest point in the history of the country.
3. Unions Helped End Child Labor: “Union organizing and child labor reform were often intertwined” in U.S. history, with organization’s like the “National Consumers’ League” and the National Child Labor Committee” working together in the early 20th century to ban child labor. The very first American Federation of Labor (AFL) national convention passed “a resolution calling on states ban children under14 from gainful employment in 1881, and soon after states across the country adopted similar recommendations, leading up to the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act which regulated child labor on the federal level for the first time.
4. Unions Won Widespread Employer-Based Health Coverage: “The rise of unions in the 1930's and 1940's led to the first great expansion of health care” for all Americans, as labor unions banded workers together to negotiate for health coverage plans from employers. In 1942, “the US set up a National War Labor Board. It had the power to set a cap on all wage increases. But it let employers circumvent the cap by offering “fringe benefits” – notably, health insurance.” By 1950, “half of all companies with fewer than 250 workers and 2/3 of all companies with more than 250 workers offered health insurance of one kind or another.”
5. Unions Spearheaded The Fight For The Family And Medical Leave Act: Labor unions like the AFL-CIO federation led the fight for this 1993 law, which requires state agencies and private employers with more than 50 employees to provide up to 12 weeks of job-protected unpaid leave annually for workers to care for a newborn, newly adopted child, seriously ill family member or for the worker’s own illness.”

Exactly. Every "positive" thing he listed about unions happened over 60 years ago.

Again, quit being a bitch and get back to work.

He also didn't mention mafia influence on unions. I'm sure they were standup guys though

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Why are they negotiating money if it's about safety?

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It is a contract negotiation. Money is negotiated just as are myriad of other items.

The hang up appears to be due to safety or at least that is what is being communicated. Rumors from both sides is that money has been agreed to.

This isn't about safety. If workers thought they were putting their lives at serious risk everyday when they went to work they would find another job.

This is about the USW losing power and membership. They are wanting more Union jobs so they can collect more dues and keep the union going.

If these facilities were as unsafe as they are claiming they would be shut down by OSHA/ DEQ/etc. There was a need for Unions 30-40 yrs ago...... Now not so much.

And the sad part is they will go back for less than they left. These refineries will run (better than before) and won't miss a beat. The union has zero leverage. No one feels bad for some who walks away from a job where they make <$100K/ yr. And the raise they get won't make up for the money they are losing right now. A bad situation for everyone involved.

Also don't rule out the fact that the USW were big donors for the Democratic Party. With Obamas run coming to and end this may be a tatic to drive gas prices up and have the government intervene to gain momentum into 2016.

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We are but it's by our management temporarily. The other cat that made that statement was being a douche and saying that we should be fired or not let back in for good.
They need to sign that fricking contract already! the facility I work at is already abiding by all topics that are requested by the Union for the companies to implement.

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So why can't the local unions tell the union bosses to frick off and that yall are not striking since the local issues have been resolved and yall's plant already adheres to the policies they want?

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uple years ago(before I was in the union) they voted on the national USW have authority on when to strike. It's not up to the local union anymore. I personally think it's the dumb crap ever but that was before my time in the union.

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well that is just stupid IMO. It should be up to the local unions.