Comments on: Unions and the Return of the Middle Class http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/ Firedoglake weblog Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:44:54 -0600 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: Jo Fish http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1691597 Jo Fish Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:52:28 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1691597 <p>see comment #10. Nice of you to do a word count. Bored much?</p> see comment #10. Nice of you to do a word count. Bored much?

]]> By: rickmoran http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1691348 rickmoran Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:21:12 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1691348 <p>I find it fascinating that the author was able to write a thousand words on the EFCA and not like, you know, describe what it actually does.</p> <p>Perhaps taking away a workers’ right to a secret ballot when voting for or against unionizing is indefensible. I certainly think it is. I would have appreciated an effort by the author to defend such undemocratic notions, however, if only for the comedic interlude it would have offered on this site.</p> I find it fascinating that the author was able to write a thousand words on the EFCA and not like, you know, describe what it actually does.

Perhaps taking away a workers’ right to a secret ballot when voting for or against unionizing is indefensible. I certainly think it is. I would have appreciated an effort by the author to defend such undemocratic notions, however, if only for the comedic interlude it would have offered on this site.

]]> By: Synoia http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1690964 Synoia Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:51:58 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1690964 <p>I grew up in the UK at a time when the convention wisdom was that Union members were a bunch of bolshie idlers.</p> <p>I graduated from University & went to work in a Bank, reputed to be “good employer”. I worked on their first payroll system for their customers. In the UK the tax year ends on April 5th, and this brand new payroll system had no tax reporting and processing in it, and we were assigned to work on the Tax system in January. Our project on the tax system was schedule to end on April 5th.</p> <p>Because it was a mainframe system, we had limited time to test. We were asked to work the normal 40 hours, and then to work from Friday 5:00pm to Sunday midnight, for 55 hours. So we were working 95 hours/week. 55 hours of overtime at 1.5 times normal rates.</p> <p>After two weeks of this we were told that we could not earn 55 hours of overtime per week, as the bank’s rules limited us to 8 hours of overtime in 24 hours. Our hours were adjusted to 24 hours of overtime and 31 hours of “comp time” per week.</p> <p>We were all looking at overtime pay and about 8 weeks of vacation at the end of the project, April 5th.</p> <p>One week later we were told that the comp time had to be taken while the project was “current”, that is, before April 5th. In was now about the end of Feburary, and we were working to a very tight deadline. Our effort had been stolen.</p> <p>Our team of six received this news in complete silence. We never discussed it among ourselves. I recall thinking in a flash, about the “bolshie and lazy” union members I’d been told about all my life to this point, and had a fairly large change of mind. I wondered at the time, and do to this day, about the actions of management which generated a large pool of “bolshie and lazy” workers in UK industry.</p> <p>By the end of May all six of the team members left the bank. I’ve never worked for UK Company or in the UK since.</p> <p>I also believe management gets the Union it earns.</p> I grew up in the UK at a time when the convention wisdom was that Union members were a bunch of bolshie idlers.

I graduated from University & went to work in a Bank, reputed to be “good employer”. I worked on their first payroll system for their customers. In the UK the tax year ends on April 5th, and this brand new payroll system had no tax reporting and processing in it, and we were assigned to work on the Tax system in January. Our project on the tax system was schedule to end on April 5th.

Because it was a mainframe system, we had limited time to test. We were asked to work the normal 40 hours, and then to work from Friday 5:00pm to Sunday midnight, for 55 hours. So we were working 95 hours/week. 55 hours of overtime at 1.5 times normal rates.

After two weeks of this we were told that we could not earn 55 hours of overtime per week, as the bank’s rules limited us to 8 hours of overtime in 24 hours. Our hours were adjusted to 24 hours of overtime and 31 hours of “comp time” per week.

We were all looking at overtime pay and about 8 weeks of vacation at the end of the project, April 5th.

One week later we were told that the comp time had to be taken while the project was “current”, that is, before April 5th. In was now about the end of Feburary, and we were working to a very tight deadline. Our effort had been stolen.

Our team of six received this news in complete silence. We never discussed it among ourselves. I recall thinking in a flash, about the “bolshie and lazy” union members I’d been told about all my life to this point, and had a fairly large change of mind. I wondered at the time, and do to this day, about the actions of management which generated a large pool of “bolshie and lazy” workers in UK industry.

By the end of May all six of the team members left the bank. I’ve never worked for UK Company or in the UK since.

I also believe management gets the Union it earns.

]]> By: kaleberg http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1690850 kaleberg Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:34:45 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1690850 <p>PATCO was also the first union to endorse Ronald Reagan. Basically, white men voted for Ronald Reagan on the platform that he was going to cut their pay. I suppose it has to do with hormones.</p> PATCO was also the first union to endorse Ronald Reagan. Basically, white men voted for Ronald Reagan on the platform that he was going to cut their pay. I suppose it has to do with hormones.

]]> By: kittykitty http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1690819 kittykitty Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:42:51 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1690819 <p>thanks, will send it to the paper tomorrow.</p> thanks, will send it to the paper tomorrow.

]]> By: Jo Fish http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1690817 Jo Fish Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:40:19 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1690817 <p>Kitty, not at all, I’d be honored. :) Thanks for your kind words!</p> Kitty, not at all, I’d be honored. :) Thanks for your kind words!

]]> By: kittykitty http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1690815 kittykitty Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:38:03 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1690815 <p>Jo — would you mind if I send a portion of this to my local paper here in Maine where Repub senator Collins launched a vicious tv campaign on the subject of Employee Free Choice Act against Tom Allen, who is now running for her senate seat here and has sponsored this bill in the House? You say it so much better than I ever could, and people in Maine are ignorant on the subject.</p> Jo — would you mind if I send a portion of this to my local paper here in Maine where Repub senator Collins launched a vicious tv campaign on the subject of Employee Free Choice Act against Tom Allen, who is now running for her senate seat here and has sponsored this bill in the House? You say it so much better than I ever could, and people in Maine are ignorant on the subject.

]]> By: dakine01 http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1690814 dakine01 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:35:20 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1690814 <p>Late to the thread but one of the big ironies in Reagan’s busting of PATCO was that PATCO was one of the few unions that supported him in 1980 against Carter.</p> Late to the thread but one of the big ironies in Reagan’s busting of PATCO was that PATCO was one of the few unions that supported him in 1980 against Carter.

]]> By: scribe http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1690809 scribe Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:23:21 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1690809 <p>Let us not forget that, while Reagan is dead, his chief hatchet man in the PATCO strike is not. That would be one Rudolph Giuliani, who got the SDNY appointment in large part as a reward for his PATCO union busting while working out of Main Justice in 81-82. And it all went (downhill) from there.</p> Let us not forget that, while Reagan is dead, his chief hatchet man in the PATCO strike is not. That would be one Rudolph Giuliani, who got the SDNY appointment in large part as a reward for his PATCO union busting while working out of Main Justice in 81-82. And it all went (downhill) from there.

]]> By: Julia http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1690808 Julia Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:21:37 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/#comment-1690808 <p>Hey, Jo.</p> <p>Good for you. My husband’s in a union which had some troubles when the then-mayor cut a private deal with their leadership, and it’s taken unions in NY a while to come back.</p> <p>Be nice if the workers had a voice going forwards. At least they have a stake in the business surviving.</p> Hey, Jo.

Good for you. My husband’s in a union which had some troubles when the then-mayor cut a private deal with their leadership, and it’s taken unions in NY a while to come back.

Be nice if the workers had a voice going forwards. At least they have a stake in the business surviving.

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