Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh,,,, the American dream, oh how sweet it is. You have a nice job, a nice car, a few credit cards, a few toys. Some have boats or planes. Our closets are so organized with nice cloths we wash when it isn't even dirty. We love to eat out, most of us are a bit overweight. We have the best in technology, web on our phones with 50 bucks a month bill alone, it never ends. Most of us are usually a few months away from a financial crisis, some, week to week.
What happens when the world experiences war, a hurricane, open borders etc,,,,,,, fear sets in and things change.
When the times change and our FAT lifestyles are in danger, we act. We either fight to maintain our fat lives or we fight to loose weight. This is exactly how I see this world wide mess. This union debate is more than a union issue. This issue is a symptom of a world wide problem. The problem is power and greed. NOW BE CAREFULL, I am not saying the problem is the union because the fact is it is a mentality. Is it possible that many unions are fat, or our personal budget fat, our federal gov fat,,,well yes,,, numbers mean something and the mentality that we as a nation spend deep to get out is against common sense. Yes, sometimes we invest capital to get a greater return but we are way beyond that. There is a world wide crisis and it's much more serious than we believe. Times are getting tougher and tougher and we cannot sustain our current spending in most aspect of the "American dream."
I need to get my finances in order but I need to sacrifice. The unions cannot sustain the fat of the momentous machine that roles on. The fed gov cannot sustain it's crazy spending. You see, I did lump the union in but not because I am against unions but in a sense they are a victim of their fatness along with most the country. The union is just experiencing their turn in a nationwide crisis. It's not the average union member or even so the outspoken union person. I was a union guy for 7 years and it was great, made lots of money, good Bennie's. I was union not so much because of a conscious decision to be union but rather it was prevalent in my area and there was a ton of work. I had no deep conviction to be a union supporter or a non union supporter, just so happened. During that time I was living the "American dream." It's not a plan, it's a way of life. When that lifestyle is in jeopardy we cling to what aided us to achieve the dream and for many that is the union, many it is not but it is no wonder we see a fierce fight going on because much is at steak. What is at steak is our fatness, not meaning that in a negative sense at all but keeping my speech the same for a better understanding. I hate to say it but all fat needs to be trimmed, unions included. Honestly, I don't even know what collective bargaining means nor do I believe that this matter hinges upon it. If the fact is the country and world economy is in trouble we all need to take some kind of action concerning our finances and that starts with the individual up to employers, state, fed, public, private, union non union.
Many of us are defending personal interests that are just a symptom of the real problem. Were not getting anywhere by treating a symptom. We just delay the inevitable. I am not referring so much to this debate but rather the guys on the front lines, fighting, threatening, lying. I suppose we are doing that to some degree in here and it just supports division. Until the division is overcome we suffer.
I believe something within the union has to be trimmed. I do not know what but when someone is threatened to loose something you will see a struggle and that's what we are experiencing. When I watch the news I am discouraged by the childish actions of both side. It's amazing anything gets done because power and greed is in jeopardy from both sides.
I am limited in my understanding of union vrs non-union and kinda sickened by the division. How is it that we can be so divided as people over this. Being limited I will voice my opinion or experience so don't start dumping me into the pot because were all fellow Americans trying to do what we THINK is best. For union tradesman, much time is wasted in a day. I belonged to local 97, painters union, West Chicago Illinois although I was a Sheetrock finisher, (still am.) We would roll in at 7 am and clown around while rolling out, setting up. Usually didn't lift a tool till 7:30, keep in m ind always commercial work such as, walmarts, restaurants, banks, hospitals,,,etc so the ease of slacking was easy. It was easy to do and we ALL,,,I say ALL did it, carpenters, grid ceiling guys, Sheetrock hangers, finishers, and painters. By 9:15 we were winding down for brake, some guys would wondering around going place looking busy. Supposed to be 15 minutes so at 9:45 we were back at it. 11:45 were winding down for lunch which is supposed to be 30 minutes but in reality we would never go back till 12:45. 3:10-15 or on Fridays 3:00 we start winding down for roll up. Lets see how much wasted time in a day? Close to 2 hrs a day, that's 20% fat. The sub contractor estimates a labor cost on the job and adds $ to cover oversight. That oversight is often the lazy a**. The sub contractor would not condone the slackness but it is the norm, it's not something they fight unless near the end of the job were loosing, that you'll see the owner out there watching and you bet the waste is gone. On the norm the owner knows it is going on. The same thing can happen with a non union contractor also but the difference is that the union contractor pays much more coin per hr than the non union. The non union is typically a smaller outfit and gets the crumbs of commercial jobs so the over loss of production is less and easier to handle. There we're years I worked strictly commercial with 60 other guys from our shop. Now add up the loss the sub contractor took. Did he loose or did it get absorbed into the inflated bid so to speak. The non-union shop in a union predominate region does not get that size job so the competition is other union shops. The cost of a union shop to a non-union shop is largely different. This is the fat I am referring to. This fat was not a deliberate plan of the union. It just happens from greed and power. If the non union cannot compete because they are bullied or threaten or the union members picket than you have a monopoly so to speak, and even inflated because of only union competition. I remember BITD I was friends with the estimator with our shop and boy did he have it hard. He knew the slackers we jeopardizing his bid with a 2 hr loose per guy per day. He was between a rock and a hard place trying to get the bid and knowingly add man hrs to the bid to compensate for the slackers. Add all the bennies and dues and the numbers are staggering.
The non union shop in my area could not compete and did mainly residential, although my union shop had some large custom builders that were residential. When we worked residential we worked piece work meaning paid by the sq ft of sheetrock. When working by the foot we flew, came and went as we pleased. We worked at a 25% faster rate and often made more cash than hourly on commercial.
When I left the union shop I went to work non-union. It was piece work and we were paid slightly less than the union but we paid out less also. I also had the option to defer the ins and get it paid to my check instead. When we did remodel non-union it was hrly and the rate was determined by our performance. The day I started I was told a rate I would be paid which was much less than most the others. I worked with the boss all week and he was impressed with my production and quality so I was paid the same, an example of a way to trim fat.
I see fat trimming much easier at a non-union shop if the shop is fair and in my multiple places of work, fair was the norm, quality was often the case. When I worked union we never finished with 3 coats, I mean never. 3 of the 5 non union shops I worked for were 3 coat shops.
So,,, what did I experience, a considerable amount of fat while working in the union, not a deliberate act of the union but rather the contractor. Personally I don't think the union would like to see it that way, it just was that way. Kinda goes with the old saying most of us are familiar with when we go by a road construction crew and there standing around, "break time"? I am not sure if it's always that way or not, only the workers know.
Is there more potential for fat in a union compared to a non union,,,yes
do union jobs cost more,yes, why? Wat percentage compensates for fat.
Why should a slacker get rewarded and paid the same, this is more so a problem with union workers.
The things I mention are real problems and maybe that is a start to fat trimming. That's all I have experienced and qualified to comment on.
