Unions? Yea they suck!

Anyone that talks to me about what I do for longer than 5 minutes will hear about the nightmare of a Union that I have the pleasure of dealing with on a regular basis. Over the course of the last few months I have developed some very strong opinions about unions. In a nutshell I think they suck and that they need to be done away with and or they need to not be allowed to have so much power.

As an self employed person, and one of an entrepreneur type mindset I have very strong feelings on how business's should be run, regulated, and monitored. I am going to try my best to not get on a tangent and stay on the topic of Unions and why I just plain don't like them.


My Fiancee (The Girl) has a blog and she does something that I like and I am going to steal. She gives nicknames to people so that she can talk about them and not use their real names. So as time moves on and I write more and more about my opinions about where I work I am going to start using nicknames. First I am going to establish two names.

1. The Company - My Client that I am doing work for.
2. The Union - always with caps on "The" and "Union". This is the dreadful Union that The Company has a contract with.

When I came to work with The Company I did not really know much about unions, and how they worked. I knew a little bit but in my life I had no reason to interact with one, so I never really learned firsthand about them, and what kind of problems that they can cause. As time has moved on I have learned what the phrase "Welcome to ________(Company name)" means. It is something that can not be told, you can only experience it for yourself.

Please allow me to try to paint a picture of some of the stupid things that the union does. Today was trash pickup day in my office. Here at The Company we pick up trash twice a week and today is that day when I can get my waste that I so proudly created removed from my office. Now as I am one of the people that does all of the workloading, and developing of new policies, and procedures I don't want my office to be accesses by the workers that I am directly effecting. It is not that I don't trust the workers, it is just I don't . . . .ok I don't trust them, but if you were me you would as well. So when Gaps (another nickname) came into my little office suite to get my trash I kindly walked out of my office with my trash can in hand to hand to Gaps to dispose of it. I was working on her work route at the time, and I did not want her to go into my office with all of that strewn about my office. Now there where three other people in the suite, (try to keep these ones straight) F man, someone not worth getting a nickname, and Snake. Snake is a Union Shop Steward. I still to this day am not really sure what that job is other than to piss me off and everyone else at The Company. He thinks that he is the most high and mighty person that walks on the planet, and he knows all things (oh if he only knew how much he is ticking off the higher ups at The Company) Anyway I am standing there with my trash can in hand ready to give it to Gaps, (who is two feel away) and Snake looks over and says,

"you know she could do that for you" referring to me letting her get my trash.

I reply "I know, I don't want anyone in my office so I am giving it to her"

He looks kinda annoyed that I did not listen to him and says "that is bargain business and she can do it" (I am not really sure what that means but anyway)

So I decided to be a punk, and knowing that he wanted me to walk all the way back to my office and replace my container so that she could go and get it, I just stared at him for a moment, and placed the container at my feet. He looked happy and ticked at the same time. It was worth it too see that kinda of reaction.

Now why do I tell that story? Well the concept that he was trying to prove was that I am taking and union persons job. . . . . .ok. . . . . uhhh she is still going to take my trash, and I am positive that there is no shortage of work for her to do. I know cause I am the one that builds and designs it for the site.

Unions prevent me from taking care of my good workers, and punishing those that need it. you can work your tail off every day for years, and when a better spot opens up that other guy that sleep in his closet everyday gets it. Why? Because he was there 6 weeks longer than you. So why would you work hard if you get nothing in return for it? Slowly most of the good workers after getting passed up again and again quit working hard, and they become the lazy closet sleeper, and hall walkers that at they at one point hated so much. They do this cause there is just no motivation to work hard.

We had some great programs that we wanted to roll out that would really be good for The Union workers, and The Companies interest as well. The Union Leaders denied it, cause they knew that it would make it much harder for us, and would cause more problems. Last I checked when you caused problems for your boss you get fired right? Not with a Union, you just say. Oh I'm sorry how foolish of me and then you walk away.

Well I am done venting for now about unions. I know I did not really talk about unions as much as I did a personal experience but I will later. I am bored about blogging about politics.