Just laughing about unions, politics and human nature in general.

Our LOCAL Union elections are going on at the moment. The guy that's president has had the job for 20-25 years? There was only one term in the middle where he was out of "office".

A women ran against him, a women with a Hispanic last name. She won handily, swept into office by the power of the Latin vote, because there are literally thousands of Hispanic female custodians at the institution. Only problem was once she got in office, they found out she wasn't Hispanic, only her name was. lol She only lasted one term.

Anyway, the long term incumbent is now running his campaign with the message of... "Everyone wants change. Let US be the change!"



Well apparently you can, especially when you represent, well... I don't want to say "stupid people", but... stupid people.

So every time I run into anyone affiliated it the union, I ask... "If I vote for ****, how will he know if I'm voting for him because I like the job he's doing, or if I'm voting for him because I want change?" So far no actual answers from anyone, just annoyed looks, and a couple knowingly embarrassed looks.

Undefined change may not be what you want.
Higher dues, change you can count on.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
I don't want to say "stupid people", but... stupid people.

They get them to vote yes on these shitty contracts ever X amount of years using a "carrot". Here's a shitty shitty contact that when you factor in inflation is more like a 6% cut in pay, but if you vote yes you'll get 1% retro pay (because we've been without a contract for two years) and A LUMP SOME PAYMENT OF $600 Their eyes light up at that like they won on a game show and they vote for it. (After taxes it ends up being under $400)

I swear, you could say to them you can have $2 more a week for the rest of your career, or $100 now... they'd take the $100 every single time.

The only time we saw anyone from the union was
just before the election. Didn't matter who got voted in they never did a damn thing for us.
I'm glad to be out of it.

The guy running for election, I had a meeting with him and the VP once, they requested I come see them about an ongoing issue with an employee and the department. Once there, when they found out I was supervising 28 people they were appalled! That just won't do! (I should have been several pay grades higher for that many people) He said he'd call to talk about that at another time. That was 2018 or 2019, I'm sure the phone will ring any minute now.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
I don't want to say "stupid people", but... stupid people.

They get them to vote yes on these shitty contracts ever X amount of years using a "carrot". Here's a shitty shitty contact that when you factor in inflation is more like a 6% cut in pay, but if you vote yes you'll get 1% retro pay (because we've been without a contract for two years) and A LUMP SOME PAYMENT OF $600 Their eyes light up at that like they won on a game show and they vote for it. (After taxes it ends up being under $400)

I swear, you could say to them you can have $2 more a week for the rest of your career, or $100 now... they'd take the $100 every single time.

Not a union thing, but when I was in college I was on the student senate and the students were outraged about the administration of the meal plan. The existing plan was 20 meals a week (3 per day and two on Sunday, because the cafeteria didn't serve breakfast on Sundays)...so literally every meal. What they didn't like was that you could only use your scans for yourself and if you skipped a meal, you didn't get any credit for it...it didn't roll over and you just "lost" it.

Students demanded more flexibility. They wanted a set amount of credit that they could use whenever and how they wanted. So the cafeteria came up with a plan and presented it. They proposed to replace the existing 20 meal per week plan with a plan that provided a total number of meals that could be used any time during the semester. But the total only worked out to 14 meals a week. For the same price.

Students loved the idea. A buddy and I prepared a presentation and pointed out that this new plan provided 30% fewer meals for the same money. They didn't care and voted to pass it anyway. The first semester it was implemented, a bunch of students ran out of meal scans about 2/3 of the way into the semester, resulting in the predictable outrage.

People are idiots.

Mid 1970s during the early years of the Affirmative Action Program one of my regular poker buddies was employed by the US Postal Service. Plain ordinary white Anglo-Saxon guy in his 20s, common English name, Vietnam veteran.

Passed over several times for several years while others advanced ahead of him. Decided to change his name legally, taking a Spanish derivative of his birth name. Promptly promoted in the next cycle, and again the following year, income increased big time.

I tried to teach him a little Spanish but he wasn't interested in learning. Por que? Todos bueno, amigo!

I've only been in a union one time, and reluctantly at that.

The plus was that I got regular scheduled raises. The minus was that the union dues were a percentage of wages, so they got an increase as well, so my bottom line "take-home" increase was rarely very noticeable.

Overall, looking back, I really didn't get any real benefit from being in the union, as far as "perks" or other "good deals".

And the politics within the union were typical. Positions granted more on ethnicity and sex, rather than knowledge, skills, and abilities.