The problem I have with this union is that we share diametrically opposed world views. The real world is not fair, so the expectations of entitlements is unrealistic. I’ve worked in the real world before coming to Raytheon. Most jobs I held didn’t have any “benefits”, and the wages were barely livable.
So I should be glad to join the union bandwagon, right? Not exactly. I truly believe in God and in the free will He instituted. Free will ungoverned by unconditional love always seeks its own. That’s why we have the “me generation”. What’s in it for me? I’m entitled to these benefits. Give me, give me.
Don’t get me wrong I like money and I like stuff, but I believe in earning the money I get. If my employer doesn’t pay me what I think my labor is worth, I quit. I don’t talk bad about them and get other people stirred up and dissatisfied with their lot in life. Eventually the employer will go out of business as he should if no one will work for him or else he will wake up and stop being greedy. This notion of a society based on threats, and intimidation sounds more like a communist dictatorship or al-Qaeda.
Join or die. In the Revolutionary War, join or die meant you can join us or do nothing and die when the enemy comes against you. It was a noble undertaking to join an organization to protect what you worked hard for. Nowadays, join or die means you join us or we kill you. If you don’t join us then you are our enemy. Doesn’t leave much room for free will, does it? I don’t think the God I worship likes that kind of fraternity, the god of al-Qaeda does.
It’s kind of like the concept of democracy which everyone touts as a good thing. Democracy always degenerates into mob rule. That’s why our forefathers chose to have a constitutional republican form of government. People create laws for society to function in, then institute punishment for not obeying those laws. That’s an orderly society instead of one run by every new whim or fad.
I am an independent voter who usually chooses to vote Republican. In the south where I grew up, it seemed that the people with conservative values were usually Democratic candidates, so I voted for them. I don’t like or trust big business, but I trust unions even less. They remind me of things I really don’t like. Things like socialists or communists, remember when those were bad things? Or what about Hoffa and his deals with the mafia, or should I say organized crime since we all know there’s no such thing as the mafia, wink, wink? I like to judge a tree by its fruit, and some trees have really bad root rot.
Maybe Hughes was so poorly managed that it needed a union to keep people from getting hurt on the job. People should stick up for their rights. We have new tools to deal with bad bosses these days. It’s called the internet. We can email them and if they don’t listen we can BLOG them, thank God! Unions’ usefulness has gone the way of the dinosaur, or the dodo. These days we have assertiveness training seminars and television programs that tell us “we’re not gonna take this, anymore”. The little guy has a voice cloaked in anonymity.
I applaud the courage of the union workers to choose to strike. It’s not easy standing up for what you believe, which gets to the point of why I circulated a petition to decertify the union while they were out fighting for me. Well my actions were governed by law. Unfortunately I found out more about that law after they went on strike, and the window of opportunity to act was a short one to collect the signatures according to the National Labor Relations Board rules. I’ve been wanting to get rid of this union for a long time.
I don’t like that they speak for me and I have no choice in the matter. Since the Local 933 has been in existence, I haven’t gotten to vote to get rid of them. I would think that if they are doing such a fine job I should get to give them a report card. They demand the right to rate Raytheon’s performance on how workers are treated. Where’s their report card? Who holds them accountable? When do their books get audited? I don’t like being forced to have the union speak for me.
Raytheon offered performance bonuses for programs that did well. I thought what a great idea, incentive. I work better with incentive. The union said our members (which I’m not) don’t want your bribery (they didn’t really say exactly that, I’m paraphrasing the concept) it would be unfair to people who work in other programs. I’m not even a member of their union, but I can’t take the incentive pay, which leaves me coming to work with no incentive. Actually I have an incentive which isn’t based on money. I have a son in the Army stationed in Korea. Our war fighters need a reliable product and that is what I intend to get them.
I chose to work for Raytheon for the pay and benefits which the union says they got for me. The union thinks I should be loyal to them for that. My loyalty lies in either my personal economics or my personal values. I choose who to work for and for how long based on those loyalties. If Raytheon didn’t offer what it did I would have gone elsewhere. Since Raytheon is helping to keep my son alive, I’d work for a whole lot less, that’s my personal values. Going back to my petition, I want the union decertified because they violated my personal values.
In a time of war they chose to strike rather than negotiate, if what I’m hearing is true. Raytheon offered a $500 bonus which the union refused, then they counter-offered with a $1000 bonus which I’ll bet the members of the union didn’t know about before they chose to vote to strike. I don’t like that kind of manipulation. Be true to your word. Stay on the job. Finish the course. We have men and women who need “Rosie the Riveters” while they are putting their lives on the frontlines. I say shame, shame. These folk aren’t cut from the same cloth as old Rosie was. She left home to keep her man alive. These folk left work to keep their paychecks lively. To me it just ain’t right.
Yeah, I circulated the petition and I appreciate all those who signed it. They are what makes America truly great. I takes a lot of courage to cross a picket line just like it does to walk one. You can call me a scab if you want to, but name calling don’t make it so. When two thirds of folks you thought were your friends took to the streets in protest, it’s awful hard not to join them. I really wanted to, but my son is in Korea and that’s personal. And shame on me for thinking only about MY son. I think about all my sons and daughters out there in the streets of Iraq. I may not be their father, but they are America’s sons and daughters and I’m an American, so they are just like my sons and daughters. And I am so proud of them.
Do I want to see this union, Local 933, broken up? I surely do, if they insist on speaking for me. They don’t share my beliefs. They support political candidates who oppose this war with union money. I don’t oppose the war. Saddam made promises after the first time we kicked his butt to allow inspectors and to respect the no fly zones. He shot missiles at our pilots. To me that’s all it took. He didn’t keep his word. It doesn’t matter if there were WMD’s or not. You don’t shoot one of us without stirring up the whole lot of us. We need to give Iraq back to their people.
Look how long it took America to get right after the Revolutionary War, and it was a document that represented our belief system. A modern day society is much harder to govern. The people of Iraq need a lot of help, but they will probably need a civil war before they truly figure out that freedom isn’t free and neither is free will. Somebody has to pay for freedom, just like the one who hung on a cross.
Don’t tell me what you’re entitled to. Grow up. Be glad you have a warm bed and food on your table. Take care of your own first and help people who need it. And don’t tell my boss that I don’t want more money if he’s willing to pass it my way. I can do a lot of good with that money in my pocket instead of theirs.
Maybe I’m entitled to it! HA!
9 comments:
Just to clear things up for you. The reason the additional $500 was offered to the union was because the Raytheon negotions team did not want the union negotions team to not recommend the contract. Raytheon was trying to buy an abstain vote from the union side. When the union negotiators refused to be nuetral the additional $500 was removed by the company.
Nice description of why you did what you did. I congratulate you on your effort; and will be ready to help your cause - name the time; you already know where I am! :-D
You are not alone in your feelings. I also feel unrepresented as do many others. When the time comes, please let people know where they can go to sign the petition.
Thank you.
to follow blindly is the same as without freewill. mostly it is to be misinformed, and dictate your actions on peer pressure. i applaude you for your convictions, yet with all the fallacies in your information, both for self and a union, you seem to only have done half the research. up for some meaningful debate without name calling on unions or not? my goal in life is to minimize profits during war, and make the corporations that prospher from war to use a percentage of profits to take care of our boys/girls who are wounded/disfigured. priviledge should not mean not paying the price for freedom. that is my view, care to go there?
Committee-
Are you going to continue with this blog until the next contract negotiations? I crossed the picket line with you, as I can see the higher purpose in what we do, and I feel the union does not represent me in the least.
We need to keep a running list of union offenses, from distributing communist propaganda in our break rooms (People's Weekly World, anyone?), to violating the "No Retribution" Clause of the Return-To-Work agreement, to union stewards refusing to represent non-union members.
Keep up the good work, and keep up the running tab of all the union's failures and shortcomings. As we get into the 2009 contract negotiations, we can undertake a much better planned, more organized decertification petition drive.
On April 16, 2007, anonymous said:
to union stewards refusing to represent non-union members.
Let me get this straight, you want the union out, but you still want representation? How does that work???
Seems like some of you that want the union out need to get involved in the union and get informed of the why and how things are done in negotiations. Ignorance is no excuse. Get involved and see what difference you can make.
To anonymous (April 16),
There is no ignorance my friend.
We've seen too much of this union already. Many of us were told "If you want to change the union, join it." Quite the opposite is true. It changes people after they join, not the other way around. We can best change things by doing what we are doing now. This union chose to fight the wrong battles, now it's days are numbered. If any of you share our spirit, have Oust 933 t-shirts made and wear them with pride!
The union does not change people. There are plenty of ways for a member to become active and let their voice be heard. As an active IAM member I know this first hand.
Without the union at your plant you will become "at will" employees. There will nothing to stop your employer from firing you for no reason or something they make up at the time.
Those in the quest for decertification, I hope you fail miserably.
O@R: "Everyone should try to drop the rhetoric, and create solutions. Union guys, these are your potential customers speaking. If you want people to join, then provide a service they desire. "
You still forget one small issue.
There isn't one soul left on this plant that has worked here without this union influence for longer than that eleven week period three years ago. There are very few of the 'old school' members that did walk the line back in the 70s. Do they really care? Nope, as most are considering retirement before the end of the year.
O@R: "The hate act hurts your union more than it helps. If you succeed in pushing the ousties and the union back into their respective corners, then you will force the union to fight not only the company, but also the organized group of anti-union laborers that it fought last time for its very existence. "
Old habits die hard, don't they?
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