Chattle...Serfs...Peasants...pawns!

I am so pissed!

There is a new article that my company has just amended to the contract, and my Union is selling us down the river for...

Elimination of Sunday pay
Holiday pay cut from double time and a half, to double time
Severance pay cut in half (45 weeks, down from 104 for 30+ years)
Mandatory cash balance, and elimination of pensions
On call pay reduced

You might be saying "Well, that's not so bad. I wish I worked for a company like that"...well that's the point. They are turning a company like mine into a company like yours! The idea is supposed to be constant improvement in worker's compensation. My union, and all others should by trying to raise up your company to my level, not bring us down to your's.

This is Corporate America at it's finest...turn back all the gains made over the last century and bring us back to the two class system that the aristocracy enjoyed so much in the Guilded Age. Force all of us to increase our hours, pile on more work, "give" the company time (be a slave for 30 hours to earn that 40 hour paycheck) to prove you are a "team" player, put up with less comnpensation, and eventually force us all into tenements, and demand that we appreciate our conditions as we still have a job. "We are losing money"...Ever heard that one before? It's CorporateSpeak, which really means..."Our profits aren't as high as we projected them to be last quarter, so in order for our shareholders to get benefits, all of "us" (read just you!) have to make sacrifices.":eyes:

This is why they chose to use "NEWSPEAK"... Words like "Human Resources"...in other words to engineer us people to think of ourselves as raw material, no better than oil, steel, plastic, or any other "resource" that they just dump in the river when they have no use anymore. "Employees are our greatest assets"...What's that mean? That we're company property, not human beings! What else could it mean? "Associates"...No longer employees, who feel a sense of belonging, and a part of something greater than ourselves, now we are just merely "associates", not family, friends, or even close enough to the company be loyal to...we're just merely friendly acquaintences...or "associates" now. The next time you see one of those "motivational" posters with the buzzwords and a cute photo of a skier, wind surfer, or cyclist...think deep and hard at how they're trying to engineer you to accept less from them, and be happy that they're demanding more from you.

None of this will stop, unless we make it stop. This is not the American dream!

at least you are still working. My SO was one of the thousands who have lost jobs with Verizon. These were all good union jobs. Most of the folks now gone had started with GTE as long as 30 years ago. My sweetie had 26 years in. The union was powerless. They have no option to work at another facility. It's been more than a year and she still doesn't have work.

I, fortunately still have a job, but that's exactly what they want us to think, and be apppreciative for. I'm in the sam biz as Verizon/GTE (can't tell you since I just raked them over the coals up there on their web access), and I can tell you, we could use the help, but that would mean "less shareholder value".:puke:

Then I hear about Taco Bell/Wal-Mart employees spout off the talking points about "how unions have worn out their welcome, and they do nothing but exploit workers and give to Democrats, which really don't represent us working class." It burns me up every time.:grr:

he left the crushing rule of the Hapsburg empire to come to this country to only find that the Carnegies/Vanderbilts/Fricks...were just a new brand of the old aristocracy...so he lived in tents with his six kids and fought for unions so we could have a better life...and today...people are throwing it all away...

All those union men and women are rolling in their graves.

oh, to have been unionized ...

wasn't when I taught
wasn't when I was in corporate administration

needed it in both areas



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1508262#1513904

A Brief History of Unions

~snip~ "... the demons of the past – child labor, 40-hour workweek, vacation time ..."

HISTORY: It’s fitting that the Declaration of Independence was signed in the gathering hall of the local Philadelphia Guild of Carpenters in 1776. After all, the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are only meaningful when workers are able to reap the just rewards of their labors.

While America’s Founding Fathers could not have anticipated the impact of industrialization, automation or globalization on working people, the USWA continues to uphold their promise for a better, more democratic future, even in today’s rapidly changing workplace.

Affiliations of skilled workers, called "craftsmen guilds," are one of the oldest forms of Unions. Modern Unions, like the United Steelworkers of America, first emerged during the industrial revolution of the mid-to-late 1800’s to counterbalance the wealth and power of a very few industrialists, as well as to battle the widespread poverty, misery and abuse of most workers.

At the turn of the 19th Century, it was not uncommon for people to work 12-, to 14-hour daily shifts in unsafe conditions for little pay. Child labor also was rampant. Although protests were attempted, the law favored the industrialists and labor was repeatedly put down, sometimes by government military action.

In 1914, amidst a groundswell of public outrage, the Federal Government passed the Clayton Act which specified, "the labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce." This key legal definition, which reaffirmed our Founding Fathers’ vision of America, opened the way for today’s Unions.

It was in this historical context that the USWA first began its organizing efforts in 1936 as an international organization, spanning the United States and Canada. By 1942, the USWA had accumulated more than 700,000 members and formally adopted a constitution under the banner of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

http://www.uswa.org/uswa/program/content/291.php

Educating the masses is CRITICAL, and there is just about no other way to do it as effectively as flyers. Yes, it means you get to stand outside and bother people. Yes, it means that you'll get dirty looks and even harassed by those oh-so-righteous fascists. But it is effective!

*sigh*

:kick:

There's gotta be more to talk about than fake/not fake beheadings, and naked prisoners. Not that there's anything wrong with that!;-)

to cross the goalline, you 've got to call it what it is ....slavery

As technology advances we can produce more with fewer people. That is why we are working shorter hours and retiring earlier.

In Bizarro World we would work longer hours and retire later as productivity increases. A draft dodger who later presided over the worst national security disaster in history would be universally regarded for his strength on national security while a war hero would be derided for being weak. A president who loses his country's allies would be hailed for his strength on foreign policy. And running up the largest deficits in history would be called "conservative".

Why is Superman wearing black?

We ARE working less, and this is Bizzaro World. But I'm happy and going to be a success as a man who's sure to beat the rigged game, thanks to my Zig Zigglar motivational tape series that I bought for ONLY four easy payments of $79.99. LIsten to Tony Robbins! He knows!

EDIT: That's FOUR, not for.:eyes: