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I
do not get many emails from union members that are "printable".
Here is one from Canada that is. Tim McCallum, Millwright Local 1007, Canada
writes:
Dear
Mish,
I have read your blog for a couple of years now, I have a healthy respect for
your opinions in general, but your continued outright union bashing now
leaves me no choice but to come to the defense of my trade unions members.
I am a member of Millwright Local 1007 Niagara Falls(Ontario Canada) We are a
part of The Carpenters and Joiners of America.
We are construction workers. The motto on our Local badge has only two words
on it, Quality and Integrity. The men and women who work with me are all
govt. certified ,qualified trades people, as per our own union rules.
They all have to pass an entrance exam to even qualify for an apprenticeship
position. Then it takes 8000 hours of documented employment to be able to sit
your journeyman's/woman's test. This test is administered by the provincial
govt., just so you know that there is no funny business with the upper
echelon in the union getting their brother or sister in the " back
Door".
We as members of the union have no seniority, we have no guaranty of
employment, we are hired out of a hiring hall that services a multi-employer
group of companies that have signed an agreement to contract our services.
The only rule is this, the person out of work the longest, gets to go to work
first when the call comes.
We are employed in the construction and or maintenance of Auto plants,
petrochemical refineries, coal fire and hydroelectric facilities, paper
mills, the pharmaceutical industry, steel mills, airports,...well you get the
picture. We are very diverse in out trade application. We are used by all
these various industries for one overwhelming reason. We are cost efficient.
We are cost efficient because we as a group basically live by two rules. One
is the quality and Integrity I mentioned earlier, the second is worker health
and safety. No job is more important than a person's safety.
My union has a reputation. A reputation for the projects we build to be on
time and on budget. We receive all of our training from the union, In fact
most of the industry around here stopped their in house apprenticeship
programs because they determined that six years and approx $500,000 ( per
person) was too much cost to develop a tradesperson.
So, here in Ontario, we are not considered bloodsucking industry killers,
rather we are considered industrial vacillators that form a mobile workforce
that appears on demand, leaves when the job is done, and in the process of
doing the job, constantly remind each other that the reason we have this job
today, is because we did a good job yesterday. this concept is carried
forward by apprentices learning from older success full trades people like
myself, that you sometimes have to go that extra mile if you want to be
called to work on your merit rather than because someone owes you a job. In
our union, no one owes you anything, but you can earn respect and a good
living.
We have not gone on strike in over fifty years.
One other thing that may well be obstructing clarity in this issue is the
quid pro quo, We are the most expensive manpower available to do this work,
Yet we are not out of work. Either the companies we work for just like to
throw money away, or we do what I said, give value for the dollar. When the
contract you are working on is worth hundreds of millions of dollars of
capital investment, do you take a chance with the assets? Or do you let the
experts( union millwrights) use their experience, education, and get er done
attitude to help you along the path to success.
The future is uncertain at best in all of North America. But the people who
work in my union, do their best on a daily basis to secure their future by
doing a good job today. We can only hope about tomorrow. At least in our
engineering, the numbers never lie. In the world of financial engineering,
what the numbers relate to is up for discussion every other day.
Just thought I'd let you know that some of us do give a shit, and are tired
of being lumped in with the status quo in your union concept.
Tim
McCallum
Millwright Local 1007
Niagara Falls, On, Canada
Hello Tim.
Thanks for writing.
I do not think that every union person does a lousy job. Indeed I am quite
sure most are dedicated, skilled, workers who take pride in their jobs. At
the same time however, in case after case, I can see the problems.
In regards to public unions, many employees may be doing a "damn good
job" but some of the pencil pushing jobs should not be done at all. That
may not be the employees fault, but it certainly is not doing the average
taxpayer any good.
Moreover, it's easy to point out how many state and local governments made
ridiculous promises on pension plans and benefits that cannot be met.
Taxpayers are on the hook for those promises and cities and states are bankrupt.
These problems cannot and will not go away unless services are abolished and
the pay and benefit scales match what is available in private industry.
Unions have fought nearly every one of these realignments.
Unions (along with piss poor management) helped sink GM and that spurred
another bailout. One of the reasons for an exodus of jobs is unions and union
rules. I have heard amazing stories about work rules at GM and Caterpillar.
Finally, Obama's support for unions risks a global trade war. I can assure
you that a trade war will cost jobs across the board, including union jobs.
Yet, ironically, unions are cheering for more protection.
These are things I am passionate about and unions are at the heart of it.
That does not make every union member a bad person. Nor does it mean the
majority of union members are not dedicated workers. However, I cannot sit
idle while ignoring public pension plans bankrupting states and trade wars
started by Obama on behalf of unions, both of which threaten the country as a
whole.
Mish
GlobalEconomicAnalysis.blogspot.com
Mish's Global Economic Trend
Analysis
Thoughts on the great inflation/deflation/stagflation
debate as well as discussions on gold, silver, currencies, interest rates,
and policy decisions that affect the global markets.
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