True Story

[Kenzi]

I work in a union atmosphere. Things can get dicey real fast. One time this guy was on "light duty" because of an injury. Management forced him to paint the bathrooms. 8 hours later the bathrooms were painted from ceiling to floor. Everything. Cost thousands to clean and repaint. Dude on light duty got off scot-free, he is union and all.

Moral of the story? Don't force someone to do something they don't want to do and expect good results.

[Lune]

So what I'm supposed to get from your allegory is that we shouldn't act out like toddlers, instead we should diligently test the Velious content the volunteer devs have graciously provided for us after years of painstaking work?

Good one bro, I applaud your understanding of ethical behavior.

[Wenuven]

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[Asmadi]

EQ is getting its bathroom painted? Huh? There's a guild called Union Atmosphere? I don't get it...

How much plat to clean everything again?

[Byel]

I work in a union and stupid shit like that is why people hate unions. They do more to protect the lazy and retarded then to help the good employees who pay exorbitant amounts to a invisible guy who never helps because they aren't idiots who need defending. Your painter buddy is a douche bag and ruins it for all. Probably thinks he's king too.

On a related note : Don't bother complaining about forced testing, they've shown they'll just drag it out to prove a point. Just don't enter the forums until they go back, stop refreshing their page with the stalker ad banners. There's plenty of servers to occupy your time who don't demand you grovel at their feet.

[Yumyums Inmahtumtums]

I started out ground level when I was 18 in a union environment. Shared the same sentiment as OP. I moved into ground level management and by 25 had 3 sups and 64 guys underneath me. I still felt the same way about the union when I moved into management. I always thought of myself different than them.

In a given night I could expect at least 5 call-ins, some kind of BS injury, drama. Everything you can imagine. I was tracking an enormous number of employees through various stages of discipline (soandso on step 3 for attendance but only step 2 for failing engineered labour standards).

I left that place 4 years ago and manage a non-union shop now. My guys are amazing. I went an entire year with my 16 staff members not calling in ONCE. The labour standards are harder here though and my guys make on average about $5-$6 less per hour than my previous job - a wage those guys had 4 years ago which I'm sure has only gone up. I've watched numerous benefits erode away. I've watched whole divisions of the company get outsourced to the lowest bidder or to some crooked middle-man company in an effort to root out what I can only assume is managerial-level petty fraud. My employees are capped at 2.5% increases this year - below COLA and only if they get the best review I could possibly give, something i believe is unfair in terms of personal growth.

All of this during a time (in Canada anyways) that the economy is booming. The company is growing at it's biggest rate ever and we're more profitable than we've ever been. I don't know what to think anymore because all I see these days is the complete and total erosion of benefits, wages and opportunity. I used to hate unions and for the most part still do but it's hard to watch this fairly rapid decline and I can only assume it's the same elsewhere.

Then I look at Americans in right to work states with no healthcare coverage and cringe even harder.


TLDR version: didn't like unions before, now I don't know what to think.

[zanderklocke]

^ good post.