"Hawke" wrote in message
...

"Greg O" wrote in message
m...
"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message
...


They voted it out because they realized they had been lied to, and
were being screwed by the union. Things they had taken for granted
were
no longer available like flex time, or being able to work in another
department instead of being laid off when the workload changed. No
flex
time, they had to use time clocks, and were docked for being late. No
free meals to celebrate landing new contracts, and no bonus checks.





It is funny that I work in a shop with union plumbers, but the rest of
the
shop is non-union, and looks to stay that way. The union guys are treated
like outside hired help, no keys to the shop, company trucks are left at
the
shop, and when work gets slow, they get laid off. On the other hand us
non-union guys have keys, company trucks we drive home, and full use of
the
shop after hours. Also when work gets slow, the boss keeps us around
doing
matainance in the shop, what ever it takes to keep us around and a
paycheck
coming.
Greg


Who gets better pay and benefits the union or the non union guys?

Hawke



For us journeymen, that have been around for a few years, it is a wash. We
ran the numbers a year ago and I think the union guys made maybe ~$0.25 an
hour more. Not sure of the lower pay scales. One thing is they just signed a
new contract so their wages are set for the next 4(?) years, where I am due
a raise and usually get a dollar bump so I will be ~$0.75 over the union
guys when it happens. In the long run it is so close it is not worth
comparing, on reason why our non-union guys don't see any reason to go. Plus
the fact the rest of the shop would be a different union, (plumbers, versus
sheet metal, similar pay scale), and that union's retirement fund is
insolvent! The feds just stepped in and REDUCED the benefit to retiree's,
and increased the amount the employer pays in to try save it! None of the
local non-union shops are going to the union, in fact 1 or 2 shops have
dropped the union, and a couple other shops are thinking of dropping the
union too.
Greg