Today's sham hearings for the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill looked more like a union brass press conference as civility was repeatedly thrown aside as scores of rowdy union partisans applauded every time a Senator toed the union boss line (and snickered when anyone dared to dissent from that line).
Testimony before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions was virtually monopolized by union partisans. But Larry Getts, a Dana Coproration employee in Fort Wayne, Indiana, offered a first-hand account of the kind of pressure and intimidation by union goons:
In fact, one day, an official approached me again claiming fifty percent of the plant had signed -- so now I was going to have to sign the card to “get my information in the system.”
I signed the card then because I thought I had to.
I didn’t learn until later that even then, I should not have been forced to sign the card.
Read Getts' full testimony here (PDF).
Comments
Who are you kidding?
If union membership is so obviously desirable, why do unions routinely resort to deception and violence to gain members?
Forced Unionization
Sure, unions claim that they protect little guys, but have beaten them up in backrooms for doing a non union job on the side. Many want to organize illegal aliens, which depresses wages through an oversupply of labor. Their goal is increasing union dues for the bosses. But we should be wary of union intimidation and violence against its own members.
Larry Getts
Contratulations to Mr. Getts for having the fortitude to stand up to the union. I am afraid they are going to try to pass a bill in my state to force us to pay dues. There's a union where I work, but I quit paying dues about five years ago, because I couldn't see any benefits in it for me, other than they get a chunk of my paycheck every payday.
but you sure cashed that
but you sure cashed that union negotiated paycheck didnt you sally!
To Sue: 3-14-2009 I will
To Sue: 3-14-2009 I will bet you money she complains about her benefits to. If the company and National Right to Work has their way
she won't complain any more. Hey Sue; THINK CHINA
Union negotiated paycheck -
Union negotiated paycheck - what a joke! I am pharmacist in the Chicago area. A union negotiated contract with Walgreens paid actually LESS than the non unionized members salaries in the suburbs. Some negotiation!!!! My experience with a union growing up...the grocery store I worked for became unionized, two months later the doors shut. Thanks.
not for me.
Ive been union before... but if I am publically approached I will automatically not be pro union.
If I dont get to vote in private, then its always going to be 'no'.
And I cant say in print (web) what may happen if I am harrassed or otherwise insulted.
This is nothing more than transfering the 'idea' of intimidation being done by a employer (rare) to being done by a union person (often).
Employers do not intimidate like they say.
Unions however do.
Union Slavery
I not scared to say what this new socialistic government has in store for us. I am retired military and I am Christian. Thanks to the ACLU, the babykillers and the mafia style tactics of big union bosses, this country is on the fastrack to Socialism. The union non-private card check system is taking this country backwards to the days of Hoffa and organized crime. Obama is nothing more than a paid-off tool for these thiefs. He made the promises-He took thier money-and NOW they want thier monies worth, and they will get it if they have to see him moved out of the way. The good people of this country had better wake up and WAKE UP NOW!!
Big union bosses are worse than common thieves; they are TERRORISTS in the worse fashion because they are backed by jerks like Obama and other government officials.
Union Slavery
Since my husband was forced to join a union in order to get his job, we've lost a ton of money. He's not allowed to work overtime anymore. So without making much more than he was before, he lost 10 hours of OT a week.
His freedom of choice as to what company he works for has been stripped from him and he has to wait on a list, to get a new job.... He could get a job on his own because he knows a lot of people, but he can't go get his own job, it's against the RULES. He is forced to pay dues for "benefits", that he already had whith his old company. In fact, the benefits with the Non Union company were heads and tails above what this pathetic union offers. He's decided to go outisde the union for a REAL job, where a person who works as hard as he does, can actually be rewarded for his efforts. Union workers are actually discouraged from working up to their potential. He's actually been told to "slow down" because he was making other union workers "look bad".
If he works hard in the private sector, he gets a raise and a promotion, and the guy next to him who is late all the time and doesn't work much, is fired. In the union, the guy next to him gets the same money without effort and neither has any incentive to do well. No matter how well you do or how hard you work, you can't make more than the cheats that steal from the company by not giving 8 hours work for 8 hours pay. They are protected by the THUGS in the Union and by a corrupt government that has been paid off by the Union dues workers are forced to pay. People suffer in unions, companys suffer in unions.
Employers are held to standards that Unions are not. Unions have NO consequences for lying, cheating, intimidating and stealing from workers, but you can bet that the penalties are extreme for a company that behaves that way.
Unions are an assault on freedom and nothing less than a form of slavery!
Union support of the worker NOT
In New york City, DC 39 represents all workers in the Dept. of Parks. I am ashamed to admit that I was one of many that brought DC37 into NYC supporting Jerry Werf in 1956.
It was made an Agency shop in the late 70's, & all workers had to belong to this union and only this union (No choice) In 1991, the Agency decided to lay off workers, and their decision was to lay off their Tree Arborist; which amounted to approx. 105 men. All were Civil Service, with 20-25 years seniority (Not enough to retire). As it was a total cost to the City to be saved. It was determined that the salaries of these men equaled that amount. The Agency had many provisionals, and appointees that were NOT Civil Service. My grandfather is rolling in his grave because he told me to take the job with the City, because even during the Depression no Civil Service worker was laid off. Well the union did NOTHING for these workers. Reason why! Union collects equal welfare funds for each member of the union. To equal the cost savings, laying off other union (non-CS workers) 250 would have to be let go, and the union would loss 250 welfare fund instead of only 105. They cared more for the money than they did for their civil service members. Our title protested in animal cages demonstrating for this union at the start. They have no loyalty, and cannot be trusted in a closed vote.
Unions
I always find it a bit humorous that unions represent only 10% of America's workforce and the anti-unionists want to blame the decline of America on organized labor. Your bias is so deep, it does not matter what the truth is, you want to believe whatever you want, despite if the facts are contrary.
To the poster who stated that his union was not doing anything for them, so they voluntarily dropped from the rolls. Who do you think makes up the union? IT IS YOU! How many union meetings did you attend? How many times did you run for office to make changes in your local? Let me guess, you never bothered. No, you wanted someone else to do the dirty work. Then, when you did not get your way, you pointed your fingers and put them in your path of blame. That's always an easy approach. It isn't productive for the union or the workforce, but it works for you, eh?
I did not read one example here stating what the corporations have done to dismantle America. They have screwed up our environment, they have shipped countless jobs overseas, and they exploit immigrants with their low wages.
Someone mentioned that unions want to organize immigrants, and when they do they will force down the price of labor. It is just the opposite. Get rid of unions and you will see more wages decreases. Just ask the meatpackers about that one. By the way, those places are full of immigrants. Often times they are illegal. If unions forced down wages, why would corporations work so hard to keep unions from the workplace? If they are not a threat to wage and benefit increases, hell, open the door and invite them in. The fact of the matter is, wages and benefits do increase. Workers also have more say on the shopfloor, and god knows the boss does not want to give up even encrements of his/her control. Another crock of crap about unions is higher price of a product when it is made by union labor. In the auto industry wages and benefits for hourly and salary account for just 10 percent of vehicle costs. look it up on the Internet. Management screwed up that industry, not the union.
Unions
There's a reason only 10% of the workforce is represented by unions. Companies ship union type jobs overseas to avoid dealing with unions. That's partly why we have no manufacturing in this country. Unions can kill productivity, I witness it on a daily basis as a non union analyst for a defense contractor with a mostly union labor pool.
The problem, though, is not just a union problem or a management problem. The problem is that Americans tend to be arrogant. In the 50's and 60's we reigned supreme, companies were making tons of money and union employees were earning great wages because unions were able to easily negotiate insane contracts. The problem is that we thought we were doing well because of our business practices. Wrong! It was because we had (thankfully) bombed any possible competition to dust during WWII. Unfortunately, those countries (see Japan) recovered and rebuilt. When businesses had far more efficient competition they couldn't make the necessary changes to survive.
True, much of this was caused by bad management, but a large part of it was unions who refused to renegotiate unrealistic and uncompetitive contracts. By the time concessions would be made it would be 10 years down the road and far too late, as the company would already have new challenges to deal with, starting the cycle over again.
This is why Americans are very weary of unions, whenever there is a downturn and concessions need to be made to save a company unions always seem to be the last ones to enter realistic negotiations, only backing off when a company is entering bankruptcy. Any company that has to be bankrupt to make necessary changes for survival is a company that will never be highly competitive.
That's bad for workers. If Unions would start to worry more about workers (workers need strong companies and companies need strong workers) and less about recieving union dues, you would see a massive rise in trust and enrollments.