An example of unions being unreasonable

MorningStar

I actually think unions are very important but here is an example of how their own intrests out weigh everybody elses.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060330/D8GM62SOA.html

ionapaul

That's a good one alright, read it last night somewhere. But I suppose all unions will admit, they don't act with the public / wider society's good in mind, only with their members' good in mind. Even when involved in protests in seemingly unrelated industries (ala Irish Ferries), ultimately they are working for their own benefit, hoping to avoid such practices affecting them in the future.

Sleepy

I think you'd be harder pushed to find an example of a union being reasonable tbh...

MorningStar

ionapaul wrote:

That's a good one alright, read it last night somewhere. But I suppose all unions will admit, they don't act with the public / wider society's good in mind, only with their members' good in mind. Even when involved in protests in seemingly unrelated industries (ala Irish Ferries), ultimately they are working for their own benefit, hoping to avoid such practices affecting them in the future.

THe real scary think is the unionns only pay attention to active memembers which tend to be older. Esb union cashed in part of the pension to give a redundency package to older memebers. Irish Permenenant regularly sell off entry rights fot the benifit of the older members. If in a union you should always watch what they do.

shnaek

I have no problems with unions, but I do have a problem with the government caving in to them all the time.

HelterSkelter

It's the same with any organisation, be it IBEC, IFA, RGDATA, Law Society, etc etc. They are there to look after the interests of their members. Sure look at the way the Law Society oppose the Personal Injuries Assessment Board.

biko

Hey, it's a union. It's supposed to look out for it's members.

Gandhi

Just those stupid unions in Philly shooting themselves in the foot again. If they'd stop pulling petty stuff like this there would be twice as many skyscrapers going up in the city, and they'd have more overtime than they would know what to do with. They do the same thing with every project they're involved in.

They won't be happy until they've killed the goose that lays the golden eggs, burned down all the golden goose farms, and shot all the golden goose farmers. Then they'll go on strike because of the egg shortage.

Kernel

I think every reasonable human being would have no problem with the idea of trade unions. It's historically accepted that the union movement was a positive advance in human rights. Usually it's the corporations and capitalists who are the unreasonable and greedy ones.

Gandhi

I don't think the theory of trade unions is bad, but if their leadership is pulling stupid stunts that cause huge expense and environmental damage to get a few more jobs for the boys, then that is a big problem.

If the news story was about Dubya wanting to nix a plan to save over a million and a half gallons of water a year, in order to hook up his buddies with needless contracts, would people be as sympathetic?

But I agree with shnaek that the real problem is the politicians who roll over for stupid demands like this.

The_Minister

I just thought - what if Labour got in? They are the party of the unions after all. Would they give in on everything?

Pythia

No, because they'll never get in on their own.

D-Generate

Unions used to be a lot more necessary in the society but now days they have more or less turned in to money rackets. At a push I can see a small reason for them existing in the private sector but unions in the public sector always piss me off.

CIE Trade Unions to me are a prime example of unions that blackmail the government for all they are worth. Asking for more money when something is brought in that will not radically change their job has me baffled! By that i mean one of the most recent ones being over an extra carraige or two on trains. Its about time some government agencies acted like a proper business and put profits high on their agenda and were aggressive in the way of running things. There should at least be soem return on any tax money invested in. Any companies that are making large losses should have their business plan looked at or the contracts should be offered to private organisations willing to take on the challange.

I just pray that Labour or SF never get in to power. That they consider socialism is still an answer to the country's problems is boggling...

leeroybrown

Firespinner wrote:

I just thought - what if Labour got in? They are the party of the unions after all. Would they give in on everything?

Historically they would have had that leaning but Labour has diverged slightly from the Unions in the last ten or fifteen years. I think the major unions like SIPTU are perfectly happy with the current situation where they mainly deal with FF (albeit with some PD influence). They get a lot of the more important concessions they want with no major action required.

Also, as Pythia says, they're unlikely to get in on their own.