What A Non Union Company Did To My Sister And Hundreds Of Others.

[Catatonic]

\

I would shop at Aldi's but I'm too lazy to bag my own groceries.

Who brings your groceries into your condo?

Tooncies the cat.

 

[satellitedriver]

If you want to shop union try buying from the government.
Only 11.1% of Americans are union workers and 35.9% of those are in "The public sector", public sector being the code phrase of a govt. employee.

The majority of working Americans have always been non union.
Mom/Pop stores are non union, but people will not shop at WalMart because they are non union?
Sorry, but 6.6% of our collective number of American workers is not a majority.
The democrats and unions decry the 1% elite, while they are of the same ilk.

 

[Nimnim]

\

I would shop at Aldi's but I'm too lazy to bag my own groceries.

I would shop at Aldi's but they're not open at 5 am when I tend to do most of my shopping.

 

[Bagels]

If you want to shop union try buying from the government.
Only 11.1% of Americans are union workers and 35.9% of those are in "The public sector", public sector being the code phrase of a govt. employee.

The majority of working Americans have always been non union.
Mom/Pop stores are non union, but people will not shop at WalMart because they are non union?
Sorry, but 6.6% of our collective number of American workers is not a majority.
The democrats and unions decry the 1% elite, while they are of the same ilk.

Really? You do realize that most of those public sector employees are teachers, fire fighters, policemen, etc. The Right clearly believes that these people are overpaid and should be working for $10/hour with no benefits. I don't think that's such a good thing... go to Cancun, and get mysteriously stopped by the low-paid policeman seeking bribes and you'll see what I mean...

 

[rod]

2 Non-union stories:

My brother worked at a local print shop running a big press for just over 30 years. About 10 years ago they decided to get a new high tech press from England. The boss came up to my brother and said he didn't think he could learn how to operate the new press so he was being demoted to the guy who keeps the press stocked up with paper at $12 an hour less than he was making as a press operator. Needless to say my brother walked out and was lucky enough to find another job at a different printers for just about the same as he was making.


My sister-in-law has worked for our local hospital for 37 years. A couple of months ago her boss came up to her and told her that her department was being eliminated and they didn't have anything else for her to do. So she retired. Unfortunately my brother was just starting to think about retiring a little early himself and getting insurance through her work but now he is stuck working and she is miserable at home because she loved her job.

 

[Dizzee]

My wife worked at Walmart for five years. She enjoyed it. On the occasions that she would come home with a horror story about how Walmart had treated someone, I could always top it with a UPS story. Always...

 

[moreluck]

I shop WalMart all the time.......It's my dollar and I want it to stretch further. I pick up Anchor Hocking stuff and it says.......made in USA.

I know people there......I visit. It's a contolled climate for a level walk with shopping carts to steady yourself. I don't do as well at Target, K-Mart, Big Lots .............only 99 Cent Store tops them in gift bags and greeting cards.

 

[Bagels]

My wife worked at Walmart for five years. She enjoyed it. On the occasions that she would come home with a horror story about how Walmart had treated someone, I could always top it with a UPS story. Always...

Walmart doesn't treat its employees as bad as UPS. Given that the average 10-year employee at Walmart barely makes $10/hour on average (with access to limited, expensive benefits), they can't afford to do so....

 

[Bagels]

I shop WalMart all the time.......It's my dollar and I want it to stretch further. I pick up Anchor Hocking stuff and it says.......made in USA.

I know people there......I visit. It's a contolled climate for a level walk with shopping carts to steady yourself. I don't do as well at Target, K-Mart, Big Lots .............only 99 Cent Store tops them in gift bags and greeting cards.

Life's all about ethical choices. You can choose to run the tap while brushing your teeth, take 20-minute showers, choose not to recycle (even when you're paying for the bundled service) or shop at Walmart. Nobody's debating that Walmart isn't cheaper, but rather how Walmart conducts business.

Thankfully, I don't have to make this decision. I plan meals & shop sales so that it's cheaper to utilize the competition. And I appreciate that when I go to Kroger (or similar), and I have one item, 99.9% of the time there's an available check out lane or if there's not, the person in front of me will happily offer to let me in front of them. Contrast that to Walmart, where LaNita will race to get in front of me with a full cart, then argue with the cashier "whatchu be meaning them be an express lane? I don't care if I got no 10 items." And then when it comes time to pay, she'll demand the cashier to provide an explanation as to why her EBT card has insufficient funds ... then take her time deciding which items to put back.

 

[over9five]

Life's all about ethical choices. You can choose to run the tap while brushing your teeth, take 20-minute showers, choose not to recycle (even when you're paying for the bundled service) or shop at Walmart. Nobody's debating that Walmart isn't cheaper, but rather how Walmart conducts business.

Thankfully, I don't have to make this decision. I plan meals & shop sales so that it's cheaper to utilize the competition. And I appreciate that when I go to Kroger (or similar), and I have one item, 99.9% of the time there's an available check out lane or if there's not, the person in front of me will happily offer to let me in front of them. Contrast that to Walmart, where LaNita will race to get in front of me with a full cart, then argue with the cashier "whatchu be meaning them be an express lane? I don't care if I got no 10 items." And then when it comes time to pay, she'll demand the cashier to provide an explanation as to why her EBT card has insufficient funds ... then take her time deciding which items to put back.

....and then hurry off to the Maury show (for the fourth time) to find out who the baby-daddy really is??

As someone else said, I gotta respect WalMart for hiring a ton of people who otherwise couldn't get a job.

 

[moreluck]

If anybody, anywhere steps into the limited # of items line and they are over the amount of items.....I speak up!! I no longer have a filter and I will tell them they have no right to even be in that line.......I don't care if it's Shaniqua or Anna Maria or Leslie!!! They are not next!!!!!

 

[anonymous6]

This happens (sort of) with Unionized companies as well.

My mother-in-law had a similar thing happen.
Her company was closed with the contention the work was moved to Mexico when she was around 53.
A new company opened up in the same building doing the same work and she was offered a job for less money with no benefits and no Union.
She always said it was about pension because there was 40 - 50 people in their 50's and early 60's.

yes, the big corps like to blame unions for them closing plants and going overseas. why, then, are some of the auto plants coming back to America???

 

[anonymous6]

This thread touches on a personal issue for me, one which I've struggled with during my time in management at this fine brown company. I've had just the right amount of the creature that I'm compelled to regurgitate part of my own back story. Also, I can partially identify with PiedmontStewards story.

My own father worked in rural Pennsylvania, doing various mining and pit jobs. He eventually was able to attend PennState and obtain an engineering degree. He continued to work in the same atmosphere, but had made the move to management - although, when discussing matters of labor/management relations, he never missed the opportunity to simultaneously praise them both, albeit for different reasons.

Anyway, long story slightly shorter, he eventually met and married a woman, my mother, whose family had money - as in, upper crusty business money. She essentially withdrew from that world for the sake of her feelings, and she and my father absconded. He supported them with the same type of job - facility/site manager, although in those days, it is my understanding that managers actually had real decision making ability.

Eventually, one of the uncles on my mothers side started a business, manufacturing/selling marine equipment - in the 80's, fish finders, sonar, and boat gadgets in general were pretty novel. My mother was tapped to be the Secretary, handling the books and accounting - which she had a degree in; my father, meanwhile, was tapped to be the plant manager where the production happened. With the familial business connections, the company rapidly grew and soon turned hundreds of millions in profit - my parents, who had an ownership stake in the company, were pretty stoked to put it mildly.

However, money is pretty awesome - so, this uncle who owned the business, essentially used a shady series of maneuvers, sold the company to a foreign investment group and kept all the money - except the pittances he paid out to his partners (including my parents) as legally required.

Obviously, I didn't spend too many holidays with that side of the family at first, but as the years passed, I would inevitably find myself with them, which was quite uncomfortable to say the least. As I got older, and understood the history, I couldn't understand how my mother (my father had since passed away) could be in the same room with them - when I was a teenager, I would raise hell (refuse to see them, or if I had to for some reason, I would purposely make a scene) whenever I was near them.

Again, as I got older, she explained to me that in the eyes of "business men", or, as she has been apt to say, "the men whom conduct business", that it really is just that: business. It's almost never personal - and when large sums of money are involved, the business is inseparable from other considerations. She went on to tell me that the wounds that business inflicts are often incredibly painful, but are usually shallow in terms of causality: it's probably fiscal.

I hate hearing about lives destroyed by business - as mentioned, it's probably one of the worst parts of modern economics; but, as my mother pointed out, I'm not a man who conducts business, and I'm not dealing with large sums of money, so the business is still separable from other considerations - such as the impact on individual lives and families.

I think the reality nowadays is: if you're not getting screwed, then you're probably doing the screwing.

business can be conducted in a Christian and Human way. there are scores of examples. there was a business in Melrose or Malden Mass. ( where i grew up ) that burned to the ground. the owner , who happened to be Jewish continued to pay his employees full salary while the buildings were being rebuilt. he said it was because of his Jewish faith. anyway there is a happy ending to this story.

i'll try to find it and post a link.

 

[anonymous6]

Mom/Pop stores are non union, but people will not shop at WalMart because they are non union?
Sorry, but 6.6% of our collective number of American workers is not a majority.
The democrats and unions decry the 1% elite, while they are of the same ilk.



i shop at Mom and Pops because they are Human Beings. Wal Mart is not human. It is a shark that swims and eats 24/7. with no regard for humanity.
[/QUOTE]

 

[Inthegame]

business can be conducted in a Christian and Human way. there are scores of examples. there was a business in Melrose or Malden Mass. ( where i grew up ) that burned to the ground. the owner , who happened to be Jewish continued to pay his employees full salary while the buildings were being rebuilt. he said it was because of his Jewish faith. anyway there is a happy ending to this story. i'll try to find it and post a link.

You already posted the happy ending...

 

[BSWALKS]

business can be conducted in a Christian and Human way. there are scores of examples. there was a business in Melrose or Malden Mass. ( where i grew up ) that burned to the ground. the owner , who happened to be Jewish continued to pay his employees full salary while the buildings were being rebuilt. he said it was because of his Jewish faith. anyway there is a happy ending to this story.

i'll try to find it and post a link.

Malden mills? If so, I remember that. What an incredible man to have done that for those people.

 

[curiousbrain]

Malden mills? If so, I remember that. What an incredible man to have done that for those people.

And, that original company no longer really exists; in modern business, the nice guy really does finish last.

I'm also well aware that my current job for UPS is part of that game - pay less, demand more, to make money.

 

[BSWALKS]

Mom/Pop stores are non union, but people will not shop at WalMart because they are non union?
Sorry, but 6.6% of our collective number of American workers is not a majority.
The democrats and unions decry the 1% elite, while they are of the same ilk.



i shop at Mom and Pops because they are Human Beings. Wal Mart is not human. It is a shark that swims and eats 24/7. with no regard for humanity.

[/QUOTE]
I spend my money at the mom & pop stores, restaurants, car dealerships, movie theaters, etc, etc!

No way in hell I would support some big faceless corporation that's ****s all over its help & beats down the prices it pays to it's vendors, just to line their own, already over flowing pockets.

 

[BSWALKS]

And, that original company no longer really exists; in modern business, the nice guy really does finish last.

I'm also well aware that my current job for UPS is part of that game - pay less, demand more, to make money.

Ya I know that. I don't remember, did he sell, close? Aaron feurstein I think his name was.
Was another one in MA. Joan fabrics. He did incredibly well. Made all the fabric for all the major auto makers.
Dont remember what happened to that company either.

 

[Bagels]

Mom/Pop stores are non union, but people will not shop at WalMart because they are non union?
Sorry, but 6.6% of our collective number of American workers is not a majority.
The democrats and unions decry the 1% elite, while they are of the same ilk.

[/QUOTE]

Who said anything about that? Many of us choose not to shop at Walmart because it shares the bunt of responsibility in lowering the compensation threshold for millions of Americans employed in low-skilled jobs. Additionally, Walmart has successful lobbied for the reversal of many policies & practices across a wide spectrum. For example, Walmart's pushing hard for the rights to sell Chinese-grown apples. When they become successful, they'll wipe out the apple growing business (sans local consumption) in the Midwest & Northeast, and cripple Washington's. This will shutter hundreds of farms, many of which grow other products, ultimately costing thousands of jobs, wiping millions of dollars from the national economy and costing consumers more. But hey, some already rich Walmart execs get richer, right?

There are thousands of Walmart employees who've been with the company for 10-years (or more), go to work 5 days/40 hours a week and earn less than $20,000 annually (and thus simply cannot afford to buy the crappy insurance that's offered to them). Meanwhile, we have plenty of drivers on these forums who've earned a raise in excess of $20,000 over the past 9 years, $@)! and whine it didn't keep up with inflation, and then blast these same Walmart employees -- you know, the ones that work FT for LESS than the raise you claim hasn't kept up with inflation -- for seeking assistance. Which begs the question... who really feels entitled?