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UPS Union Issues
What A Non Union Company Did To My Sister And Hundreds Of Others.
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<blockquote data-quote="curiousbrain" data-source="post: 1119837" data-attributes="member: 31608"><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>I think the reality nowadays is: if you're not getting screwed, then you're probably doing the screwing.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="curiousbrain, post: 1119837, member: 31608"] 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. [/QUOTE]
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