CABL Forum - Re: Something to consider

I don't think a union will ever cut out contracting. Many of the companies have contracting built into their systems and while some union officals might want to try and eliminate contracting altogether I don't see it happening. The only way would be if the union operated as a true trade union, having a reserve of trained workers ready to go to work within a couple of days notice whenever the need for extra workers exists. If that were the case there would be no need for contractors. The trade union would act as a temp agency and the workers would be paid according to union scale which may or may not be higher or lower than permenent workers under seperate union negotiated contract.
Again, if a guy can negotiate a better contract for himself as an individual them more power to him. But all so often companies like Bruister make major changes, drop it on the techs like a bomb and then tell them to shut up and take it. They did this while i was there and there was no individual negotiation to it, they stood there in a meeting of nearly 60 techs and said point blank, "this is the way it is going to be, if you don't like it, there is the door." That one statement sent the messege to everyone there that no one tech was worth anymore than another in the company's eyes. Veteran tech, new tech, good tech or bad tech, they were all just as expendable as the next. That one statement served to unify the techs and alienate the company creating a gap between the two that is still there and is only growing wider with each day and each new change the company brings about.
Like I said I'm not saying the a union is for everyone or the answers to all our ills, but it is an idea and might help stabilize things. You have to admit there have been a lot of major changes just over the past two or three years and none of them have been what you'd call good for the guys in the trenches.

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Re: Something to consider