I'm 55 today, so I thought I'd share my experience.

Unions are not perfect, but before unions, children labored in the factories, alongside their fathers.
Not only were there no health or retirement packages for workers, they owed for their needs from the employers company store!
Not much different than being owned. (Slaves?)
Unions became worthless, after a President intervened in an AIR traffic controllers strike.
He threw out the union, and BANNED all workers from seeking work in their chosen and highly skilled professions.
the National Labor Relations Board has since changed the rules for unions ability to strike, mandating that they can not interfere with a Businesses rite to carry-on business.

As some of you know, I used to work on Tug boats. (union labor)
Tug boats typically have staterooms for many hands, but through negotiations, crew members were eliminated in favor of more pay, since a deckhand is the cook, engineer, deckhand and barge pilot ect...
A modern crew is One capt. and one deckhand.
The work could not be done with less, and could not be much harder to perform.

We had one strike, management tried to crew One boat, with four "deckhands", and could only move one barge in a full day.
The strike was over in two days.

Twelve years later, a few months after signing a new contract, they sold the boats from under us. I was brought back to the dock for a crew change, only to be met by security guards. My co-workers showing up for their shifts, were met at the gate with paychecks made out to the minute.
Their attorneys poured over the contract, and found the language forbidding the sale or termination of the contract, Had no penalty for doing it spelled out.
I found myself along with everyone I worked with, competing for the lowest few junior positions available, with the few other tug companies.
Only working part-time and being bumped by the 20 year old with no experience, hired days before.

All because another Division involved themselves,with a NON-union contractor, and was sued for poor quality control on a freeway job in Calif.
Yes, my Company built the Glen Jackson bridge over the Columbia river, and dredged the mountain out of the Columbia river after Mt Saint Helens.


Soap Box #2

Even if you hate Michel Moore, You MUST see his film "Sicko".

Why I'm not wealthy today;

90% health coverage, and my share of one summer of Chemo-therapy.

$50k not counting lost wages.

Three broken ribs, punctured lung, crushed talus bone (ankle), dislocated right elbow (sling for 12 months), Angioplasty (2 stents) Diabetes, meds.
Too many back spasms, Due mostly to poor care. Back surgery;
All with expensive cost at a time of little, to no income!

I have never drawn unemployment wages.
I returned to work always with less than recommended healing time.

Add to that a mentally ill ex-wife. a special needs child (not biologically mine) and poor credit, (ex-wife again) and NO family to fall on.
And it becomes impossible to "get ahead"
and at 55, my healthiest years are behind me.

Please don't try to tell me the economy is Union Labor's fault, or American workers are lazy.

But go ahead and complain about the poor non-union quality work that you still pay the same amount for. (or more?)

over

I promised I would not get political on this site, but it is not Labors/unions fault.

And yes, I do know I could have retire well.

Best of health to you all