the demise of unions

[luckyleftyme2]

Now that my work life is over I find it amusing to look back on my first union
job. my dad had 6 years of college and worked in a paper mill all his life except
during ww11 when he worked in the ship yard.
I was 15 and lied about my age to go to work for the first national store in mid-coast maine. It cost me $20+- for initial dues and $5 per month +- after that.
my dues was aprox $2 a month more than my dads! my best friend went to work for a&p
in the same town. I got $o.75 per hour,was paid over time if I worked over 30 hrs per week or after store hours stocking. my friend got $.50 per hour no holiday pay and no time and half.
AFTER HIGH SCHOOL I worked several jobs all non-union as the engineering field
even on government bases was union exempt.ah yes, I was on several projects in conn.
where labor unions were strong. we had to have a carpenter drive stakes for our survey crew and put the survey tacks in the stks. ha ha I THINK I had alot to do with that.as the carpenter was from caribou and we drink a couple beers together and talked about work. well they informed our consulting company they would either have to unionize or stop doing carpenter work.they agreed to this situation.
the union carpenter laborer was paid $2.75 per hour.my boss a graduate eng was
making $80 a week salary. we were working four 12 hour days and eight hours on friday.
the same job super was assigned to the I95 project in falmouth where we
was laying concrete. now this company was non-union in maine. they bid the job to pav 1500 feet a day.well we had the usual know it alls working in the crews who
said it couldn't be done. and for the first week it wasn't. well knowing this super Iknew the dung was gonna fly.
At the time I was working for the same consulting firm hired by the state. the second week on tuesday they had a job meeting with all employees.
a helicopter flew in and the supers boss led the meeting. it was short and sweet and to the point. he simply stated that they bid the job to get 1500 feet of concrete roadway a day.
and if on Wednesday (the next day) they didn't get it he would replace the entire crew with union help from conn. who could get it.
wed they got 1600 feet and friday they got 2000.and they never got less than 1500 a day after that.
when I see some fat lazy loud mouth downing unions ILMAO because the majority of union workers are the cream of the crop.they get these jobs because their the best in their trades.
when you drive across back bay on the interstate know that a union contractor bailed out w.h. hinman on the test sites. I was there and thats a fact.
the majority of my work life was non-union most of it salary!
but if you want to get it done use a union man!
ever wonder if your jobs are going overseas because you let the unions die out and corporate america just got stronger and to greedy? (THINK ABOUT IT)

[MaineDem]

1. "if you want to get it done use a union man!"

Or woman!

BTW, I do agree with you.

[luckyleftyme2]

2. I agree

Iagree and I'M happy to say many females have recently(last 20-30 yrs.) done well in the cons't field.
One IN PARTICULAR I take my hat off to,she was a single mother (divorced) who had to enter the job market in a hurry,she took a job as flagger and now ten years later has her own crew working her way up from laborer to foreman. although it is a non-union local contractor they treat their help well.