the power of unions

[Buckethead]

Good point.
But when it comes down to it, would these people rather have their beer benefit cut, or their job cut?
But then again, i guess union employees cant get fired.
So much for motivation for individual effort.

As I read the article, this is not a benefit for current employees. It is a RETIREE benefit. Those affected don't have a job with the company to lose. Not anymore, anyway.

[Drjones]

They're retirees, so they don't really give a rats ass if their job gets cut nor if they get fired.   

[Triple J]

If I was retired and someone took away my beer I'd be pissed too (er...actually I wouldn't be...stupid dual word meanings). 

[Scottish]

Bummer, here's another union that would rather kill the cow than take less milk.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090609/ap_on_bi_ge/us_boston_globe_future




unions 

[redxblack]

Good point.
But when it comes down to it, would these people rather have their beer benefit cut, or their job cut?
But then again, i guess union employees cant get fired.
So much for motivation for individual effort.

IF that were the situation, it would be perfect for negotiations.

We saw a lot of this in the mid-90s. Companies that were very profitable shedding jobs and benefits to be more profitable. Those concessions are never taken into account in these discussions. Some CDN breweries had even more generous employee and retiree benefits on free beer.

If SOME businesses treated their supplier contracts the way they treated their labor contracts, they'd be cut off and go out of business. I'm currently engaged in a situation where my direct supervisor is violating my contract and daring me to go find another job if I'm unhappy, so I'm a bit sensitive to petty tyrants breaking negotiated agreements.

The bottom line is these things are NEVER as simple as they appear in sound-byte news and unions have fulfilled a very important part in creating this country. I don't think it's coincidental that as organized labor fell apart and jobs were outsourced, the economy had a brief profit bubble and then economic collapse. Capital and labor are codependent of each other. 

[Gator]

rabble rabble rabble. unions. rabble rabble .

that's a lot of beer per month. i don't think that even i could drink that much without running into problems.

keep in mind that those are metric beers, so you have to x1.8 and add 32

[vwboomer]

Bummer, here's another union that would rather kill the cow than take less milk.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090609/ap_on_bi_ge/us_boston_globe_future




unions 

23% paycut? I wouldn't vote for it either. Say they take the cut, then in a year the business folds anyway because it's an outdated media source. Nobody wins there either.

There's probably another cut coming for maintenance at work, and its possible that it will affect me. Before the last cut, we were on 32 hours briefly. Get rid of people, then right back to 40. Personally I'd rather have stayed on 32 and retained a couple people but the union never even pushed for it. Now we've got less people trying to do the same amount of work, and the higher ups are pregnant doging because we want to FIX things. Funny, that. A maintenance department that they want to keep from maintaining.


But shit....taking beer away from Canadians? What are they gonna drink during hockey?  

[Scottish]

23% paycut? I wouldn't vote for it either. Say they take the cut, then in a year the business folds anyway because it's an outdated media source. Nobody wins there either.

There's probably another cut coming for maintenance at work, and its possible that it will affect me. Before the last cut, we were on 32 hours briefly. Get rid of people, then right back to 40. Personally I'd rather have stayed on 32 and retained a couple people but the union never even pushed for it. Now we've got less people trying to do the same amount of work, and the higher ups are pregnant doging because we want to FIX things. Funny, that. A maintenance department that they want to keep from maintaining.


But shit....taking beer away from Canadians? What are they gonna drink during hockey?  

Yeah me neither I'd rather stand in the unemployment line.  Tight times mean everybody takes it in the shorts.

[KnightofNi]

keep in mind that those are metric beers, so you have to x1.8 and add 32

dam metric system strikes again!! 



wait a sec...that's more beer!
i might be on a permanent bender if i had those benefits.