ignorant
ignorant SuperDork
2/22/10 4:45 p.m.

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-stop-and-shop-update-0222,0,4722234.story

1500 folks vote for a strike, out of 15,000 total union members in the state....

btw.. There are hundreds of thousands of folks in the state who are unemployed right now. You all can be replaced.

Wally
Wally SuperDork
2/22/10 5:02 p.m.

It is surprisingly easy. They are the active membership that showed up at the meeting. I and 33,000 other people in three different unions got to go on strike a few years back because of a handful of wannabe revolutionaries. The largest of the three unions held an Emergency meeting on short notice knowing that only the people that agreed would show up. They gave an idiot the power to go on strike. The company decided that our union and another were to small and would have to follow along. I had the company tell me I was on strike and the state fine me because some nut had his ego stepped on.

GregTivo
GregTivo HalfDork
2/22/10 5:11 p.m.

The company decided that our union and another were to small and would have to follow along.

Double take

Wait..what? The company (the people that pay you to do a job) told you you were on strike?!?

Do you live in bizarro world perchance?

townsend7
townsend7 New Reader
2/22/10 6:09 p.m.

It's called apathy.... Nobody's getting pushed around.

John Brown
John Brown SuperDork
2/22/10 6:13 p.m.

Two words: Congress, Senate.

kcmoken
kcmoken New Reader
2/22/10 7:53 p.m.

Vocal Minority

pinchvalve
pinchvalve SuperDork
2/22/10 8:46 p.m.

Perhaps they were pulling?

slantvaliant
slantvaliant HalfDork
2/22/10 9:50 p.m.

Stop and Robs are unionized up there? Wow ...

Wally
Wally SuperDork
2/22/10 10:02 p.m.
GregTivo wrote: The company decided that our union and another were to small and would have to follow along. *Double take* Wait..what? The company (the people that pay you to do a job) told you you were on strike?!? Do you live in bizarro world perchance?

New York City Transit. The larger union TWU 100 had 30,000 of the 33,000 members. The company feared that if they went on strike and the other two unions didn't that there would be violence and that the buses that remained on the road would be vandelized so when 100 announced that they were on stike our operators were told they were on stike as well and to pull the buses back in. Because we are a "Vital Service" under the Taylor Law we were fined two days pay by the state for every day we were on strike.

John Brown
John Brown SuperDork
2/22/10 10:37 p.m.

I would be getting some reimbursement out of the TWU 100 by selling scalps.

ignorant
ignorant SuperDork
2/23/10 5:03 a.m.
John Brown wrote: Two words: Congress, Senate.

does not work as those folks are supposed to representatives of a population.

These folks were just normal workers like everyone else.

It just dosen't make sense that a small population can push around a large population, especially if they are supposed equals.

Wally
Wally SuperDork
2/23/10 6:06 a.m.

Like Townsend7 said, the biggest reason is apathy. The 1500 that voted was probably the biggest turnout a union meeting had had in years. It was pathetic how few people come out to union meetings, then when the union does something they don't like they get all worked up. Most of them didn't even bother to vote for their representitive. Percentage wise My union as a driver was more active than local 100 and we could still hold our meetings in a phone booth. I was pretty active in my union as a driver which and it gave me a pretty good understanding as to what goes on between them and the company. I think if more people were involved you would see a lot less nonsense. Unfortunatly most of the time you have the president and his most militant supporters, so he thinks that they speak for everyone because he never hears an opposing viewpoint.

mad_machine
mad_machine SuperDork
2/23/10 9:41 a.m.

apathy is the way. the union I am part of IATSE local 77 has about 125 members.. if we are lucky, we get 25 people at the monthly meeting

John Brown
John Brown SuperDork
2/23/10 9:55 a.m.
ignorant wrote:
John Brown wrote: Two words: Congress, Senate.
does not work as those folks are supposed to representatives of a population. These folks were just normal workers like everyone else. It just dosen't make sense that a small population can push around a large population, especially if they are supposed equals.

Kinda does. I voted my senator in because of his advertised conservative spending. He has since given himself a raise, added trillions to the national debt and forsaken the north american auto industry. He will not be recalled but I will be shocked if he gets reelected.

The Union is equally culpable in these actions. They do act as enablers and they benefit expressly. If it is not for the union pushing an agenda it is hard to get these express elections pushed in.

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