by Tina~in_ut
We have been waiting IMPATIENTLY for months and months to get to vote on whether or not we will be represented by the union in our Reservations Department. Northwest had the union, actually, they still do, but we never have. Most of us don't want it. We have done nicely without it. Ever since the merger was announced, we have had union representatives standing outside the gate at our office trying to give us information on the union. They are very nice people, but it's a little annoying.
Last Sunday, I was sitting at my computer when my twins asked if anyone was coming over to visit. I told them NO! I had purposely made sure that no one was coming over because I was going to sleep in, not shower or change out of my jammies, and basically do whatever I wanted. It was Tina day. They both said that someone had just arrived. My son was elected to answer the door, but I told him to tell whoever it was that I wasn't home. The next thing I know, he's saying, "Just a minute. Mom!" Oh, I got so mad at him. He whispered to me that they had airline badges on. The very first thing I thought of was that my husbands plane went down, but then I realized that he wasn't traveling until the next day. I couldn't imagine what they wanted.
Surprise! Surprise! Union representatives. On my porch! On a Sunday! They were very nice. They wanted to give me information that they thought I should read very carefully. They wanted to call for a vote. I got excited when I heard that. I even said, "Oh good!" They took it the wrong way and started smiling. They thought I would vote the union in. I corrected them real quick! "Oh, no! I don't want the union. I just want this all over with!" You should have seen their sad little faces. What I couldn't figure out was how they got my address.
At work on Monday , I learned that they have access to all our names (we all work for one company now) and they used those search engines that you pay to find out information. I was wondering because we are unlisted. The little sneaks told other people that Headquarters gave them the addresses. What they didn't bother to explain until pressed was that they meant Union Headquarters! I really wouldn't mind if we were unionized if I could see a benefit to it. As it is now, we get the same things and more and we don't pay monthly dues. We've been getting raises, and those people still under the union aren't getting anything. Our company has worked well with us ever since the day I was hired. I like the way things are, but I don't like sneaky little tactics. And by God.....don't ruin my Tina Sunday!!!!!~
Last Sunday, I was sitting at my computer when my twins asked if anyone was coming over to visit. I told them NO! I had purposely made sure that no one was coming over because I was going to sleep in, not shower or change out of my jammies, and basically do whatever I wanted. It was Tina day. They both said that someone had just arrived. My son was elected to answer the door, but I told him to tell whoever it was that I wasn't home. The next thing I know, he's saying, "Just a minute. Mom!" Oh, I got so mad at him. He whispered to me that they had airline badges on. The very first thing I thought of was that my husbands plane went down, but then I realized that he wasn't traveling until the next day. I couldn't imagine what they wanted.
Surprise! Surprise! Union representatives. On my porch! On a Sunday! They were very nice. They wanted to give me information that they thought I should read very carefully. They wanted to call for a vote. I got excited when I heard that. I even said, "Oh good!" They took it the wrong way and started smiling. They thought I would vote the union in. I corrected them real quick! "Oh, no! I don't want the union. I just want this all over with!" You should have seen their sad little faces. What I couldn't figure out was how they got my address.
At work on Monday , I learned that they have access to all our names (we all work for one company now) and they used those search engines that you pay to find out information. I was wondering because we are unlisted. The little sneaks told other people that Headquarters gave them the addresses. What they didn't bother to explain until pressed was that they meant Union Headquarters! I really wouldn't mind if we were unionized if I could see a benefit to it. As it is now, we get the same things and more and we don't pay monthly dues. We've been getting raises, and those people still under the union aren't getting anything. Our company has worked well with us ever since the day I was hired. I like the way things are, but I don't like sneaky little tactics. And by God.....don't ruin my Tina Sunday!!!!!~
50 comments:
1
I aaaaam so beautifuuuuul todaaaay!
Hi..
Oh my, I am blinded by your beauty, you are specowltacular!
:O)
Good Morning Hooters and Miss Lynn!!!!!!!! Yes, you are beautifuuuul todaaaat!
Tina~ sounds like the Jehovah Witnesses who show up at your door and try to recruit- thank you- NO.
We once had a baptist minister come to our door (28 or 29 yrs ago) and ask my husband (not married then) if he was going to marry me or continue to live in sin with me! Mr. Goldie said "oh,I'm just going to live in sin and get what I can" and slammed the door in his face.
Now- we are not baptist, how did he know who we were and that we lived in sin? No idea- but I think it took some major cajones for that dude to come to our door....lol
Morning Carol- you snuck while I was typing.
Dee..
Area 51, I agree about Jessie James, his past relationships sure do tell a story. I guess one thinks they can change someone. But I have learned the hard way, that changing someone is almost impossible. I would think his attraction to Sandra was a fluke, but he could not sustain it. Perhaps you are right, they should both move on.. Still sad tho..
Goldie.. Morning!
Zona and Dee..
Area 51..
Thanks for the info on the Show.. LOL on Zona, "hot in cleveland" does make one chuckle, with all the snow Mo gets.
Tina..
I don't know much about unions, except that you have to pay dues, and that my SIL and nephew both work for a union and do very well.. Also, last year @ my cousins job, they unionized it, and there were hardly any changes. This past Feb, the company she works for closed, and the union did nothing to help them. She showed up one day, and her job was gone.
I say, whats not broke, does not need fixing..
Well good morning and congrats to LynnD. So very pretty today!
Tina, I'd just have slammed the door in their faces. No need to be polite to worms. I don't like people showing up to sell me something or try to influence me. I like unions even less.
Maybe by the end of the day I'll understand why unions are "good", but it doesn't make sense to me. Why do you have to pay money to be allowed to work somewhere and receive protection. That sounds more like organized crime to me.
I'm sorry Carol & Goldie... Good morning to you! Wakie wakie, little owls!!
Well.. it seems the insurance bill has passed..
I am trying to follow it as much as I can. It seems my business won't be affected as I thought it might be. I thought I was going to have to pay into it like I do unemployment thru payroll. I have to offer all full timers insurance which I have to do now. so.. perhaps no changes for me. I wonder tho, who exactly would be offered this government insurance? and what their income has to be? I wonder if only certain hospitals/doctors would take this government insurance. And if that is the case, would these doctors/hospitals be owned/worked for the government? And then what happens to our service from this doctors/hospitals, does it go down cause their payscale is lowered?
So many questions..
All I know is I want to live free, I don't wnat to live under a government rule. America is and always should be the land of the free.....
With that said, I am glad insurance will be offered to everyone, I just hope its done the right way..
Hi Bonacci.. :O)
Ok, off to work..
Hope everyone has a great day.. .
Morning Glories!
I got distracted by Miss Zona this morning. Waving at you!
Tina I agree thatmit is wrong for them to come to your door. Way bad in my book. They could just as easily sent you the information by mail and let you learn about it.
With Unions like anything else there is good and bad. I do have to say that if it weren't for Unions many of us would have little recourse when it comes down to it. If you look at the history it is because of Unions that many people have received a living wage, have regulated work hours and we have no child labor. That said, there are so many unions that take the dues and do nothing. So I am on the fence with them.
Carol anyone who owns a small business with 50 employees or less will not be affected in this new bill. The bill is designed to help small business not hurt it. I did read yesterday that there is a provision to go after Mega employers that work their employees just under a 40 hour work week so they do not have to offer them health insurance. Wal-Mart would be one of these. They will be fined I believe 2000 dollars a day to comply and make sure that all of their employees have health insurance coverage.
There is also a tax break for middle class Americans for what they pay out for health insurance. Protection against discrimination on pre existing conditions and if your health issues become to expensive your insurance will no longer be able to drop you or raise your rates to ungodly amounts so that you are priced out of the system.
There is much more but I need to read up on it too.
Look the fact that insurance companies think it is ok to do some of these practices tells me that they will not police themselves. In one state just last month a company plans on raising the rates of their policies by 70 percent!!! We need competition.
I say this all the time but I am going to say it again. We have more choice and shop around more for our damn cell phone coverage. What a sad truth in my humble opinion. As consumers we should have the right to find coverage at a price we can afford for the best coverage.
Off my soap box.
Good Morning!
TINA: In California Mr Z's company had union votes 2 or 3 times..each one failed. There were a lot of threats on both sides..the company said they wouldn't be able to employ everyone if the union was voted in. Those in favor of the union were following people home and slashing tires. It got really ugly. There hasn't been any talks of unions at his company here in AZ. I don't know if it's because AZ is a right to work state..or because the employees are happier with how the company runs the workplace here. Mr Z is just happy not to have to deal with it. I think he told me that you only need one person to ask for a vote for the union..and the vote has to take place. That may have been why the representatives at the door smiled when you said "Oh good!"..or maybe they just liked your jammies.. ;)
LYNN: Congrats on most gorgeous today! :)
CAROL: I'm trying to learn as much as possible about the Health Care bill too.
GOLDIE: If the doorbell rings at 9am on a Saturday..it's Jehovah's Witnesses. Guaranteed. I don't mind that they ring the bell..just not at 9am..lol..
BONACHI: Mr Z's dad was in a union forever. He paid into the strike fund every month. When they went on strike..the union gave him $14 a week to feed his family..there were 6 children. Thank goodness he had a small home business that saw them through until the strike was over. He was always a union man..but never understood where that money he was paying to them went.
good morning and omg....where does one start!!
Well suffices to say Tina is no Norma Rae.....but if you remember the first time the union organizer came to her front door....Norma Rae wasn't jumping up and down either....
You people better get unionized before Delta absorbs United Air Lines....mark my words.....
The pilots are union...the flight attendants are union....the ground crews are union....think about it..
How many people work in your overall department Tina.... about half of them?
Our country and the economy are changing rapidly....
Better get on the bus Gus.....
oh! I forgot!...its in the bible....
The Top Ten Immediate Benefits You'll Get When Health Care Reform Passes
1. As soon as health care passes, the American people will see immediate benefits. The legislation will:
2. Prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions for children in all new plans;
3. Provide immediate access to insurance for uninsured Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition through a temporary high-risk pool;
4. Prohibit dropping people from coverage when they get sick in all individual plans;
5. Lower seniors' prescription drug prices by beginning to close the donut hole;
5. Offer tax credits to small businesses to purchase coverage;
6. Eliminate lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on benefits in all plans;
7. Require plans to cover an enrollee's dependent children until age 26;
8. Require new plans to cover preventive services and immunizations without cost-sharing;
9. Ensure consumers have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to appeal new insurance plan decisions;
10. Require premium rebates to enrollees from insurers with high administrative expenditures and require public disclosure of the percent of premiums applied to overhead costs.
By enacting these provisions right away, and others over time, we will be able to lower costs for everyone and give all Americans and small businesses more control over their health care choices.
one more thing.....for all the nut cases and tea-baggers and members of the GOP that have fought so hard against the President....with their spit...their racial and homophobic slurs...and their threats of violence...and their lies on top of lies on top of lies...
Nana nana boo boo!!
actually I was going to post a quote but that nana nana thing popped into my head.....lol
the quote....
“When you're finished changing, you're finished.”
I don't know... It just doesn't seem like the best idea to pay someone to piss your employer off. As far as I can tell, that's all unions do these days. I can piss my employer off all by myself, and for free. I don't need a union to do that.
I will use the Delta FA's as an example....
Deltas Flight Attendants have gotten the shaft with the MW merger as they did with the Pan Am merger...
They make more $$ than the Northwest FA's but without a union but with the liberal work rules DAL can make them do whatever they want...and taking into consideration that their healthcare cost get higher and coverage goes down each year....they are actually some of the cheapest FA's to put on an airplane.......
Deltas FA's also have serious seniority loss issues with the merger......when you are not protected you are fair game.....
Now I am talking about unions that protect workforces that include vast numbers of people.....thousands and thousands.......
Major employers.....like Delta or American Airlines and Berkshire Hathaway.......
Companies under the Berkshire Hathaway umbrella don't want unions because its harder to jack your employees around....
Hell I am preaching to the choir.....lol
Morning all....out the door and late again...but I'm on hold with insurance company (forever) so thought I would drop a quick hello to all the owls. I haven't read a thing except the title and that TINA wrote it. I am glad to see her writing a blog as I know she was home resting allllllllll weekend (her husband told me)!!
BBL...hope you are all having a good spring like day.
Happy Monday Owls.
Tina, As Lynn said, when unions were first formed, they did a lot of good things, like regulate work hours, force employers to pay living wages and enact child labor laws. That said, I think they have gotten away from only protecting employees and have become way too powerful.
As a Human Resources Manager, I had up close and personal interaction with unions and for the most part, they were not acting in the best interest of those employees they were charged with 'protecting.'
When I started working for the State of California in 1966, membership in the union was voluntary. I did not join. Then in 1980something a vote was taken and membership became mandatory. The only difference I saw was the dues that were deducted from my pay.
I have a million stories that you all don't want to hear, but I agree with Carol - if it's not broken...
Waving a wing to Lynn, (yes you are so beautifuuuuuul today), Carol, Goldie, Zona, Bonachichi, DeeDee, Dianne and all the other Owls. I hope you all have a good day. I am off to get a new cell phone, cause mine will not hold a charge anymore. BBL
I keep trying to reply, but am constantly sidetracked. I wish work wouldn't interfere with my blogging!
I have been classified as "exempt" from labor laws for the last 20+ years. That means I don't get paid for overtime, I don't get scheduled breaks and I don't work a 40 hour week. If my work is substandard, no amount of seniority is going to save my arse. I am okay with that.
DeeDee, the last thing I want to do is disagree with you and maybe it's not so much disagreement as ignorance on my part. I see OSHA and labor legislation as protection for workers. Is there really a need for more at the expense of commerce? Please, anyone who has an answer, educate me.
It is beautiful here today.....like spring.....
Belle prefers dining al fresco so the weather is pleasing for her too!
I don't think that I mentioned that Belle belongs to a union. The dues are payable weekly. A box of dog biscuits and a broiled chicken...
well its not so much a union as a club for doggies......but Belle is small so she doesn't participate in any of the activities....come to think of it....I'm not aware of any activities......
well its not so much a club as it is just extortion.....pretty much just a bunch of bullies making us pay to be left alone...my other dog "Blue" runs with them.....she hates Belle...
well its not so much hate as it is jealousy....my neighbor down the street told me that all they have to pay is a handful of Eukanuba...
wait a minute! That damn Blue has always had a bad habit of telling her friends that we have money!! THATS why the four legged fuckers order broiled chicken!!
Well next time I'll have cook grill that bird....that'll fix em!
This has nothing to do with unions, but it does show the strange circumstances I work in.
I was piggy-backing a hard-drive onto a PC for a health club and needed tweezers to grab a very small part from the hard-drive. I'm in a spa, someone's got to have tweezers, right?
Sure enough, there's the face place and they supposedly have tweezers in there. Where's there? Through the pool, out the door and around the corner.
So there I am, walking with a company's hard drive, their entire business history, through the pool area. I was thinking, "Lord, if you make me fall in whilst holding this hard drive, just drown me here and now."
Now if I'd thought ahead, I'd have taken the tweezers to the hard drive instead of the hard drive to the tweezers.
Bonachichi....
you are perfectly welcome to disagree with me.....lol....you know I believe that everyone is entitled to my opinion.....
but when you have disputes where vast numbers of people are involved....you can't just put them in a room and say "work it out"....everyone would talk at once......thats why I don't watch The View....
They must have people to negotiate for them.....
Now if the dues are more than a box of dog biscuits and a broiled chicken....we need to look at that too....
Bonachichi.....and YOU want to argue unions!!!
Trapezing around with a companies heart and soul....and by water!!!
Reminds me of when Steve Wynn ripped a $139 million dollar Picasso painting he had just sold to a fellow art collector. Do you know what the first thing he said was after he ripped it?
‘Oh shit. Look what I’ve done.’
I am sure there is some geek rule somewhere that says don't walk through the pool area of a health club carrying a hard drive in need of rescue whilst talking on a cell phone to another techie half a world away, but I wasn't thinking of that. I just wanted the damn tweezers. And yes, I am so thankful that nothing wound up in the pool.
I have to go to a geek meeting; back in a few hours. That hard drive will actually be one of the main topics; You all wouldn't believe the effect that thing had on people! See ya in a few...
Afternoon Glories!
Went and ran errands and now I am trying to get a rager of a headache.
Deedee thank you for doing my homework for me! I am going to print that post and carry it around for people who talk stupid.
Also thank you for expressing the anger and sorrow I am feeling about the Teabag people who yelled ni**er at our black congressmen and women and faggot at our gay congressman Barnie Frank and then someone spit on one of the Reps Who was black. Disgusting no excuse, racism pure and simple.
As far as the disgraceful way many of our elected official acted yesterday doing the peoples business, I say vote them out. Again just disgraceful.
I expect more and it is time we all tell them we expect more period. Whether they are Democrat, Republican or Independent. Hell a wolf raised second grader has better manners than some of these people.
you guys have been cracking me up today~ we got a memo from our VP about the "home visits." ....gave us more info~
LynnD~ you get prettier and prettier every day~
DeeDee~ I loved it when you said, "you know I believe that everyone is entitled to my opinion"....made me laugh and laugh....I KNOW you believe that~
Bonaweenie~ I think it's sexy when you talk "geek"~ :)~
Lynn..
Thanks for the info, I read up on it somewhat this afternoon, and it does seem my business won't be affected at all, so that is certainly good news.. It also seems this whole thing will take a while, which is good, as it will give me more time to learn all the ins and outs...
Fun nite..
Dinner with my cousins, then home in time for DWTS.. I so enjoy this show, and I was def looking forward to it, the few weeks can be awkward. But once they get started its fun to watch them..
I am kinda routing for Kate, I hope she gets her sea legs in order, as she seems quite nervous.. I don't think she will win, but I hope she goes far..
and
Pam Anderson is the queen crackwhore of DWTS.. oh my, she was certainly whacked out.. her hair was all over the place.. I did not like her dress at all, the whole thing was very strange.. I was more like watching Debbie does DWTS.. :O)
And thanks to a txt from Jodi (which was a reminder) my fav Showtime Show Nurse Jackie was on 2nite and I got to see it.. Love that show, it stinks tho cause its only a 1/2 hr. And then United States of Tara went on right after Nurse Jackie.. so my goodness I was def a watcher of TV 2nite..
Fun!
NJ is having a thunder storm.. rain, wind, thunder, lighting.. the last thing we need right now is more rain.. its been raining hard since around 8p.. I hope it stops soon..
Well I am done with my geek meeting. I must go on a quest tomorrow for thermal grease. Fun. I will also be representing the software development industry to 2,000-3,000 of our county's youths in a couple weeks. Whoever thought I would be a good person to do this will probably wind up getting shot.
Carol, make some lemonade. Go get your kayak and have some fun!
Tina, I'd love to hear what the word is about those home visits. That is just so wrong!
I am not a fan of Pam Anderson's um, activities, but I do respect her for shielding her kids from all the spectacle.
I went to dinner across the street from where I work. Its a bar/restaurant that has been around since the 60's and yes, all you have to do is walk thru the door and the 60's scream out.. Anyway.. many neighbor ppl come here, mostly Italians, and yes most men look like Tony Soprano and the women def scream Carmella.. with the big hair and the french manicure. The menu is pretty simple, mostly everyone orders the same thing.. Shrimp Peeps, Cavatelli and Pot Cheese and Chicken Savoy.. I think they have five other items on the menu.
They have jukebox that normally plays.. 60's music, Frankie Vallie, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin etc. As I was eating, I hear men singing, I knew it was not the jukebox, so I got up to look. It was about 6 guys standing at the bar in a circle singing Doo Wop, acapella and snapping their fingers in tune to the song. They all seemed to be in their late 60's or so.. and harmonized wonderfully. They sang about three songs, and after each one everyone clapped.. They must have been in a doo wop group back in the day..
They were there for dinner, cause as we were leaving they were being seated at a table.
I just thought that was so cool, and glad I was there to experience it..
I can only imagine how cool it was in their heyday! So sweet that they all still stayed friends..
whew.. I think this was a novella!
Bonacci...
I don't like lemonade, but I will make iced tea instead.. :O)
Bonacci..
You will be speaking in front of 4,000 youth's? Wow I would be freakin out.. Good for you.. I would bring popcorn tho, cause that will keep them quiet..
:O)
Carol, that must have been so much fun to see those guys. And they deserve kudos for getting up and performing, though they probably had a blast. That's some real small-town dining that so many of us never get to experience. Wouldn't it be so cool to have a time machine and be a part of it all?
Just think Carol... If you get struck by lightning, you'll save a ton on electric cuz you'll glow in the dark.
Thanks a lot for pointing out that this little community service stint of mine will involve public speaking. What have I gotten myself into?
I used to be married to a Union Rep and Negotiator ---I was in management at the time with my job. Needless to say, we had a very different of opinion on all work issues. When we would go to his work functions, we couldn't take my car as it was a foreign car and their parking lot had signs outlawing them. We never agreed on political parties and I always felt the union told him how to vote. I felt they only went by how a person voted on labor issues and not any other issues. No....this did not cause our divorce but it sure made for some interesting conversation. We were respectful of each other's jobs as we knew who signed our paychecks...but I still didn't like the union.
Now on the other hand, my SIL works for UPS for the last three years and with my daughter's health being so poor this last year...I thank God every day for his union benefits. He hasn't been layed off and the medical is wonderful...no copays for doctors, hospitals, drugs, etc. So I guess I am on the fence too.
TINA: Were you wearing your Bronco shirt jammies? No wonder they wanted to hang around.
You all have some interesting things to say today regarding unions and the new healthcare bill...interesting reading.
Tomorrow is a very exciting day...I AM FINALLY GETTING MY BRIDGE FOR THAT TOOTH THAT STARTED HURTING IN MAY!!!!
Bonacci...
Yes, a time machine would be great, I would have loved to see those men in their younger days..
I pictured them down @ The Jersey Shore on the boardwalk in front of The Bamboo Bar, doing their thing..
Fun Thought!
Getting sleepy..
off to bed..
Nite!
Hey Carol, Was one of the guys Frankie Vallie? Wouldn't that be a hoot?
Very interesting blog and comments today. Clearly, there are good and not so good things about unions.
Mary, have you hit the big jackpot yet???
Good night and sweet dreams everyone.
Tina. That is so not cool that the union people came to your house. Back in the late 60's when I moved to San Francisco, I worked for the phone company. Periodically, someone would try to get me to join the union. I never did. I do think many unions help protect workers. There was a time when workers had no rights so unions really were necessary and probably still are in some industries.
Dianne. I'm glad your dental woes are almost over.
I'm having a nice visit with Mom and my brother. Mom has to take her driver test tomorrow. I hopoe it goes well for her. She's never driven on the freeway. She only drives around locally, like to the library or grocery store, places like that. I would hate to see her lose her independence.
Time to turn in. Sweet dreams, HOoters.
Gee, Just_Lin coaching Mum on driving. I can see it now... Senior citizen Gymkhana!
I learned tonight that a 17 year-old girl ran a red light whilst texting a friend, hitting and killing at least one kid in Simi Valley. What a nuisance those smart phones have become! Why can't these kids put the damn things down for JUST A SECOND??? Nothing pisses me off more than assholes texting!
Post a Comment