Comcast workers have started to unionize. All the Comcast workers who read our blog can sign up here to learn about organizing their workplace.
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IBEW, FTW!!
Unions ruin businesses! and make workers lazy!
@CuriousO: So true. I used to be in the UAW (United Auto Workers) when I painted Toyato Tacomas in Fremont. Every week we would have a catered “work” lunch where we would discuss the results of the previous week. One day, as the meeting was ending we were all walking out of the room and someone had left his food plate on the table. The supervisor asked one of the guys to please throw it away as he was the closest to it. The guys response: “It’s not in my contract” and he walked out of the room without throwing it away. Unions breed pettiness and laziness.
When was the last time the union truly fought for the workers? If the unions pushed for a four day work week, I would be happy to join one. But as far as I’ve seen, they have done all they can do and now exist to make money like any other business.
Unions can help businesses streamline their business and improve customer service.
This may seem counterintuitive, you’d think a union would work to expand the bureaucracy.
But unions (1) support hiring full-time employees (2) give workers a stake in the company and (3) this attracts better quality people.
I wholeheartedly support the Comcast workers.
@CuriousO: You’re being sarcastic, right?
@Meg Marco: Hey, there are nurses that belong to the SEIU.
@CuriousO: As opposed to those hard-working, diligent non-union Comcast employees?
The question is, if Comcast workers go on strike, will anyone notice the difference?
Unions had a place years ago. They did many good things.
That time has passed.
I have been in forced union shops and non union shops.
Those in Union shops are usually very bitter with the management and union representation. And the leading cause is the union acts as management. At times it is very difficult to determine the difference between the union and the management.
In my case, my union team had specific production requirements removed from the contract. So, we could actually sit on our collective asses without worry.
In non union shops, it is very easy to discuss improvements and make suggestions for new processes. In a non union shop, I am required to sustain a competitive stance. And my employer must work to keep me involved in the company. This worked very well.
I was invited into a lucrative profit sharing plan. I have performance and improvement bonuses that easily beat anything the union could have gotten me. I’ve been suggested to go for a management position.
The bottom line is simple. If you believe that a union will help you out, seek out and work for a company that has a union for a short time. See if it works for you. In my case, all the union did was keep me from interacting and participating in decisions about my shop.
It would be too easy to deride all unions. But, their time has come and gone. There is nothing a union could offer that a non-union shop could exceed.
@thbarnes:
No sarcasm here, I worked for a unionized company a while ago and found it to be true. I am glad I am out of there.
@B: Now it will just make them lazier.
So the lazy, incompetent slobs that work for Comcast will now have a union to protect them?
I would definitely say that is a win for workers. They continue to be a bad as they already are and have union protection to boot.
I have spent too much time on the internets. I expected that link to be a rickroll.
Perfect fit for a company that doesn’t seem to have too many employees with outstanding merit to promote. Guess they figured seniority was the only way anyone would get somewhere in Comcast, so why not unionize?
In general, unions had their time and place, but that time has passed.
Some unions such as UA and IBEW seem to be good for keeping companies straight, but unions like the UAW are horrible. A large large percentage of unionized American autoworkers are lazy as hell. The UAW made them this way. Maybe bad union management?
@CuriousO:
Yeah, right. Look at just how much more productive people are in right to work states? Gosh, what a bunch of crap. I’m tired of people reciting these myths without any attempt to support them.
@Orv: Good point!
And then they can all fall promptly asleep on the union headquarters couch.
If only the unions had the same powerful propaganda machines as the companies who wish they would disappear!
@CuriousO:
I work as a mechanic for a major commercial aircraft company where I belong to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union (IAM).
All of our union’s top positions are filled by elected employees who work alongside us in the trenches. Our union contract does not permit us to be lazy nor does it rob the company of its authority. What our union contract DOES do is ensure we make good pay, have outstanding benefits, an make certain we are treated fairly by our managers and co-workers.
If we sit around and do nothing, the company can still fire us. If you’re terrible at your job, the union will try to find a position you can do. The company still has the authority, but the union makes sure we are treated fairly and equally.
I’ve had union jobs that I’ve hated before (usually because of a corrupt union), but I’ve discovered working here that not all unions are bad. Our company makes a killing (with revenue in the billions), and us the workers get fairly compensated for our skills and hard work. Both the company and the employees benefit from our union.
Yikes, and I thought Comcast employees didn’t care as it is. We’ll all be longing for the good ‘ol days if they unionize.
@Orv: Lol. I’d actually be curious to watch the aftermath of that.
I am just going to go out on a limb and throw this out there, “Unions are pointless when the workers involved only have high school degrees or less.” Seriously, when it only took a weekend seminar to train you for your job, nothing should be able to protect you if you need to be fired.
@Concerned_Citizen: …that’s exactly it. All of the bad press about unions is generally from unions that protect low skilled crap occupations.
If you had any skills that were truly in demand, unionization is pointless. How many members would join my surgeon’s union?
Apparently there is a surgeon’s union in some areas.
@WraithSama: Which plane? I’m in the twin towers…
Anyone heard of the Teamsters? One of my in-laws got asked to leave a Teamsters job by his union rep because he was actually doing too much work! He was a delivery driver and his union rep told him to make x number deliveries per day. When he made too many, he was told that he either needed to slow down and “go for coffee between each delivery” or find a new job – all because if the management found out how inefficient they (the union) were being, it would upset the next round of contract negotiations.
I realize that not all unions are this corrupt, but it’s a pretty damning example of why many unions are no longer needed.
@chrispiss:
I’m a 787 Pylon mechanic at Spirit.
Wasn’t Delta Airlines put out of business by the mechanics union?
We used to have one holdover union employee on staff while the rest of us were salaried. This union employee did as little as they could but went out of their way to make the rest of our lives difficult by taking away our flexibility. Because he was not permitted by the union to be flexible, then neither should we. Being in an IT field at an .EDU with limited resources, flexibility is the name of the game.
Unionization has done wonders for the TSA, eh? Lazy government union employees giving body cavity searches to elderly Norwegians. And that’s when they’re not stealing stuff from your bags. Since they’re unionized, you can’t fire them for mere incompetence or laziness.
I wonder if the union organization vote is going to be a secret ballot or — as the unions and Democrats want to do — an open ballot. The latter will leave people open to coercion to vote for union to keep from getting beat up or fired by the union goons.
Yeah UAW did wonders for American Auto and the Midwest economy – we don’t call it the Rust Belt for nothin…