Unions as I see them
Posted by jaybeacham on 21 Nov 2019 | Tagged as: blog
In the early 1970s, I lived in Provo, Utah.
Needing a job, a man at church said go to the Missionary Training Center Building
project where he worked.
I did only to learn that it was a union job and if not already a union member, I
couldn’t get hired.
Later I was employed by a construction company, Distinctive Structures.
We build pole buildings in northern Utah and southern Wyoming.
One job we had was for a dairy in West Mountain, Utah, on the south west side of
Utah Lake, just north of Santaquin. we were constructing a milking shed.
Treated forms were installed for the base between the poles, then metal siding
and roofing over the trusses. The cement floor would be poured later inside those
forms.
One day two new men showed up for work. Both from the carpenter’s union.
They were older that me and had been carpenters with the union for many years.
So they took over as the boss was not there that day.
They started to build it wrong at the base which would cause problems when
we reached the rafters. I informed them of their error to no avail.
They were union men and knew it all.
When the sides reached the roof area, the error was very apparent and needed
to be remedied.
The two know it all union men came cap in hand to me begging that I help
solve their problem, saying, “Afterall, you’ve built these things before.”
I solved their problem so that we could continue building.
The owner had made some kind of contract with the union that only their
members could work for him and former employees, who were non-union,
couldn’t join. So I was fired,
Why?
Utah is a right to work state and a person doesn’t have to join a union to work.
An attorney said that since the job was such a low paying one that fighting the
issuse woluldn’t be worth while.
Maybe so, but the principle was the point.
Had I know about the National Right to Work Committee then, I may have
pressed the issue. I dIdn’t, so I dropped the matter.
My take on that, unionism promotes arrogance, poor workmanship, poor
quailfications, and a host of other ills.
Later while living in Cottage Grove, Oregon, I worked at a manufacturing plant.
I held several positions. One was cleanup. I went from doing one man’s job to
doing 5 men’s jobs and still had time to clean windows on the south side of the
plant, not cleaned in anyone’s memory. And this all on a daily basis.
Did I get paid more for more work? No. Pay only increased per union schedule.
I didn’t have to join the union, and was glad I didn’t.
“Some hot shot young man shouldn’t get paid more than the old guy who’s been
here a long time.” Was the union attitude.
The shop foreman of the International Machinist’s union asked me why I
didn’t join. Later he complained that they paid dues monthly, but the international
union did nothing for them.
Why should I join? So I didn’t.
The retirement pay was good at 1cent per hour worked. But the owners most
likely would have paid that or more anyway.
A year or so later, the local union went on strike. The company hired scabs
because this was their tax write-off comapany, so it didn’t matter to them.
And even though the 2 men at the pickett line sat there for over a year, the inter-
national union never did anything for them.
A cousin in Las Vegas couldn’t work for a year or two because of union strikes.
Are unions any good?
I’d say no.
Unions are run by men who don’t work but get paid well by those who do, dues
paying workers. They don’t have to help workers because they are now set.
The value unions once affored workers no longer exists.
