The Black Vault

Excuse the profanity, but no one in my mind has ever said it better
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeLLR3LWtv4

Ol George was a very witty and a very funny person, and like this, could put things in a perspective that was right on the money, and everyone could understand. I was one of those obediant employees, and when it came to the time when one company bought our company, nobody cared about the 30 years of promises we had, and had them in writing. they screwed over so many of my friend not being honorable to those who made the company billions, as to cheating them out of what they deserved. Taking away the promised lifetime medical, and forcing you to retire within a few weeks, or you would not get it. No, they do not care about you, and they do not care when they find out certain jobs had severe health risks, and turn you over to the corporate lawyers, to further screw over surviving spouses, until you give up being too old to fight anymore. Now that the baby boomers like me, have gotten to the promise point, they want to take it away, its bankrupt, and the medicare now they want to just pull your plug, if you are too old to save. No, they do not care, not the CEO's or the polititians, who allow your jobs to be farmed out to China, allow benifits to go out the window by hiring only part time, and to make pension plans vanish fabricating company losses. The working man is just screwed--and I wonder why people hate unions, probably becasue they are not in them.

Capricorn, forgive me please for what I'm about to do (get off on a tangent with Greeney)

The working man is just screwed--and I wonder why people hate unions, probably becasue they are not in them.

My Mom was a union steward. She was really angry when she found out that one of their meetings was in Vegas, a "right to work state", payed for by the federal theft practice. My mother, like politicians, doesn't get social "security"...no...no...no...They voted themselves, and their peon fed workers, to get a different investment. Kinda like how they voted against the national "death" "health" "care" for themselves...De ja vue...or somtin like that.

My father was born in a tar paper shack, on land owned by my Grandma's inlaws...

OK, back to what I wanted to say...I call myself an Anarchistic Libertarian...but it could change.

Whats your point?

The working man is just screwed--and I wonder why people hate unions, probably becasue they are not in them.

It really goes both ways though, I am in a union and there is a lot of good they do. Pensions, healthcare, vacations, etc. every worker should have access to those benefits and I strongly reject any notion that they are to much to ask for in this day and age. Unions have their right place and they have done a lot of positive for this country.

However, there is a lot of political bs that they get involved with too. A lot of these unions are mostly lobbyist organizations . They want want want and hardly give. Then, after you contribute for years to a union plan, they turn their back when you are in need, especially when it goes against handshakes made in the back alley.

The whole system has become sour..."the game is rigged" as Carlin put it.

Probably a lot of truth to that. If it were not for our unions, we definatly had things the salaried people did not have, cost of living for one, and we always had retirement medical written into our contracts, which they never had written. But they also had better savings plans and sick leave benifits. More people ended up sorry they left union jobs for salaried positions. When we were sold, the new company wanted to take medical with retirment away, so gave the Boeing people only a short window to retire and get out. If you didn;t and went past a certain date, you would not get it. These were to people with 30 plus years, and more. They forced many people out after dedicating their lives to these programs, including me. I was lucky due to may age and years of service. I know one person who missed the deadline by one day, turning the minimum age one day late. The union did figure out a loophole to get it for him.

I agree with the benifit thing you are talking about, but I do not agree small employers should be forced to provide medical plans for every minimum wage job. You have 50 people working for a fast food place, totally unskilled labor anyone can do, why should they have to pay for that. Thats going to break this country if they make them do it.

greeney2 wrote:Ol George was a very witty and a very funny person, and like this, could put things in a perspective that was right on the money, and everyone could understand. I was one of those obediant employees, and when it came to the time when one company bought our company, nobody cared about the 30 years of promises we had, and had them in writing. they screwed over so many of my friend not being honorable to those who made the company billions, as to cheating them out of what they deserved. Taking away the promised lifetime medical, and forcing you to retire within a few weeks, or you would not get it. No, they do not care about you, and they do not care when they find out certain jobs had severe health risks, and turn you over to the corporate lawyers, to further screw over surviving spouses, until you give up being too old to fight anymore. Now that the baby boomers like me, have gotten to the promise point, they want to take it away, its bankrupt, and the medicare now they want to just pull your plug, if you are too old to save. No, they do not care, not the CEO's or the polititians, who allow your jobs to be farmed out to China, allow benifits to go out the window by hiring only part time, and to make pension plans vanish fabricating company losses. The working man is just screwed--and I wonder why people hate unions, probably becasue they are not in them.

Greeney my friend, I applaud your post, one of your very best efforts to date, maybe the best.

The kinds of people of which you speak are the ilk capable of the things I often speak of. A few thousand souls, give or take a few hundred here or there, mean little in the grand scheme of things to these sorts.

There are far too few people in the public eye that are BRAVE ENOUGH to speak the truth, they know the score...................it's usually late in life when they begin to fade, that a crack of light sometimes shines through. One such person is Lee Hamilton............he had an op ed piece in a local paper today.............I read it very very carefully, very carefully. Like a carrot just out of reach, one day, maybe one day soon...........One can hope anyway!

George said it best when he said " You'll never get the truth because those at the top will never investigate themselves ".............I do hope people are capable of giving that some very serious consideration.

George was well ahead of his time, yet in a sense well past his prime, if only by example. He was far too brilliant, far too honest, far too dangerous to the establishment, to EVER be taken seriously....

As for Unions.................very necessary at one time in History but that time has long since passed....Now they are more trouble than they are worth.............as posted above FAR TOO POLITICAL to really provide the basics on which they were founded. jmho

Cole

hmm...