Having destroyed Detroit, the United Auto Workers union is desperate to infect foreign auto manufacturing plants in the South. It finally managed to force a vote on unionization in Chattanooga and the UAW hit a pot hole.
Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tenn., have rejected the United Auto Workers, shooting down the union’s hopes of securing a foothold at a foreign-owned auto plant in the South.
The vote was 712 to 626, said the UAW, which blamed the loss on “politicians and outside special interest groups.”
The vote, announced late Friday night after three days of balloting, is a devastating loss for the UAW, whose membership has plummeted from a high of 1.5 million in 1979 to around 400,000 today. Outgoing UAW President Bob King had staked his legacy on organizing a Southern auto plant for the first time.
But the decision is a triumph for Tennessee Republicans like Sen. Bob Corker, who lured Volkswagen to Chattanooga as mayor in the early 2000s. Corker and other Republicans warned workers that the UAW’s presence would irreparably harm the plant, and in recent days he claimed — with little evidence — that Volkswagen would choose not to expand the plant if workers unionized.
“Needless to say, I am thrilled for the employees at Volkswagen and for our community and its future,” Corker said in a brief statement Friday night.
Union leaders, who poured millions of outside union dollars into a failed effort to unseat Scott Walker in Wisconsin, whined about outside money.
In a statement, the UAW blamed the conservative groups and Tennessee Republicans for their stinging defeat, with UAW Region 8 Director Gary Casteel saying that “politically motivated third parties threatened the economic future of this facility and the opportunity for workers to create a successful operating model that would grow jobs in Tennessee.”
“While we’re outraged by politicians and outside special interest groups interfering with the basic legal right of workers to form a union, we’re proud that these workers were brave and stood up to the tremendous pressure from outside,” UAW Secretary-Treasurer Dennis Williams said. “We hope this will start a larger discussion about workers’ right to organize.”
It was also a rebuke for Barack Obama who had weighed in on the vote.
But let’s be honest about unions. Unions used to exist for workers’ benefits. Now they exist solely as a means to funnel workers’ wages into the pockets of democrats and democrat issues. Liberals whine a lot about the influence of the Koch brothers, but the Koch’s are pikers in contrast to the money spent by liberals and unions. From Open Secrets:
Rank | Organization | Total ’89-’12 | Dem % | Repub % | Tilt |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ActBlue | $97,192,340 | 99% | 0% | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
2 | American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees | $60,667,379 | 81% | 1% | ![]() ![]() |
3 | AT&T Inc | $56,449,317 | 41% | 57% | ![]() |
4 | National Education Assn | $53,594,488 | 61% | 4% | ![]() |
5 | National Assn of Realtors | $51,207,902 | 44% | 47% | ![]() |
6 | Goldman Sachs | $44,847,951 | 53% | 44% | ![]() |
7 | Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers | $44,478,789 | 92% | 1% | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
8 | United Auto Workers | $41,667,858 | 71% | 0% | ![]() ![]() |
9 | Carpenters & Joiners Union | $39,260,371 | 74% | 9% | ![]() ![]() |
10 | Service Employees International Union | $38,395,690 | 84% | 2% | ![]() ![]() |
11 | Laborers Union | $37,494,010 | 85% | 7% | ![]() ![]() |
12 | American Federation of Teachers | $36,713,325 | 89% | 0% | ![]() ![]() |
13 | Communications Workers of America | $36,188,135 | 86% | 0% | ![]() ![]() |
14 | Teamsters Union | $36,123,209 | 88% | 5% | ![]() ![]() |
15 | JPMorgan Chase & Co | $34,527,277 | 48% | 51% | ![]() |
16 | United Food & Commercial Workers Union | $33,756,550 | 86% | 0% | ![]() ![]() |
17 | United Parcel Service | $32,214,128 | 35% | 64% | ![]() |
18 | Citigroup Inc | $32,198,122 | 48% | 50% | ![]() |
19 | National Auto Dealers Assn | $31,818,910 | 31% | 68% | ![]() |
20 | Machinists & Aerospace Workers Union | $31,313,097 | 98% | 1% | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
21 | EMILY’s List | $31,267,654 | 98% | 0% | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
22 | American Bankers Assn | $31,135,202 | 36% | 63% | ![]() |
23 | AFL-CIO | $30,938,977 | 61% | 3% | ![]() |
24 | American Medical Assn | $29,990,879 | 40% | 59% | ![]() |
25 | Microsoft Corp | $29,245,015 | 55% | 43% | ![]() |
26 | National Beer Wholesalers Assn | $28,976,510 | 35% | 64% | ![]() |
27 | Blue Cross/Blue Shield | $28,491,678 | 36% | 63% | ![]() |
28 | General Electric | $27,741,628 | 47% | 51% | ![]() |
29 | National Assn of Home Builders | $27,509,880 | 34% | 65% | ![]() |
30 | Lockheed Martin | $27,246,173 | 42% | 57% | ![]() |
31 | Bank of America | $26,822,749 | 41% | 57% | ![]() |
32 | National Assn of Letter Carriers | $26,106,359 | 84% | 9% | ![]() ![]() |
33 | Morgan Stanley | $26,074,770 | 42% | 56% | ![]() |
34 | Verizon Communications | $25,490,499 | 40% | 59% | ![]() |
35 | Deloitte LLP | $24,979,333 | 35% | 63% | ![]() |
36 | Time Warner | $24,463,922 | 72% | 25% | ![]() ![]() |
37 | Newsweb Corp | $24,387,371 | 41% | 0% | ![]() |
38 | Credit Union National Assn | $24,056,155 | 47% | 51% | ![]() |
39 | Plumbers & Pipefitters Union | $23,886,248 | 85% | 4% | ![]() ![]() |
40 | Altria Group | $23,750,298 | 28% | 70% | ![]() ![]() |
41 | Ernst & Young | $23,114,243 | 42% | 57% | ![]() |
42 | Operating Engineers Union | $23,036,848 | 82% | 14% | ![]() ![]() |
43 | International Assn of Fire Fighters | $22,963,260 | 79% | 16% | ![]() ![]() |
44 | American Hospital Assn | $22,909,326 | 52% | 46% | ![]() |
45 | PricewaterhouseCoopers | $22,461,596 | 35% | 64% | ![]() |
46 | Sheet Metal Workers Union | $22,372,978 | 95% | 2% | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
47 | American Dental Assn | $21,791,508 | 44% | 54% | ![]() |
48 | Boeing Co | $21,502,737 | 46% | 52% | ![]() |
49 | UBS AG | $21,354,742 | 40% | 58% | ![]() |
50 | Comcast Corp | $20,603,390 | 57% | 42% | ![]() |
51 | AFLAC Inc | $19,822,809 | 43% | 56% | ![]() |
52 | National Rifle Assn | $19,771,191 | 17% | 82% | ![]() ![]() |
53 | Pfizer Inc | $19,699,869 | 35% | 64% | ![]() |
54 | Northrop Grumman | $19,633,964 | 42% | 57% | ![]() |
55 | Union Pacific Corp | $19,617,968 | 27% | 72% | ![]() ![]() |
56 | Air Line Pilots Assn | $19,538,047 | 83% | 16% | ![]() ![]() |
57 | Honeywell International | $19,447,557 | 44% | 54% | ![]() |
58 | Natl Assn/Insurance & Financial Advisors | $19,305,624 | 41% | 58% | ![]() |
59 | Koch Industries | $18,083,948 | 8% | 90% | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
60 | American Postal Workers Union | $17,957,308 | 86% | 2% | ![]() ![]() |
61 | American Assn for Justice | $17,581,358 | 80% | 3% | ![]() ![]() |
62 | FedEx Corp | $17,506,083 | 39% | 60% | ![]() |
63 | Ironworkers Union | $17,386,345 | 92% | 6% | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
64 | Club for Growth | $17,271,352 | 0% | 95% | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
65 | Credit Suisse Group | $17,191,340 | 41% | 57% | ![]() |
66 | United Transportation Union | $17,096,750 | 87% | 11% | ![]() ![]() |
67 | New York Life Insurance | $16,898,487 | 49% | 50% | ![]() |
68 | Raytheon Co | $16,864,289 | 44% | 55% | ![]() |
69 | National Rural Electric Cooperative Assn | $16,552,363 | 47% | 52% | ![]() |
70 | General Dynamics | $16,549,202 | 46% | 53% | ![]() |
71 | Akin, Gump et al | $16,463,510 | 61% | 37% | ![]() |
72 | United Steelworkers | $16,426,444 | 99% | 0% | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
73 | American Institute of CPAs | $15,952,635 | 41% | 58% | ![]() |
74 | National Air Traffic Controllers Assn | $15,883,050 | 77% | 20% | ![]() ![]() |
75 | Chevron | $15,826,864 | 19% | 64% | ![]() |
76 | Anheuser-Busch | $15,612,613 | 48% | 51% | ![]() |
77 | Reynolds American | $15,574,198 | 22% | 77% | ![]() ![]() |
78 | Exxon Mobil | $15,220,537 | 13% | 85% | ![]() ![]() |
79 | KPMG LLP | $15,112,328 | 34% | 65% | ![]() |
80 | National Cable & Telecommunications Assn | $15,048,560 | 47% | 51% | ![]() |
81 | DLA Piper | $14,902,117 | 68% | 31% | ![]() |
82 | Merrill Lynch | $14,865,217 | 37% | 62% | ![]() |
83 | Wal-Mart Stores | $14,851,004 | 32% | 67% | ![]() |
84 | GlaxoSmithKline | $14,625,493 | 30% | 69% | ![]() |
85 | CSX Corp | $14,118,661 | 34% | 65% | ![]() |
86 | Walt Disney Co | $14,104,107 | 68% | 30% | ![]() |
87 | News Corp | $13,917,083 | 58% | 41% | ![]() |
88 | American Financial Group | $13,910,355 | 15% | 73% | ![]() ![]() |
89 | Indep Insurance Agents & Brokers/America | $13,731,200 | 34% | 64% | ![]() |
90 | American Health Care Assn | $13,727,858 | 51% | 48% | ![]() |
91 | Wells Fargo | $13,639,116 | 36% | 61% | ![]() |
92 | Associated Builders & Contractors | $13,577,082 | 1% | 98% | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
93 | Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance | $13,565,554 | 38% | 60% | ![]() |
94 | University of California | $13,552,056 | 89% | 9% | ![]() ![]() |
95 | American Crystal Sugar | $13,309,209 | 61% | 37% | ![]() |
96 | WPP Group | $13,257,197 | 53% | 45% | ![]() |
97 | American Society of Anesthesiologists | $13,166,537 | 41% | 58% | ![]() |
98 | Prudential Financial | $13,051,316 | 49% | 50% | ![]() |
99 | Southern Co | $12,973,439 | 29% | 70% | ![]() ![]() |
100 | National Restaurant Assn | $12,605,181 | 16% | 83% | ![]() ![]() |
101 | Securities Industry & Financial Mkt Assn | $12,438,248 | 40% | 59% | ![]() |
102 | Human Rights Campaign | $12,148,422 | 89% | 8% | ![]() ![]() |
103 | MetLife Inc | $12,038,047 | 51% | 47% | ![]() |
104 | American Optometric Assn | $12,034,433 | 57% | 42% | ![]() |
105 | Home Depot | $11,900,495 | 25% | 74% | ![]() ![]() |
106 | American Academy of Ophthalmology | $11,895,708 | 50% | 49% | ![]() |
107 | Natl Active & Retired Fed Employees Assn | $11,802,200 | 78% | 21% | ![]() ![]() |
108 | Saban Capital Group | $11,683,172 | 89% | 0% | ![]() ![]() |
109 | Eli Lilly & Co | $11,651,455 | 31% | 67% | ![]() |
110 | United Technologies | $11,577,894 | 45% | 52% | ![]() |
111 | General Motors | $11,281,497 | 38% | 60% | ![]() |
112 | Associated General Contractors | $11,198,897 | 14% | 85% | ![]() ![]() |
113 | Painters & Allied Trades Union | $11,081,080 | 85% | 12% | ![]() ![]() |
114 | National Assn of Broadcasters | $11,051,822 | 44% | 55% | ![]() |
115 | American Maritime Officers | $11,019,831 | 46% | 53% | ![]() |
116 | UST Inc | $10,930,093 | 22% | 77% | ![]() ![]() |
117 | Ford Motor Co | $10,739,089 | 38% | 60% | ![]() |
118 | Skadden, Arps et al | $10,700,094 | 77% | 22% | ![]() ![]() |
119 | BellSouth Corp | $10,680,784 | 43% | 56% | ![]() |
120 | AIG | $10,548,621 | 49% | 50% | ![]() |
121 | Seafarers International Union | $10,449,415 | 83% | 15% | ![]() ![]() |
122 | Exelon Corp | $10,448,670 | 43% | 56% | ![]() |
123 | National Cmte to Preserve Social Security & Medicare | $10,391,306 | 82% | 17% | ![]() ![]() |
124 | Independent Community Bankers of America | $10,367,285 | 42% | 57% | ![]() |
125 | Amway/Alticor Inc | $10,312,313 | 0% | 97% | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
126 | Freddie Mac | $10,294,709 | 43% | 56% | ![]() |
127 | MBNA Corp | $10,282,913 | 16% | 83% | ![]() ![]() |
128 | Patton Boggs LLP | $10,134,606 | 71% | 27% | ![]() ![]() |
129 | American Airlines | $10,071,131 | 43% | 55% | ![]() |
130 | American Trucking Assns | $9,975,648 | 27% | 72% | ![]() ![]() |
131 | American Physical Therapy Assn | $9,795,983 | 49% | 50% | ![]() |
132 | Lehman Brothers | $9,729,764 | 52% | 46% | ![]() |
133 | Blackstone Group | $9,658,975 | 46% | 51% | ![]() |
134 | National Fedn of Independent Business | $9,616,283 | 6% | 93% | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
135 | Greenberg Traurig LLP | $9,546,903 | 62% | 37% | ![]() |
136 | Transport Workers Union | $9,531,899 | 95% | 4% | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
137 | American Council of Life Insurers | $9,454,728 | 38% | 61% | ![]() |
138 | Amalgamated Transit Union | $9,453,918 | 93% | 6% | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
139 | Harvard University | $9,436,590 | 87% | 12% | ![]() ![]() |
140 | Archer Daniels Midland | $9,394,067 | 42% | 57% | ![]() |
141 | Aircraft Owners & Pilots Assn | $9,337,413 | 43% | 56% | ![]() |
142 | Fannie Mae | $9,140,977 | 53% | 46% | ![]() |
143 | National Rural Letter Carriers Assn | $9,021,100 | 71% | 28% | ![]() ![]() |
144 | Wachovia Corp | $8,575,944 | 30% | 69% | ![]() |
145 | National Cmte for an Effective Congress | $8,447,690 | 99% | 0% | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
146 | Interpublic Group | $8,286,183 | 66% | 32% | ![]() |
147 | Marine Engineers Beneficial Assn | $8,155,379 | 73% | 25% | ![]() ![]() |
148 | Bristol-Myers Squibb | $7,926,699 | 23% | 76% | ![]() ![]() |
149 | MCI Inc | $7,659,226 | 45% | 54% | ![]() |
150 | Bear Stearns | $7,280,973 | 55% | 43% | ![]() |
151 | BP | $6,843,520 | 30% | 69% | ![]() |
152 | Enron Corp | $6,544,528 | 28% | 71% | ![]() ![]() |
153 | Andersen | $6,267,045 | 37% | 62% | ![]() |
154 | Vivendi | $6,037,717 | 60% | 33% | ![]() |
155 | MGM Resorts International | $5,831,055 | 45% | 47% | ![]() |
156 | Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp | $5,089,791 | 39% | 60% | ![]() |
As you can see, the Koch brothers are a paltry #59. Liberals dominate political donations. They’ll just have to do with a little less now.

DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 40 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 45 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter who is in the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
@Redteam: UAW dues are 2 hours pay (raw, before deductions) for hourly workers.
No way any UAW member is making only $17/hour including all pay.
He’s lying.
Since the average reaches $39.68 an hour then another $33.58 on top of that, the dues would be $144 a month on average at GM.
Nanny G, I have no reason to lie. My current employer is not in the automotive sector, but we are UAW. The $34 per month was the amount promised when organizing started. I make more than $17 per hour. It’s anywhere from $24 to $28 per hour and that is NOT including my benefits.
Redteam, you are the FIRST to say something negative about corporations. You’re also probably the last lol. I will say that unions made their fair share of mistakes. It’s like anything, you’ve got some good and some bad. There are some really bad unions out there that I would not be associated with,
My problem with CEO pay is the “golden parachute” package they receive when they get terminated. It’s like, “here’s $5 million dollars for running the company into the ground”. Yea, I have a problem with that. Hostess comes to mind. The Twinkie…why is it not cheaper now that the company who bought it is non-union and the Twinkie is now smaller?
Google Wisconsin repeal weekends off and Maine child labor repeal. History has a way of repeating itself.
I need to call it a night and I’ll check back here tomorrow night when I get off work. Have a good night and if I missed something, it isn’t out of ignorance. Tomorrow is another day.
Have a good night
@Norman:
That makes sense. Kinda like signing up for cable tv for $17 a month, for the first year. Don’t expect it to stay there. When I retired 12 years ago, the union dues were near $200 a month at the plant where I was. And medical insurance was over $100 a week (family plan).
I’m sure you mostly hear about the exceptions. I know a mill manager that just got terminated and I’ll assure you his ‘golden parachute’ was a boot in the butt. While that’s not a CEO job, it is a very high level job with a huge company.
I hope you’re not under the impression that Hostess is in business to sell you a bigger cake than someone else for a lower price. If they have a top name, that draws customers, then they can charge more. Profit is the name of the game. Do you think a Tiger Woods golf club is a lot better than a generic club, or a Coca Cola costs more to make than a generic cola. No, you’re paying for the name. I’m sure the employees where you work likely associated with the UAW over some other union because of the name.
I think if you believe that your union is an association that is genuinely working to make your working conditions as good as possible, that you’re likely right. But if those conditions also work to the detriment of the company, then at some point,, the job won’t exist any longer. Try to ensure that what you’re demanding of the company be something that is really worthwhile to the workers, but is also a benefit to the company and everyone will benefit in the long run. No manager of a company is resentful of reasonable demands that improve things, but when it just is a game of nit picking, no one wins.
@Norman: Actually, you must not get around much. You fail to understand what a corporation is and how they work. Is the UAW a corporation? I guess there are good corporations and bad corporations. Corporations only do what their stock holders want or they do not stay in business. Does the UAW do what there members want?
Randy, I do not fail to understand what a corporation is and what it is they do. I have been around. Have you ever been a union member? To answer your question: You stated that corporations do what their stockholders want or they do not stay in business. That’s not always true as Darden Restaurants just recently changed their bylaws because there is a backlash from its shareholders in the spinoff of Red Lobster. The UAW is a labor organization…always was, always will be. It takes money to run an organization…any organization. Yes, the UAW does what the majority of its members want in the contracts that have been negotiated at my places of employment. As an elected member to our bargaining committee, I take to the table what the majority want/need. Let me make myself perfectly clear, I do NOT dictate or decide what the majority want or need. I take an active approach and talk to my co-workers all the time and make myself available to the 3 shifts we work.
@Redteam:
Back to my point about Hostess. Here’s another argument that I have lost count on how many times I have heard that unions drive up the price of things from the “antis”. Case in point, the Twinkie. Case in point, the automotive industry in low wage countries. Should I go on? I want these companies to make oodles of money. It sure makes it easier at the bargaining table when a company is making record profits. But I am also a realist.
So it’s ok for the CEO, CFO and COO to get huge bonuses even when the company is not doing so well, but I’ll be damned if I haven’t heard from the republicans that it’s not ok for the production workers to negotiate for raises. Oh I know, we have to answer to the shareholders. Well, surprise surprise, some of your production workers are shareholders. I know, as I was certainly taking advantage of buying stock in the company I worked for. There were many of us and our stock was not at a discounted rate. Workers taking advantage of purchasing stock from the company in which they work is actually quite common. So now that gives us a different perspective because WE ALL have a vested interest in the well-being of the company.
So when your top engineers and designers come up with products that are flawed and don’t sell well, who do you come to asking for concessions, all the while we see that your getting bonuses. Funny how that works isn’t it? But what do I know, Randy says I don’t get around much and Nanny G said I was lying about my union dues amount.
We, the UAW have increased membership for 3 straight years and 2014 is also going to show increases. And that is even after RTW in Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and the southern, red states. We aren’t going anywhere, and we’re going to get stronger as the Republican Party keeps trying to repeal labor laws. Don’t poke the bear, but the Republicans are poking hard!
It’s also not coincidental that when our economy was at it’s strongest, labor unions were strong.
Redteam, the little I know about you, I will say that I totally respect the way you handled the employee who came in drunk. You would be the person I feel I could talk to to solve problems if you were in labor relations and we worked together.
United We Stand, Divided We Beg.
@Norman:
No, it’s not and rarely happens. Unfortunately the ones that do get a lot of publicity. In most cases, a company might have been very successful and made tons of money under a CEO but then the market falls or that industry (for example, Steel) goes belly up and the company decides to try a new CEO but they reward the one that has made the company tons of money for having done that, not for being responsible for the market itself tumbling.
Membership numbers do not look good for UAW having been 1.5 million members in 1979, 540,000 in 2006. 390,000 active members in 2010. It is not increasing membership in the auto industry overall, but in other businesses. Large unions do go away. Consider the UMW, Today, the UMW Union has about 80,000 members of which about 20,000 are mine workers. Most members are health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the United States and Canada. The UMW was once nearly 1 million strong. Union membership in all areas are shrinking, it’s only a matter of time.
What is wrong with that? Isn’t it the opposite of the union expecting to benefit when those same engineers and designers come up with ideas that make a good profit for the company? There is clearly two sides to the story and whereas the main reasons for the existence of unions, working safety and hours are now well controlled by government regulations, the reasons for existence are not as strong as they have been. I don’t personally care if unions survive or don’t, it’s not going to affect me in any way, but I will say that if they don’t become more of a benefit to companies than they are a hindrance, then they won’t survive. It’s only logic.
RTW has been around for at least 50 years in most southern states and will become more prevalent in other states. But don’t you favor the right of a person to belong to a union, or to not belong, as they prefer? Just because they get a job, do you feel that it’s right to force them to join a union?
I’m not quite sure where this feeling that it is the Republicans that are poking. When right to work was passed throughout the South, Democrats were in charge.
@Redteam:
If a person doesn’t want to be in the union, that’s fine with me, but they should not be able to ride the coattails of gains made in negotiations without paying for that service that is provided. They can fend for themselves and they would not be able to participate in the grievance procedure. I should not have to provide any representation to that person either. They opted to not join and pay their share, therefore they shouldn’t gain the advantages of us dues paying members. I’m sure you agree with that. But then there’s the other part of the equation that I hear often enough. If you don’t like the conditions where you work, look for a different job. So that same person has that same right that if they don’t like working in a union shop, they have the option to find another job. I know the world in which we live and I know how people can be. There are some who would make that guys life miserable while he worked next to dues paying members. It’s the nature of the beast. Not saying it’s right, just saying that’s the reality of it.
Yes, I am familiar with union numbers falling. Everything goes in cycles and I can’t predict the future. The stock market has made significant gains, and what goes up, must come down. Look at the housing market, the job market, our economy. I’ve never had trouble finding a good job. I do my job and treat people with respect. I’m definitely not a lazy union thug and neither are my co-workers. We are skilled employees and we work hard. There’s no fat to cut from the bone. There aren’t workers hanging around doing nothing.
I’m curious as to which state you reside in. I’m looking forward to July when I take my annual vacation to a best friend’s house who lives on a huge lake in N. Carolina. I’m just a normal person, but I won’t be taken advantage of in the workplace or in my personal life. I do not look through rose colored glasses and I try to take a common sense approach. I told you I’m not an extremist. I also know that most people create their own problems, whether its at work or in their personal lives. I come right out and tell them that I can’t fix everything. There’s just certain things you can’t do and get away with. I can’t fight attendance problems because a person just doesn’t want to come to work. But I can try to get him help if he has an addiction problem of some type. But I would do that regardless of union or non-union. We both know those problems do exist. Those problems don’t discriminate either. I’m for whats right is right and I’ll fight for that. The people I represent know that about me. Just because I am pro-labor, pro-union doesn’t make me a bad guy. Just because a person is in management doesn’t make him a bad guy either. Some of my dearest friends are in management, but not where I work. We have a working relationship, but we aren’t what I would call friends, but we aren’t enemies either. I’m playing golf in the morning and going to enjoy my day off.
Have a good weekend
@Norman:
Whether fortunately or not, that battle has been fought in some states and determined. The people in those states decided what’s right or wrong for their population. I doubt many RTW states will ever go back the other way, it’s more likely more states will go to RTW.
I currently live in Louisiana, for last 9 years, but have lived in every southern state except Tn and Tx and Ark. (though where I live is only about 10 mi from TX) and in Oregon. Native of Georgia.
Have a good weekend.