MeanBuicks
Scaring the neighbors!
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Hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet..."An American Revolution".
The 2005 Chevrolet Equinox embraces the "Revolution".
OK, I've had it, (rant ahead)
- Thread starter turbosam6
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The 2005 Chevrolet Equinox embraces the "Revolution".
Why is she working 2 jobs?.
While in some cases, yes, she may NEED to, but how often is it a matter of worring about keeping up with the Jones?.
IMO, I can't see what's more important then raising your offspring. Pawning their care off to some detention center (day care), isn't the way to nuture a child.
But, since most Americans have taken the attitude that it's OK, to kill/ murder children, what's so shocking about not caring about their upbringing.
First off, people with learning disorders are an exception. I know some kids need extra attention that public schools cannot provide due to overcrowded classrooms and lack of training to deal with these particular kids. My cousin is autistic (sp?), and has special needs. My aunt keeps him in public school so he at least gets some social interaction. I think she's wrong, but its her child. But face it, most kids today have the capability to learn, but choose not to. Period. I'm sorry, but I NEVER studied in school, NEVER. My mom was convinced I was failing because I never brought a book or homework home. I never failed a class ever. I even got a couple A's. Getting straight A's would have been just a little harder, but as a teenager I knew I was not going to college and as long as I passed HS, grades didn't matter. The point is, if I can pass without even trying, so can everyone else. I remember cringing as students in my class read out loud. It was sad, they could barely form a sentence.
Now, as far as the union thing. I am not anti union, but I feel the union has gotten way out of hand. People can't be fired without drama and red tape galore. Nepetism is abundant. And the prices union companies have to charge so they can pay their employees is causing them to lose work. Around here, for every 1 union worker who actually earns his pay, there are 4 or 5 who don't. The union is slowly working itself into deletion.
Heres an example of why I think the union is out of control: I bid a job a couple years back. It was for the local university. My dad wrote the bid, and when he showed me, I said "double it." He thought I was nuts, but when I explained the hell the union is going to put us through if we get the job, he agreed. We got the job, even at double the normal price, we were still maybe 2/3 of what the union shop was charging. Day after day, as we worked, the union sent guys over to hassle us. I spent so much time dealing with these idiots that I barely got to work on the actual job. I had planned for it though. The last day they sent a guy over and I snapped and threatened him. He left, they sent over 2 more guys, bigger guys, and I brought out my whole crew. It was like friggin' 1940 in there. I think they wanted to muscle us out, but it wasn't gonna happen. They were pissed we were there, and wanted us out. I said to them "Look, you wanna know why you didn't get the job? We are working. You have sent over at least a dozen people on the clock in the past few days to hassle us. maybe if YOU were working instead of fuking off, you wouldn't have to charge so much, and maybe you would have gotten the job." Maybe the union where you are is different.
Theres plenty of non union work out there for everyone. My fiance came from a family with no money, no support, nothing. She has busted her ass in nursing school and working at the same time. I will probably never work as hard as she has in my life! Now, she makes more $$$ than me and has job offers out the azz. Sure, she has a couple student loans, but now she has a career. Anyone can do it. Nurses are in high demand. Because no one wants to work or learn a skill. Its just going to make people like me and her worth more money.
Now, as far as the union thing. I am not anti union, but I feel the union has gotten way out of hand. People can't be fired without drama and red tape galore. Nepetism is abundant. And the prices union companies have to charge so they can pay their employees is causing them to lose work. Around here, for every 1 union worker who actually earns his pay, there are 4 or 5 who don't. The union is slowly working itself into deletion.
Heres an example of why I think the union is out of control: I bid a job a couple years back. It was for the local university. My dad wrote the bid, and when he showed me, I said "double it." He thought I was nuts, but when I explained the hell the union is going to put us through if we get the job, he agreed. We got the job, even at double the normal price, we were still maybe 2/3 of what the union shop was charging. Day after day, as we worked, the union sent guys over to hassle us. I spent so much time dealing with these idiots that I barely got to work on the actual job. I had planned for it though. The last day they sent a guy over and I snapped and threatened him. He left, they sent over 2 more guys, bigger guys, and I brought out my whole crew. It was like friggin' 1940 in there. I think they wanted to muscle us out, but it wasn't gonna happen. They were pissed we were there, and wanted us out. I said to them "Look, you wanna know why you didn't get the job? We are working. You have sent over at least a dozen people on the clock in the past few days to hassle us. maybe if YOU were working instead of fuking off, you wouldn't have to charge so much, and maybe you would have gotten the job." Maybe the union where you are is different.
Theres plenty of non union work out there for everyone. My fiance came from a family with no money, no support, nothing. She has busted her ass in nursing school and working at the same time. I will probably never work as hard as she has in my life! Now, she makes more $$$ than me and has job offers out the azz. Sure, she has a couple student loans, but now she has a career. Anyone can do it. Nurses are in high demand. Because no one wants to work or learn a skill. Its just going to make people like me and her worth more money.
Sorry, but this one made me laugh because it's so true!
turbosam6 you also make a great point regarding being able to read/write at a college level. My girlfriend teaches college one night a week and I get to read some of the term papers that her students turn in. Most are pathetic. I'm talking about people that don't understand the difference between the word "then" and "than". I went to the store THAN I bought a gallon of milk. lol
That is college level writing? 
My girlfriend feels that probably half of the class will receive a failing grade. At the same time she is afraid of what will happen when she does fail half of them for poor performance or lack of turning in work. Hopefully the school administration will back her up because she is not the type of teacher these students are used to that will pass them along just for showing up.There is one other notable exception and I see it every day here in Long Beach. That is the ILWU, aka the longshoremen. These are the guys that load and unload the ships as they come into the port of Los Angeles.
Once that union card is in hand it is basically a license for these people to steal. This union is nepotism for the ingnorant and unskilled at its worst. Only sons, daughters, friends or relatives of the union members can get hired. So just because Joe Ignoramous happens to get yanked out of the right crotch on his birthday, he is automatically entitled to a 100k a year job driving a forklift around the docks at age 18. It gets even better. Often they have too many people for the amount of work scheduled so they do what they call the "flip". You flip a coin with another coworker and if you win, then you go to local bars and get juiced up while collecting a full day's pay!
The port of Los Angeles is the busiest in the world, and everything you and I buy that comes through there costs more money so the illiterates can have their entitlement.
Originally posted by TRBON8R
Sorry, but this one made me laugh because it's so true!
turbosam6 you also make a great point regarding being able to read/write at a college level. My girlfriend teaches college one night a week and I get to read some of the term papers that her students turn in. Most are pathetic. I'm talking about people that don't understand the difference between the word "then" and "than". I went to the store THAN I bought a gallon of milk. lol
I tell ya man, sometimes its painful to read some of the posts people make on here. I know its a car website, but come on. If I had a dollar for every post that was 15 lines long with NOT ONE PERIOD IN THE WHOLE DAMN THING I'd be rich! Or like you said, "than" and "then". I've actually seen posts so poorly written I literally did not know what it was about.
We as a nation must start taking some accountability and stop being so pussified. MAKE your kids go to school, MAKE them work, teach them useful things and emphasize that no one is going to take care of you! I hate to sound racist, but this country will be taken over by the Chinese or Japanese if we don't adopt some sort of work ethic. My friends mom is Japanese, and she tells me all the time how hard people over there must work to survive. Being a lazy good for nothing is simply not an option. They move ever forward as we move ever backwards. I can remember when I was a kid, watching and helping as my great grandfather worked his farm. He busted his ass, and made a respectable living all on his own. And he helped others too, because thats what they do. Thats something you don't see much of anymore either, people willing to help other hard working people like themselves. I offered to help a local mustang guy replace his engine the other day. You can tell he was floored, because we barely knew each other. But he was working hard and money was tight, and no one else was offering to help him. Sure, he would get it taken care of on his own, but with an extra set of hands, it goes a little easier. I respect him for working hard and trying. If he was unemployed and just sitting there crying about it, I would not have offered. I was just happy to see such a young guy working hard because he knew it was his problem, and he has to fix it. Of all the younger people I know, he is one of the few who works to support himself and is trying to learn a trade to have a career. He deserves the help, not some illiterate, lazy, moron who just sits and waits for someone to help him.
Originally posted by 1QWIK6
If it wern't for UNIONS, most of us would be paid the MININIMUM WAGE ALLOWED BY LAW!
Why, because we would all be Dumbasses? Maybe YOU would rate mininum wage, but I would MAKE MORE if it weren't for unions, because MILLIONS of jobs wouldn't have gone overseas in search of cheaper labor.
Outside of the world of unions, people are paid WHAT THEY ARE WORTH. Not who their uncle is who got him this card that entitles them to $20/hour with no education required.
POINT MADE:
Companies will always crap on working labor. They could care less about you... your just a machine to them... a number. UNIONS give an upper hand in negoitiations. You want to work for $5 an hour? I don't. TRUST ME, if there were no unions, you'd all make a minimum wage. And if you'd didn't like it.. tough. Someone will take your place for less...
Companies will always crap on working labor. They could care less about you... your just a machine to them... a number. UNIONS give an upper hand in negoitiations. You want to work for $5 an hour? I don't. TRUST ME, if there were no unions, you'd all make a minimum wage. And if you'd didn't like it.. tough. Someone will take your place for less...
- Joined
- May 26, 2001
- Messages
- 9,208
Originally posted by 1QWIK6
................... You want to work for $5 an hour? I don't. TRUST ME, if there were no unions, you'd all make a minimum wage. And if you'd didn't like it.. tough. Someone will take your place for less...
Arizona being a "right to work" state seems to survive w/o the "protection" of unions?
Some of the people here [not me!], even make more than minimum wage.
I was reading a US News and World Report article on this sort of thing that made it fairly clear what some of the problems are today.
The thing is that as a whole Americans work more hours for less pay these days than they did back in 1940 or 1950. A lot of people make light of the American worker, but on average we get paid less to do more than most other developed countries.
There were times when the average American man with a high school education could support a whole family with his working income. Now that doesn't happen anymore even with a college education and the result is that Americans are more financially unstable than they were. Why? Because when Dad was the only one working and got laid off well then Mom could go out and find a job to help support the family. Now, both Dad and Mom are working to support the family, what happens when one gets laid off? Suddenly the family income is cut in half or more. There is no safety outlet for the middle class family anymore.
As the US moves from a manufacturing economy over to a service based economy there are more people being put out of work that are forced to take minimum wage jobs because the skills that they had are no longer hireable. Now you may say that retraining is the answer, but it isn't a given that everyone can get retraining. There is cost to account for as well as time and then afterwards if you didn't guess right about the skillset demand you might still have trouble getting work.
These kids working at McDonalds and Burger King have also been put into a trap, they are working at dead-end jobs that don't give them any skills that they can use at all. Working a cash register at McDonalds doesn't teach you anything about money handling because the register does all the calculating for you. Working a grill there doesn't teach you how to cook because it's like an assembly line, everything is pre-packaged and prepared only one way.
Then you have the retail sector which is dominated by corporations like Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is known for using it's large scale competitive muscle to insinuate itself into markets and to push out competitors, but what people are only beginning to find out is that sort of pressure is also put on their own employees. Try working a job for $6/hr and then be told that you haven't done enough during your 40 hours this week so you better work off the clock to finish because the company won't pay for overtime. There is a class action suit related to that very thing against Wal-Mart.
The wage increases at Wal-Mart are a joke too. They definitely don't compare with cost of living increases. 4, 5 and 6% were the raises you get depending on the grade you receive in your review. It is pathetic. Sorry, but 6% of $6 is 36 cents. And you get that once a year. I think after working there for about four years some of the employees that worked for me made about 9 bucks an hour. That is a pathetic wage probably around $18000 a year. No one can support a family on that, so it wasn't surprising that many people had spouses or relatives also working at the store.
Wal-Mart is also an expert at crushing unions making their way into stores. They will close a store before they let unions in.
The most sickening part is that most of these large scale corporations try to make a big deal about being family companies and also try to use team building as a way to distract from the low wages they are paying. "Hey, why are you complaining about low pay, aren't we all a team here?! When we make the profits we need then we might get a bonus!"
Sorry, but I'm not buying it. A lot of you guys might think that working a service industry is easy or mindless. Well, in a lot of ways it is mindless, but it isn't easy. For most people it is a tiring and endless exercise that brings little satisfaction or intellectual stimulation. Add on to that the lack of on the job training and good pay and you have a really horrible situation.
The thing is that as a whole Americans work more hours for less pay these days than they did back in 1940 or 1950. A lot of people make light of the American worker, but on average we get paid less to do more than most other developed countries.
There were times when the average American man with a high school education could support a whole family with his working income. Now that doesn't happen anymore even with a college education and the result is that Americans are more financially unstable than they were. Why? Because when Dad was the only one working and got laid off well then Mom could go out and find a job to help support the family. Now, both Dad and Mom are working to support the family, what happens when one gets laid off? Suddenly the family income is cut in half or more. There is no safety outlet for the middle class family anymore.
As the US moves from a manufacturing economy over to a service based economy there are more people being put out of work that are forced to take minimum wage jobs because the skills that they had are no longer hireable. Now you may say that retraining is the answer, but it isn't a given that everyone can get retraining. There is cost to account for as well as time and then afterwards if you didn't guess right about the skillset demand you might still have trouble getting work.
These kids working at McDonalds and Burger King have also been put into a trap, they are working at dead-end jobs that don't give them any skills that they can use at all. Working a cash register at McDonalds doesn't teach you anything about money handling because the register does all the calculating for you. Working a grill there doesn't teach you how to cook because it's like an assembly line, everything is pre-packaged and prepared only one way.
Then you have the retail sector which is dominated by corporations like Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is known for using it's large scale competitive muscle to insinuate itself into markets and to push out competitors, but what people are only beginning to find out is that sort of pressure is also put on their own employees. Try working a job for $6/hr and then be told that you haven't done enough during your 40 hours this week so you better work off the clock to finish because the company won't pay for overtime. There is a class action suit related to that very thing against Wal-Mart.
The wage increases at Wal-Mart are a joke too. They definitely don't compare with cost of living increases. 4, 5 and 6% were the raises you get depending on the grade you receive in your review. It is pathetic. Sorry, but 6% of $6 is 36 cents. And you get that once a year. I think after working there for about four years some of the employees that worked for me made about 9 bucks an hour. That is a pathetic wage probably around $18000 a year. No one can support a family on that, so it wasn't surprising that many people had spouses or relatives also working at the store.
Wal-Mart is also an expert at crushing unions making their way into stores. They will close a store before they let unions in.
The most sickening part is that most of these large scale corporations try to make a big deal about being family companies and also try to use team building as a way to distract from the low wages they are paying. "Hey, why are you complaining about low pay, aren't we all a team here?! When we make the profits we need then we might get a bonus!"
Sorry, but I'm not buying it. A lot of you guys might think that working a service industry is easy or mindless. Well, in a lot of ways it is mindless, but it isn't easy. For most people it is a tiring and endless exercise that brings little satisfaction or intellectual stimulation. Add on to that the lack of on the job training and good pay and you have a really horrible situation.
Originally posted by 1QWIK6
Companies will always crap on working labor. They could care less about you... your just a machine to them... a number. UNIONS give an upper hand in negoitiations. You want to work for $5 an hour? I don't. TRUST ME, if there were no unions, you'd all make a minimum wage. And if you'd didn't like it.. tough. Someone will take your place for less...
You are Money making machine. The more money you can make for a company, the more money you are worth to them. If my company wants to screw me over, their are three competitors that will pay me what I'm making now, or more.
If you have NO SKILLS you aren't WORTH $5/Hour. It sucks, but that's life. If you teach you kids they can skate thru life, have no skills and make $20/Hour, I'm telling you right now that 20 years from now, your kid is going to be jealous of my kid and what he has.
There are jobs out there that the average working man can get and support his family. Like I said before, my best friend has a simple HS diploma, and makes about 60k a year. Around here, thats good money. He works in the same field I do, and always takes advantage of free or company paid training courses. He takes his job serious and works hard.
Theres a guy in town also in the same field who makes in excess of 1 million a year. He is that good. Like UNGN said, the more you can make, the more you are worth. Unions have allowed unskilled untrained labor to get into jobs they shouldn't have and make it damn near impossible to fire them.
I know a guy from HS that got into a city job (union) because his dad knew someone. Fine, I'm sure somebody actually needed that job that was well qualified, but thats the union for ya. Anyway, this idiot makes like $27 an hour to HOLD A DAMN SIGN AND TURN IT FROM "STOP" TO "SLOW". Do any of you know a functioning person who cannot hold a stick and turn it?? If so, do them a favor and shoot them. I'd love to hear why he deserves that kind of wage. I could design a very simple machine that could do his job, it might take me 10 minutes. The only hard part of his job is that it can get very hot and I'm sure its hard on your feet. Big deal. I bet its hot working by the fry-o-later at Burger King too.
My good friend and employee Dave said it best when explaining life to his wifes nephew, a recent HS dropout and a person with zero drive. "If you're gonna dropout and never pursue a real education or career, you'd better be prepared to beat your body to death."
Theres a guy in town also in the same field who makes in excess of 1 million a year. He is that good. Like UNGN said, the more you can make, the more you are worth. Unions have allowed unskilled untrained labor to get into jobs they shouldn't have and make it damn near impossible to fire them.
I know a guy from HS that got into a city job (union) because his dad knew someone. Fine, I'm sure somebody actually needed that job that was well qualified, but thats the union for ya. Anyway, this idiot makes like $27 an hour to HOLD A DAMN SIGN AND TURN IT FROM "STOP" TO "SLOW". Do any of you know a functioning person who cannot hold a stick and turn it?? If so, do them a favor and shoot them. I'd love to hear why he deserves that kind of wage. I could design a very simple machine that could do his job, it might take me 10 minutes. The only hard part of his job is that it can get very hot and I'm sure its hard on your feet. Big deal. I bet its hot working by the fry-o-later at Burger King too.
My good friend and employee Dave said it best when explaining life to his wifes nephew, a recent HS dropout and a person with zero drive. "If you're gonna dropout and never pursue a real education or career, you'd better be prepared to beat your body to death."
BRAVO DATA, BRAVO!!
Well written and clear to the point facts. I commend you on the fine points of the avg. american worker. Too often companies will lull you into believing crap like
We've been sold this lie for YEARS... You work you ASSSSS off for the company... and here's what they do to you.
BUH BYE
Severce pay? LOL! forget it. Compensation? LOL! no... The high shoe and they reap the benefits your job going to cheaper labor. They make MILLIONS UPON MILLLIONS dollars, but bulk when you ask for a $.50 raise. Do you know WHY there is a MINIMUM WAGE LAW? Because if big corporations could, they'd pay you 5 cents an hour. and if you didn't like it, too bad.
UNIONS work for the WORKER
CORPORTATIONS WORK for the dollar.
Who would you like to work for?
Well written and clear to the point facts. I commend you on the fine points of the avg. american worker. Too often companies will lull you into believing crap like
We've been sold this lie for YEARS... You work you ASSSSS off for the company... and here's what they do to you.
BUH BYE
Severce pay? LOL! forget it. Compensation? LOL! no... The high shoe and they reap the benefits your job going to cheaper labor. They make MILLIONS UPON MILLLIONS dollars, but bulk when you ask for a $.50 raise. Do you know WHY there is a MINIMUM WAGE LAW? Because if big corporations could, they'd pay you 5 cents an hour.
and if you didn't like it, too bad. UNIONS work for the WORKER
CORPORTATIONS WORK for the dollar.
Who would you like to work for?
UNIONS WORK FOR THE WORKER?!?!?
Yeah, I bet all those union officials are really slumming it. If you think the union isn't making money just like the big corporations than you sir are the one who's been fed a line.
You only hear about the "bad" corporations, Like Emron and such. There are many non union companies who are good to work for and treat their employees fairly. Yes, employees are expendible. Thats universal, union, non union, whatever. YOU can be fired. Good companies treat their employees fairly and get more production from them in return, but you're not going to hear about that. You ever turn on the news and see all the good stuff? Nope, just bad.
Let me simplify my thoughts on the union screwing itself: The union advertises a better product, made by Americans, produced on time by skilled laborers. Years ago, yes, that was true. Now, you have too many unqualified people, too much overhead, rediculous union dues, and other problems forcing union shops to raise their price. A higher price can be justified when you do employ skilled people and do the job right and on time. But since the unions hire so many unskilled laborers, be it to satisfy the PC crap or so Jim Bob can get his son a job, the product is not done on time and the quality isn't there. So the consumer should hire a union shop why??? Consumers are wising up, thats why you see so many picket lines. Adapt or lose out.
Yeah, I bet all those union officials are really slumming it. If you think the union isn't making money just like the big corporations than you sir are the one who's been fed a line.
You only hear about the "bad" corporations, Like Emron and such. There are many non union companies who are good to work for and treat their employees fairly. Yes, employees are expendible. Thats universal, union, non union, whatever. YOU can be fired. Good companies treat their employees fairly and get more production from them in return, but you're not going to hear about that. You ever turn on the news and see all the good stuff? Nope, just bad.
Let me simplify my thoughts on the union screwing itself: The union advertises a better product, made by Americans, produced on time by skilled laborers. Years ago, yes, that was true. Now, you have too many unqualified people, too much overhead, rediculous union dues, and other problems forcing union shops to raise their price. A higher price can be justified when you do employ skilled people and do the job right and on time. But since the unions hire so many unskilled laborers, be it to satisfy the PC crap or so Jim Bob can get his son a job, the product is not done on time and the quality isn't there. So the consumer should hire a union shop why??? Consumers are wising up, thats why you see so many picket lines. Adapt or lose out.
That's great and all, but how common do you think his situation is? 60k a year is good money in most areas of the country, and it's great that they offer him training opportunities. Sounds like a great place to work. There aren't a lot of places like that.
If you work for Wal-Mart or McDonalds or any of a hundred other corporations at a level where you interact with customers you don't get opportunities like that. First of all you don't get extra training, hell they barely bother to give you the training to do the job in the first place, much less get you more. Then of course they pay you as low a wage as the market will bear, unfortunately since they control the market in most areas that is usually a fairly low wage bordering on subsistence.
The problem with these corporations is that they only pay lip service to being concerned for the worker. In fact they could care less about the worker and his problems so long as their profits continue to rise. If it pays them to make the worker work off the clock and they can get away with it, then they will do it. If it helps the bottom line to pay women less than men and they can get away with it, then they will do it. Plus, this isn't idle chatter, it's the subject of two major lawsuits against Wal-Mart.
These companies don't challenge the worker with new possibilities and training opportunities. They don't want to reward good workers with better pay, otherwise their raise structure would curve higher depending on the worker performance. There is very little enthusiasm to be had for meeting the next grade level when the raises are 4, 5 and 6%. To the corporation it makes almost no difference whether someone is a great worker or an average worker. They want people to fit into their cookie cutter niches and to be happy with it. Some people do fit that sort of mold, but most of the time the better people are stifled by it.
They don't even grant the worker the ability to live a relatively comfortable life and be able to save for retirement. Who can afford to sock away 10% of their income when they make less than $20k a year and support a family?
There will be more lawsuits and complaints filed against Wal-Mart and corporations like them as we become more entrenched as a service oriented economy. I guarantee if Wal-Mart continues the way it does it will end up being the next K-Mart or Woolworths. You can't go on treating people like **** and expect them to work hard for you.
No amount of money that you as an individual make will ever make a difference for a Wal-Mart or McDonalds. If you end up being trouble they will send you on your way. If they will close a whole store that makes millions of dollars a year just to keep unions out, how much do you think they care about your individual worth?
I'm not a 100% supporter of unionization. That isn't my point here, unions are just one way to make a corporation take action to right wrongs perpetuated on the worker. They have had their place in history and most of the people earning a living wage today that were granted the ability to go to school instead of working in a factory owe that to early unionization. That said, there are plenty of times when abuses of power are perpetuated within unions, but on the other hand there are also abuses of power on the part of the corporation. Unions are put together to give the individual worker a stronger voice in the decisions that affect them. With the advent of modern labor laws there are more protections for the worker available and so unions aren't as necessary as they once were.
I still think that unions have their place though. They are the only way that the workers are going to get representation for their plight and changes made to labor laws. When a Wal-Mart gives millions of dollars in congressional lobbying funds they get their wishes granted. It's just the way politics work. The union gives the worker the ability to do the same thing. Ask yourself why the federal minimum wage is stuck at $5.15 per hour. Can you find anywhere in the USA where $5.15 per hour is anything other than a bare subsistence wage? When the average price of a gallon of gas is over $2.00 how is anyone going to live off of $5.15 an hour?
I think that a combination of unions and use of legal avenues to check corporate irresponsibility are what will help the worker in the long run.
I still think that unions have their place though. They are the only way that the workers are going to get representation for their plight and changes made to labor laws. When a Wal-Mart gives millions of dollars in congressional lobbying funds they get their wishes granted. It's just the way politics work. The union gives the worker the ability to do the same thing. Ask yourself why the federal minimum wage is stuck at $5.15 per hour. Can you find anywhere in the USA where $5.15 per hour is anything other than a bare subsistence wage? When the average price of a gallon of gas is over $2.00 how is anyone going to live off of $5.15 an hour?
I think that a combination of unions and use of legal avenues to check corporate irresponsibility are what will help the worker in the long run.
I do agree that at one time the union was a great thing, and the premise is still a wonderful thing.
We have established that Wal Mart sucks. I'm sorry, but if the best job you can get is at Wal Mart, you probably shouldn't expect a whole lot from life. What are they supposed to do, pay people $15 an hour to punch buttons on a cash register or stock a shelf? I'd take the pay cut to have zero job related stress! You're right, Wal Mart would pay $1 an hour if they could. No ones forcing people to work at Wal Mart. Look at them as a good reason to go out and better yourself. I know a lot of people who have come from disadvantaged backgrounds and still make a nice living. They work hard and earn their pay. Its funny people keep saying that there are no jobs like that around wherever they are, yet I hear all the time how no one can find good employees.
Do this: Call up your local hospital. Ask if they are hiring nurses (RN, LPN, CNA, etc.) Bet they are. Theres a good job that requires only a 2 year degree that can be financed on student loans easily (its not very expensive, as far as school goes). You can work at the same time to live. You will have a job when you get done. It will pay well. This can be done in many trades. Plumbers, electricians, HVAC contractors, landscaping, etc. are all looking for people. But its hard work. That scares people. So they go work at a jaggoff job because they know nothing much will ever be expected of them, and responsibility will be low. Sorry, but you gotta make your own life. Theres too many people in this country to just expect stuff handed to you.
We have established that Wal Mart sucks. I'm sorry, but if the best job you can get is at Wal Mart, you probably shouldn't expect a whole lot from life. What are they supposed to do, pay people $15 an hour to punch buttons on a cash register or stock a shelf? I'd take the pay cut to have zero job related stress! You're right, Wal Mart would pay $1 an hour if they could. No ones forcing people to work at Wal Mart. Look at them as a good reason to go out and better yourself. I know a lot of people who have come from disadvantaged backgrounds and still make a nice living. They work hard and earn their pay. Its funny people keep saying that there are no jobs like that around wherever they are, yet I hear all the time how no one can find good employees.
Do this: Call up your local hospital. Ask if they are hiring nurses (RN, LPN, CNA, etc.) Bet they are. Theres a good job that requires only a 2 year degree that can be financed on student loans easily (its not very expensive, as far as school goes). You can work at the same time to live. You will have a job when you get done. It will pay well. This can be done in many trades. Plumbers, electricians, HVAC contractors, landscaping, etc. are all looking for people. But its hard work. That scares people. So they go work at a jaggoff job because they know nothing much will ever be expected of them, and responsibility will be low. Sorry, but you gotta make your own life. Theres too many people in this country to just expect stuff handed to you.
I know how you feel, but at the same time working hard at an unskilled job doesn't mean that you have to get crapped on and be unable to support your family. Someone needs to man the register and stock the shelves at these places. If they work hard and do a great job, do they deserve only a subsistence wage with no chance of getting ahead just because they haven't invented a new computer program or found the cure for cancer?
Ah see, that is where you aren't totally correct. There are only so many jobs out there in small towns across america and when a company like Wal-Mart comes into town it often puts all other retailers out of business. In those cases there isn't anyplace to work other than Wal-Mart. You might say, get up and move, but for a lot of people that isn't an option. Family duties as well as financial considerations often play a large part in an inability to make a serious change like that. Sure, if you are in your early twenties without a wife and kids and no elderly parents to take care of it might be relatively easy to move somewhere else to find a good job and I'm sure people do that. It's just not an option for everyone.
When I went to school our school of nursing was one of the more competitive sections of the school. I'm not sure what sort of nursing requires only a two year degree, but the nursing program at UCONN (where I did my undergrad) has a curriculum that is as rigorous and sometimes more rigorous than a doctor's in their undergrad.
Ah see, that is where you aren't totally correct. There are only so many jobs out there in small towns across america and when a company like Wal-Mart comes into town it often puts all other retailers out of business. In those cases there isn't anyplace to work other than Wal-Mart. You might say, get up and move, but for a lot of people that isn't an option. Family duties as well as financial considerations often play a large part in an inability to make a serious change like that. Sure, if you are in your early twenties without a wife and kids and no elderly parents to take care of it might be relatively easy to move somewhere else to find a good job and I'm sure people do that. It's just not an option for everyone.
When I went to school our school of nursing was one of the more competitive sections of the school. I'm not sure what sort of nursing requires only a two year degree, but the nursing program at UCONN (where I did my undergrad) has a curriculum that is as rigorous and sometimes more rigorous than a doctor's in their undergrad.
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