Should the cops in Wicomico County be able to bargain collectively for salary and benefits? Hell yes, and not because they are cops and deserve some special consideration, but because their employers will pay them as little as they can get away with.
When I moved to the Eastern Shore 12 years ago, I was struck at the low salaries paid to local workers. And that cheap stinginess has not changed- salaries remain low and business owners still think $10 per hour is good money. Yet business still complain they are unable to find competent and loyal workers. ... Here's a tip, guys: If you want qualified and loyal employees, then you have to pay for them. That means, you pay realistic wages based not upon the cost of living, but upon of similar jobs in other markets, and you offer an attractive benefits package.... you don't want to do that, then don't whine when your children move away for better jobs and careers, and don't whine about not having employees. In the meantime, workers of every description need collective bargaining and union representation.
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18 comments:
"Unions could ruin this country."
What the hell are you talking about, Dick? Unions built this country. Union labor created the middle class. WIthout unions, child-labor laws would not have seen the light of day. Unions make sure their work force knows how to do it's job. Unions protect their member's safety on the job,help protect job security and negotiate pay scales.
Now I know the repiglicans hate unions because they make business owners pay workers a fair wage, and that means owners have to part with more of their money. But it's money the worker's made for the owners. And if businesses want good, loyal workers, then they have to offer loyalty and living ( as opposed to subsistance) wages and good working conditions.
River Rat... please cite which union pays high school drop-out $35 per hour to sweep floors. I don't believe your citation.
Also, you can call it whatever you want, but if workers bargain collectively for pay, benefits and working condition, they're in a union. It's that simple. Moreover, given the choice between a college professor with a PhD and no knowledge of plumbing, and a schlump with any education at all except for his master-plumber's license, I'm picking the schlump to fix my broken pipes and flooded basement. So, formal education doesn't really enter into the question here. Secondly, you seem to be suggesting that the drop-out does not deserve to be well-paid for his skills.... as if he, his wife and his family don't have the same needs and goals as the doctor, lawyer, engineer, or whatever.
And Dick:
Don't think I'm in favor unions everywhere. I'm just in favor of them here on the Eastern Shore, where it seems the only people benefiting from employment are the business owners.
Dick; that is such a simplistic response that I can't believe it came from you.
River Rat:
These are your words
"It is not right for a business owner to be required to pay a high school drop out $35 hour [sic] to sweep floors..." You wrote that, right?
And a foreman usually works for the company, so he's not going to protect anything except his job..... maybe you're thinking of a shop steward... And I've only worked in a union shop once... and I was paid obscene amounts of money... certainly much more than the labor was worth... No, I wasn't fired. I left for a better gig.
Dick; So if I understand you correctly, you say that if there were a glut of workers doing your job, then it would be okay with you if you had your pay cut by a third, or a half, so you could keep your job.... Is that what you're saying?
Personally, I have no problem with the collective bargaining aspect, but I do have a BIG problem with the binding arbitration part. So I'm not voting for Question A.
Unions can be useful in some aspects but unfortunately they have become their own big business with lavish perks and high salaries for the CEO's just like the companies they pan for doing the same thing.
I agreee with you there, Michael. My Uncle George was a union man at Westinghouse for 53 years. But at the end of his career, he said much the same thing -- that when unions started getting their leaders from the ranks of businessmen and lawyers, it was the beginning of the end. "You can't pay a man $18 per hour to build a car to sell to a man making $6 per hour," he said.... He made that comment in the 1970s, so that should give you some perspective of wages on the shore.
Be that as it may, I favor binding arbitration to resolve conflicts, especially as they related to working conditions and wages.
Listen, there have to be changes. It's that simple. OCean City businesses can't find American workers, so they import from overseas and those people live in vastly overcrowded apartments in order to afford to live in the resort where they work. Meanwhile the business owners crank up prices and and continue to enjoy an ever-increasingly rich lifestyle. And I don't begrudge them than the fruits of their labors. But I do take exception to the fact that while their living conditions increase, their worker's conditions decrease.
I'm not aware of any law that prevents business from operating a non-union shop... can you tell me about that?
what questions am I dodging River Rat?
hehehehe.... I can't wait until I'm 12 years old and know everything too, SewerRat
Sewer Rat.... again I ask you what questions I'm dodging..... Don't resort to wild accusations in order to change the subject... just prove your first accusation first. Then we'll move on to the next..... Quote my words where you say I dodged a question.
Quote the words, SewerRat.... come on.... make your point... Rise above your shore-billy heritage and THINK !!
PG County? Not me. If it's you you're talking about that is from PG County... That would probably mean you're black and a criminal or a white cop and a criminal.
PG cops have a long history of shooting first and asking questions later.... they're a bunch of cowboys. Wouldn't trust them in the least bit.
SewerRat: No thanks on the whole sending the PG cops to my house... totally untrustworthy and prone to blind violence.... But hey, if you want, you can pass on the message for me.... although I'm sure they already know what a piss-poor reputation they have.
I hate narcs... sons of italy... is that some sort of code of a Member of the Family?.... Millionaire, huh? .... don't ask me to go figure, cause you KNOW what I'll figure.... a millionaire ona cop's salary..... hmmmmmm
nite, Sewer Rat... we'll talk more later. Kiss the wife and kids for me.
" And anyway I'm her sugardaddy, one man's money at a time! "
.... not very ambitious, is she?
oh... can't help her , then
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