2012 conventions 2012 election 2013 session arts arts and culture author ballot measures basketball bomb books boy scouts budget bullying business charlie hales children clackamas climate change coal college courts crime culture culture club democrats drugs economy education environment family film fluoride food gay rights guns handguns health health care health insurance high school history housing immigration internet kitzhaber law legislature lgbt literary arts living marijuana marriage media medicine mental health military minor parties mohamed mohamud movies music native americans news newspaper obama olympics oregon our town parenting pers photography police politcs politics port portland portland business journal president prevention public safety religion republicans rnc romney rural salem sam adams sandy hook schools science shooting sports suicide supreme court taxes technology television terrorism theater third parties transportation union university of oregon washington wildfire women

When I was young, my dad was a big union supporter. He told us all about the bad old days before unions and why unions were so necessary. My reading of history since then had certainly supported everything he said about those early union days. I worked for many years for a large company that was part union, part non-union, depending on which department you worked for. I'm sorry to say that everytime I had to work with union employees to get a job done it was like pulling teeth to get anything out of them. They felt and sometimes said that the union would protect them no matter what they did or didn't do on the job. That was pretty much true. I knew of people sleeping on the job, not just once but repeatedly, and being defended by the union time after time. It was impossible to fire these people most of the time. It wasn't unknown for supervisors trying to get rid of troublemakers to throw up their hands and quit themselves, it was such an impossible job. This led me to feel that perhaps unions have lost sight of their original goals. They've gone too far.

posted 4 years, 8 months ago
view in context