Quote:
Originally Posted by Jamo
Wes
Since I don't belong to a union, and therefore don't have free paid time, I can't take all the time necessary to respond to your well-written post.
As to your overtime issue, the Railway Act conspires with the Fair Labor Standards Act to put you in the situation you're in... ...I now understand the scenario you're working under...thanks for the info. BTW, you're screwed.
Your OJ/oarsmen examples are fun, but they really are a bit simplistic, aren't they. Maybe if you have OJ pointing a gun to his attorney's head to force him to be his attorney, or the oarsmen threaten a mutiny just before the worst rapids one might imagine, I could accept them as viable comparisons.
The problem is not just ...it is the cost of maintaining the benefits of the folks... ...The Warren Court and the NLRB of the late 50s and 60s did a fine job of making it nearly impossible for a strike to be defended against,... ...costs of folks that don't even work anymore. The PBGC is all but bankrupt from the defined-benefit plans, and yet Taft-Hartley trust funds run by the unions are so overfunded that they could build dozens of replicas of Las Vegas where the Teamsters could only put up a few casinos. Some trust funds even tell companies to take a month off from paying premiums, as if to rub their noses into it.
We are all paying for this... ...a megaport is being built south of TJ because our beloved Longshoremen don't want to allow our stateside ports to put in the modern equipment that the rest of the Pacific Rim operates with...because it will result in having to give up a great deal of featherbedding.
BTW...when can I take a turn at running one of them big badasses down the tracks? 
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Jamo,
Good reply. I'm impressed with your knowledge of labor issues.
Um,
"free paid time", .... I wish.
Since it is a national pay scale, the gist is that the straightrate pay is decent for my area when I do work off the miles and I get a lot of hours (read opportunity) but the same pay is probably a little short on standards around L.A. Overtime has become so common that I note it's unusual to find employee jobs without it until recent law.
I used to be self-employed where the more square foot of house done, the more cash in pocket. Now it's miles. For me overtime isn't actually an issue. I prefer to hurry and work less than 40 when I can.
Your OJ/oarsmen examples are fun, but they really are a bit simplistic, aren't they.
I believe that the most complicated mechanical machine can be understood by breaking it down to its components. Any machine is made of other smaller machines that eventually break down to wheels, levers and inclined planes and the four basic forces. In a similar way humans also behave in simple interactions that may appear initially more complicated. The basic rules still apply and an exercise in simplification adds clarity to their understanding. IMO anyway.
The O.J. problem is that the attorney has
willingly given his time
before he finds out he won't be paid as promised. Perhaps O.J. first pulls the gun when counsel reaches for his (O.J.'s) wallet.
The oarsmen might indeed object to quickly giving their life cheaply in the rapids... or they might object to slowly giving their life cheaply over years. For that is what we all do. We sell our time here on earth. Nice to get a fair price for it. Life can be cheap in other countries... but not here.
...The Warren Court and the NLRB of the late 50s and 60s did a fine job of making it nearly impossible for a strike to be defended against,... ...The laws and enforcement have only recently come back to what they were supposed to be: guidelines for a fair struggle between the parties which could lead to fair agreements which make neither suffer at the hand of the other...
So unions have nearly disappeared while corporate power now exceeds that of our own government. I think the pendulum may have swung the other way a bit.
As a non-owner, most corporations won't even let me effectively vote policy like my government does... kind of like what Mike was admiring at the beginning of his thread here.
As a nation we've moved to a union-avoidance philosophy; or maybe along the lines of Bernies "terminology" (colors a view), we should call it union-busting.
Here's a long but interesting insider piece on how it's done:
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_busting )
Seems like the tactics could be used on an opposing political party also.
...yet Taft-Hartley trust funds run by the unions are so overfunded... ...Some trust funds even tell companies to take a month off from paying premiums, as if to rub their noses into it...
Trust funds, technically not entirely run by unions... but better overfunded than castrated like SS...
...or union-influence-free PBGC which is abused by corp after corp using it as a convenient benefits cop-out while popping back up under a new corporate name. We, the middleclass taxpayer, will be bailing PBGC out sooner or later.
Recently my insurance company (State Farm) rebated part of my excess premiums. I was shocked and appalled just like you said.
featherbedding
No doubt about it, if the workforce isn't reduced by attrition, these guys rise to protect their horn-of-plenty from technology and lower paid riff-raff.
I see them as Joe Six-pack guys trying to pay off the mortgage and college tuition. Part of a dying breed of middleclass, all protecting their turf. Not a whole lot unlike the bar association preventing a bunch of would be work-release felons from hanging out a cutrate shingle. I hear some cons are pretty talented. The courts would be (would be ?) clogged with the frivolous. But come the week-end... and suits and toolbelts come off and everybody's Joe Six-pack... brothers on wheels. On Harleys, Cobras. Well, they really are brothers. Featherbedding; always proclaimed in the interest of public safety, eh? While it may seem like comparing apples and oranges, they are both fruit seen pouring out of the horn-of-plenty are they not?
BTW...when can I take a turn at running one of them big badasses down the tracks?
This could happen. All you gotta do is get to Glendive, Montana or Mandan, North Dakota to negotiate some labor. While you're there, ask local BNSF management to ride, you being a contractor that can better do his job after touring the trenches.
Although I'm no star pupil kisser, I'm a decent fairly regarded employee and acquainted with my local company officers (well enough to greet first name basis in a hallway anyway). Request and get permission to ride with me. Try to do before it's apparent an axe is going to fall.
With luck we'll make room for you even if the conductor has to kick his sheep out early. I maybe couldn't let you run legally, depending on granted-ride/FRA status, but anything could happen out in the boonies. Anything not involving sheep, of course. I can overlook conductors and their favorite sheep but that's it.
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