Tennessee workers vote down union

[PopeyesPappy]

a non union shop the boss is the dictator. don't like his policies? tough shit. there's the door, don't let it hit your ass on the way out.

That's an exaggeration and you know it.

I have never worked in a union shop, I've never been a union member.  But I know that if I was, I'd be hounding the union to give as much to candidates I like as to the candidates they already give to.  I don't want my union dues going to candidates I despise.  And if they don't listen to me I'd go into the union office and say "Nice union you've got here.  Be a shame if something were to happen to it.  Accidents happen, you know."

Apparently you are not a working man that has worked in a sweat shop to say it is an exaggeration. And you are right, accidents do happen, sometimes on purpose. Solitary

It is an over generalization to suggest that all or even the majority of non union employers are sweat shops run by dictators where there are no venues for employees to provide input about working conditions or processes. A quick count gives me 16 different employers since I started my fist regular job at 14 nearly forty years ago. I've worked at 24 hour gas stations, done yard work, been a trash collector, drove a dump tuck, painted, worked as a laborer in a bread factory, served in the military, climbed poles for a cable company and provided various technical services to both the government and private industry as a contractor. I have worked in union shops and managed union employees. I have never experienced a working environment that could be described as a sweat shop or one that was run by a dictator. That doesn't mean that type of environment doesn't exist, but it sure suggests to me that they are the exception and not the rule.

[hillbillyatheist]

I think sweatshop is often an exaggeration.  

but the boss is the dictator. he may be nice and even willing to listen, but in the end, what he says goes.

most places of employments are not democracies, where workers can vote on workplace policies.  

keep in mind though, I'm not saying bosses are evil. many will indeed work with you and listen to your concerns because they're just decent human beings. they don't have to though. want the day off to see your sick kid? a nice boss will let you, but he can just as easily say, fuck you, come in or you're gone.

want to have a 30 hour work week? maybe your boss will agree to that. but he can just as easily tell you no, come in 45, or you're fired.


so by dictator I don't mean he's a dick, but simply that he has the final say. he listens to you if he wants too.

in a workplace where workers have more power and say, then if everybody wants shorter work weeks with higher shares of company profits, so they have more free time and money to spend, they can vote for such a policy.

believe or or not there are employers in existence that work like a democracy as opposed to a boss.

and I like that idea.

[Jason Harvestdancer]

I never said that. You stayed working there for low wages---what's that tell you?  Were you a kiss ass to the boss, or the boss? Solitary

Neither.  I was working there in High School, working there in College, and working there for a couple years after college as I was trying to enter the professional world.

Not everyone who has gone to college is a pampered rich kid whose parents can give them a free ride.  And not every hard worker in a shitty job is a kiss ass.

[Jason Harvestdancer]

I think sweatshop is often an exaggeration.  

but the boss is the dictator. he may be nice and even willing to listen, but in the end, what he says goes.

most places of employments are not democracies, where workers can vote on workplace policies.  

keep in mind though, I'm not saying bosses are evil. many will indeed work with you and listen to your concerns because they're just decent human beings. they don't have to though. want the day off to see your sick kid? a nice boss will let you, but he can just as easily say, fuck you, come in or you're gone.

want to have a 30 hour work week? maybe your boss will agree to that. but he can just as easily tell you no, come in 45, or you're fired.


so by dictator I don't mean he's a dick, but simply that he has the final say. he listens to you if he wants too.

in a workplace where workers have more power and say, then if everybody wants shorter work weeks with higher shares of company profits, so they have more free time and money to spend, they can vote for such a policy.

believe or or not there are employers in existence that work like a democracy as opposed to a boss.

and I like that idea.

It's still an exaggeration.  Unless you work for a small business and your boss is the same person as the owner, your boss has a boss.  And his boss has a boss.  I can, and have, gone over someones head before because it was necessary, and it worked.

Hell, when I was in High School and dissatisfied with a decision by the Vice Principal, I wrote a nice long letter to the School Board in complaint.  The Vice Principal was very conciliatory after that.

[hillbillyatheist]

It's still an exaggeration.

 Unless you work for a small business and your boss is the same person as the owner, your boss has a boss.  And his boss has a boss.  I can, and have, gone over someones head before because it was necessary, and it worked.

Hell, when I was in High School and dissatisfied with a decision by the Vice Principal, I wrote a nice long letter to the School Board in complaint.  The Vice Principal was very conciliatory after that.

how is it exaggerating? seems to me to be the definition. to address your two points.

lets take some imaginary country where one man is a total dictator. his word is law. but he's entirely benevolent. He sets up a nice mix of free markets with good regulations and safety nets, readily listens to the concerns of his people, and quickly works to address those concerns. and they all love him. They love him so much if given the chance to vote for a democracy, they'd vote no. why spoil a good thing. he's still a dictator. by definition. he's just a nice one.

The boss is king of the employer. now to your second point, in a large business, your supervisor isn't the boss, but somebody is, and you and your supervisor follow his rules or you're gone. what he says, is the law, if you work there.

now that said I once went over my supervisors head at Dish Network, to get a day off to see family, and he made my life rough after that. so sometimes that can backfire on you.

[PopeyesPappy]

The difference HBA is that all but the most extreme examples your boss can't have you imprisoned, tortured or killed when you fail to do as you are told. You are free to walk out the door if you don't like your working conditions or your boss's attitude.

[hillbillyatheist]

I'll give you that LOL

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I know where my dad's at with unions. Years ago he worked for a newspaper in ohio, fully unionized, but he was in management. The unions bankrupted the paper and though my dad was managing editor he was the lowest paid person working there including the janitors.
Now, was it union members faults? No. The union was corrupted by outside forces, I suspect by people who wanted the union's gone. Of course I have no proof of that, but when millions upon millions of dollars are at stake it's not much of a stretch to think corporate goons would infiltrate a union to give the appearance of corruption.