Hello from NY
 

Hi all, thought I would join in on some of the discussion here. I am from NY, quite unhappily. This state is a wreck. I always leaned right in my thinking on issues but lately can't stand the party, not that I ever considered myself a member of it. Not really sure what you would politically call me since I take many different stances from different sides. Not an huge Obama fan, but at the same time was not going to drink the Romney-Paul kool aid. I am a union worker and after seeing the crap coming from that camp on banishing unions it will be awhile before I consider the right a friend of mine.

In any case I am happy to finally join this site and be able to offer some input whether you agree or not.

Welcome, Mike. Enjoy your time here.

Welcome from Virginia!
Come on in, have a seat.

These are bewildering times, arent they?

Dave

Welcome aboard!



Barney

Welcome from Maryland. You think you have problems? I am a former union rep and a former mamber of the Conservativ Party in Canada.

Glad to see more union guys current or former. I am actually a water/sewer municipal worker for a local government. We are constantly bashed because ugh god forbid your union and live on tax money. They don't complain when shit is backing up at 3 in the morning but when it comes time to pay, watch out. Our union was tough for us a few years ago when everything seemed to hit the fan. Our contract was over for two years and were at a stalemate in negotiations. The union held their ground despite dumping money on lawyer fees that they knew they would never recover and got us a very acceptable contract.

I am a firm believer in organized labor. I think it is a driving force behind me pulling away from the right. This last election really showed who your ally was if your a union worker.

Welcome, Mike.

What so many seem to forget is that the unions were the reason we used to have a middle class. It was that middle class that consumed goods made here and drove 70% of the economy. Talk about shooting oneself in the foot. Dumb and dumber.

Welcome, Mike. Post away.

I was once an active union member, (UFCW) serving on the contract negotiating committee and volunteering for things, supporting other unions during strikes and so on. I grew up in a union family (UAW). My father worked for Chrysler and others, brother, cousin Aunts, Uncles...worked for General Motors in Ohio.

Yes, interesting for all of their bluster about so many other issues, the first thing the right did after the 2010 election cycle was wrap its tentacles around the neck of the working class and squeeze tight. The sad part is is that so many STILL don't see it.

Dave

Welcome Mike.

I am union at heart. But I have come to recognise that a lot of municipalities cannot afford some of the unions. In too many instances the unions become inflexible and myopic.

BTW I am a NY resident.

Welcome Mike. Always nice to see a union guy around, but you would also be welcome if you were a staunch capitalist.

My dad was a postal worker and union steward. I was briefly a member of the IBEW. I worked summers at a manufacturing plant that was IBEW represented. I wasn't eligible to join the first summer I worked there. The second week of the second summer I worked there, I went to the union hall to sign and be sworn in. I remember walking into work late and the foreman telling me I was tardy, and I just smiled and told him that I was getting sworn into the union.

Now I am a member of the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, and practice labor law in the red state of Kansas. I have started working in Kansas after practicing in Missouri for over 20 years. Despite the redness of Kansas, I am finding out that it is fairly progressive when it comes to the protections afforded to public sector labor unions. I hope that the ability of public sector unions to hang on during the decline in union representation will maintain life in the labor movement - enough life that unions will still be a viable force when private sector workers wake up and realize that collective action is the only way to take on the power of capital.

Regards,

D-Ray

The IBEW is a great union here in the city. Made tremendous effort to train, and educate its members. Also recognised the need to be inclusive, the importance of health care and that its finance should be above board....provided reasonable pension for its members.

The real reason why the GOP is out to get unions is not for any money they might give the Dems but because they were so good at getting out the vote.

Absolutely, when the election was nearing we were getting reminder phone calls about Mitt's plan to do away with collective bargaining all the time. I felt betrayed by a party I had more respect for at one time. Christie is the same with his battling of the teachers in Jersey, then boasting about it in his GOP NC opening speech. Patting himself on the back for taking money away from the educators of our children.

Someone mentioned the cost of union labor to municipality. We do not receive the union's prevailing wage, actually about 2/3 of what their flag men make. It is not a huge difference in what we make compared to non union municipal employees. With the way many of these local politicians waste money is one of the right things they can do.

Hi Mike,

Welcome to the board.

Welcome to the forum Mike.

Welcome!

A lesson other unions could stand to learn from. I see this as the greatest failing of the UAW and to a lesser degree the USW. Driving up the cost of labor without doing anything to increase the value of that labor just isn't smart. Especially, in todays global economy.

However, in the non-union jobs I have had, I have also seen little effort in those regards. They seem more intent on squeezing out more volume per employee at a lower cost, without ensuring they are better trained.

That won't work either. All you get is mediocre product produced in larger numbers.

Howdy Mike.

I saw a fireman driving a Toyota pickup the other day.....

Pete

Hey Pete,

I don't get paid to fight fires and drive a Chevy 2500...a late model Mexican Chevy.

I see where your going, and perhaps the US auto makers and the UAW can learn from companies like Toyota.

http://management.fortune.cnn.com/20...otive-ceo-pay/

Although their exec makes a good salary, compare it to the US companies. These guys were making a fortune as their companies produced junk. It burns me that the UAW never stood up to the insane salaries their top guys were making while the laborers suffered. It's not the UAW's fault that the companies failed, it's the garbage that was engineered and allowed to be produced. No amount of quality labor can fix a poor design.

If a person union or not wants to buy a non union built truck because it is much more reliable I don't see the problem there.

So much for

http://www.slu.edu/Images/sluma/solidarity-logo.jpg

?? ;)

Heck if union guys don't support each other why should anyone else? Just saying...

Pete

Should a non-union guy only buy non-union produced stuff?

Here, fire departments operate on a volunteer basis. They aren't paid. They are in the big cities, but thats about it. Folks have a pager and when it goes off they drop what they are doing and hop in their own car/truck where ever they may be and haul ass to where the fire is. Except for 1 or 2 guys, 1 or 2 that have access to the keys will swing by the fire dept to get the fire truck first.

*Also, Sunday night I needed to talk to the police chief over in town. I drove to town to the police station and forgot they were locked up.. closed. Made a trip to town for nothing. No officers on duty on 3'rd shift. They operate daytime for 12 hours and close shop for 12 night. 1 shift a day, unless the yearly fair is in town. So since the problem happened in town and not out here in the county I had to wait until the next day to 'go back' to see an officer to see what needs to be done. Believe me, you don't want to call 911 unless it's a crash or a crime in which someone is dead or dying.

Welcome, Mike.

I shoulda posted that first but pete's fireman post had to be addressed before I forgot what I wanted to say. Call it a short assed memory :)

Hi Hillbilly,

My buddy's parents moved about an hour outside Bristol about 5 years ago, and they love it there. Beautiful area and very quiet. They say the same thing, no local police on third watch you have to wait for state. My area was like that 20yrs ago, totally different now.

My department has a pager system, all volunteer. We report to the station when there is a call and go from there. It can be very dangerous when there is a house fire. Going inside a home that could have a working fire for possibly 20 minutes already is scary. Go check out YouTube and search fire flashover videos. It'll make you want to put a sprinkler system in your home.

Thanks to all of you for the warm welcome.

Welcome!

Not sure why you NY is a wreck however. :confused:

Good luck with that! All governments hereabouts are union and you have to drive down the street ;) I support private unions with my checkbook, not by force, although weirdly enough mostly the CAW :)

If the duffus worked for Cleveland proper instead of a suburb his truck would be... damaged...

Hb yeah I know out in the country... but closer in the city here they're all paid.

Pete

My brother who was in management when he worked in the US steel industry was expressly forbidden to drive a non GM/Ford/Chrysler cars within the plant.

But then again again the joke was that when Chrysler board agreed to be taken over by Mercedes Benz (MBZ market value then was less than Chrysler), the compelling reason was that now the management could all drive MBZ's to work. So they fell over themselves voting for the takeover. :D

I am in agreement with Pete in principle; "practice what you preach". If not your credibility can and will be questioned.

BTW Pete, I saw that Solidarity guy on TV sometime ago and he was awful.

Sorry I don't know what you're referring to :) Lech Walesa?

I lived in 'Slavic Village' during the great movement in Poland, those banners were everywhere!

Pete

Yeah Walesa! Came off as a swell headed difficult prick.

Ach that's too bad. It was an exciting time.

Pete

Is it coincidence that red is the common color of Communism and Neoconservatives?

Thank you,

I feel NY is becoming a wreck for one big reason, taxes. All this state does is tax, tax, and tax some more. Everything you do or buy in NY they want to tax, and what is it doing...driving people away which just lowers the tax base causing you to further increase taxes. Every county north of the city lost population in the last census. Folks just can't take it anymore. High state income tax. Sales tax 8 1/8% in my county. We get charged $40 a year on our vehicle registration because there are mass transit trains that run to the city in my county; so create the MTA tax. I have never used the rail system, but because it exists they decided several years ago this was a good idea.

Gas right now $4.05 a gallon for regular. In NJ just twenty minutes away it is $3.45, why...tax. Part of the wonderful state budget this year, keep the "temporary" energy tax going which adds to our cost of fuel oil, electricity, or natural gas. They tax small business to hell and then wonder why they leave and add to the unemployment rate. We have had a group of buffoon governors in the last several years and it is really starting to show.

For what its worth the city recently reported a positive net migration.

The Tundra and the Tacoma are manufactured in San Antonio,Texas. Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas.

One of the five other US Toyota plants probably built the engines and other parts.

I have a 93 Toyota extended cab 4WD pickup. The bed was manufactured in California. It has been the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned. I even got a recall notice to fix a front end part just a few years ago. It was a free fix and I got a loaner car. I am probably one of a few people that are actually the original owners of a 93 Toyota truck. I have two standing offers from people who want to buy it for $9,000 I paid $14,000 for it. It is almost broken in with only 86,000 miles on it. I have a hard time finding fault in a vehicle that has had two actual mechanical problems. One was the starter solenoid and the other was an AC compressor. Of course I handled the AC problem myself. All other work was scheduled maintenance. Like the timing belt and I did change the water pump while I was in there.

My work truck is a Chevy 2500HD 4WD that was manufactured in Canada. You don't want to feed that beast gas. It gets 10 mpg on a good day. A 400 HP Vortec V8 does make it scoot though and I have a company gas card. :)

Guess what I saw a fireman driving the other day. A fire truck. Imagine that. :D

To Mike, welcome aboard and remember it can get rough in here at times. Don't let it get under your skin. Most folks here, including myself, are pretty much full of sh!t. Don't get paranoid if the spam filter censors so************************t Ever here of that hard on pill that starts with a c.

Sounds like you are a neighbor.

I work with a bunch of guys that all we do is break balls all day so trust me I have awfully thick skin. I don't think I could hang out with someone who couldn't take a joke or realize it's not personal. Anyways thanks for the welcome and I'm sure everyone here will be tired of hearing my $hit after awhile...lol

Hey noonereal, I'm in southern Orange to give you an idea. The county of the largest grossing shopping mall in NY and high county taxes because money gets pissed away all over. Oh then there is KJ if you know what I mean which is a giant bubble of unconstitutional crap. I'm sure ill be ranting at some point about those guys.

I think we've got you beat out here on the left coast, Mike. 8.75% sales tax and regular has been over $4.00 for a while here in the other Orange County. Ah well, all we can do is kvetch, eh?:)