http://www.constructionbusinessowner.com/blog/2009/10/michael-moore-blog/to-union-or-not-to-union/ Just another WordPress weblog Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:05:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 http://www.constructionbusinessowner.com/blog/2009/10/michael-moore-blog/to-union-or-not-to-union/#comment-616 John Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:09:47 +0000 http://www.constructionbusinessowner.com/blog/?p=241#comment-616 I have been in business over 3 decades. It hasn't been easy but I have persevered. My men organized my shop some years ago while I was on vacation. The electrical union in my area has a slogan "turn um or burn um". I went through negotiations with them for a year and I was always honest and negotiated with zeal. I was all for the union if I could keep my business base and move forward. The union was not so forthright I'm afraid. They kept saying to sign and we would work out the details later. They treated me like I was an idiot. My company was bad and I wasen't paying a fair wage, telling my men that I could bid on larger jobs and we would all make more money. According to them it was in my best interests to go union. I didn't see it that way ,my customers did not need me to raise my prices because they would call someone else that was non-union if I did. I spent a lot of time and money but they had to leave after a year. Not before filing many false reports with the NLRB. Where I am located non union tradesmen make much more than most college graduates. I am not saying that some industries don't need unions but I feel we don't. The unions have had their hayday and have abused it. i do agree with you about the apprenticeship program and around where i am they have passed numerous laws to restrict bidding on public projects w/o an apprenticeship program. When I was negotiating with the union I suggested they open up their apprenticeship program for a fee to the public. This way they would make some money and push the union way to everyone. They ignored me. I have been in business over 3 decades. It hasn’t been easy but I have persevered. My men organized my shop some years ago while I was on vacation. The electrical union in my area has a slogan “turn um or burn um”. I went through negotiations with them for a year and I was always honest and negotiated with zeal. I was all for the union if I could keep my business base and move forward. The union was not so forthright I’m afraid. They kept saying to sign and we would work out the details later. They treated me like I was an idiot. My company was bad and I wasen’t paying a fair wage, telling my men that I could bid on larger jobs and we would all make more money. According to them it was in my best interests to go union. I didn’t see it that way ,my customers did not need me to raise my prices because they would call someone else that was non-union if I did. I spent a lot of time and money but they had to leave after a year. Not before filing many false reports with the NLRB.
Where I am located non union tradesmen make much more than most college graduates. I am not saying that some industries don’t need unions but I feel we don’t. The unions have had their hayday and have abused it.
i do agree with you about the apprenticeship program and around where i am they have passed numerous laws to restrict bidding on public projects w/o an apprenticeship program. When I was negotiating with the union I suggested they open up their apprenticeship program for a fee to the public. This way they would make some money and push the union way to everyone. They ignored me.

]]>