I am in Chicago and working with our employees out here on some new sites we are starting up for our maintenance program. This morning, I asked one of them how many rooms he had been in and he immediately started arguing and generally freaking out. I wasn't really in the mood for any more of his 10-minute rationalizations of mediocrity (of which this particular employee is very fond of) so I (sheepish to admit this, but it is basically true) commanded him to "stop!" He refused, and I ended up turning my back on him and walking off as he ranted on about how my presence actually hinders their ability to get the work done. Needless to say I was not happy. Long story short, he soon apologized (duhh....) and then started to explain that he was already upset with me because (long story, not so short) last time I was here he started off on a tirade about something he was not satisfied about during a meeting with all the employees. Then Monday, our corporate HQ notified him that his status was being changed from FT to PT (since he is not getting enough hours.) He figured that the status change was retaliation for his stupid comments.
Sooooo......here's where it gets interesting; during the apology, he actually tells me that he is taking tomorrow off because he has an appt. with some sort of labor advisor to advise him on how to screw/sue us because we "retaliated" against him. (Here's me, rolling my eyes.) Get it? He thinks his status change is retaliation against him because he made a stupid comment in a meeting. Why do Chicagoans have to go "there" at the first drop of a hat. This is the second Chicago guy in the last 6 months or so to threaten (or mention) legal action against us for perceived wrongs. This place definitely is tainted with too much of what I call the "union" mentality. If you are thinking of starting a new business, I recommend you avoid this sector of the country like the plague.
As an employer, I have oft expressed my disdain for unions to friends/family in passing conversations. Much to my embarrassment, some of those friends (in Boise) actually belong to unions, but, I have decided, "western" unions are different than big city unions. My view is that big city unions have forgotten that a business has to be successful and all they care about is the amount of ridiculous concessions they can get for their members - even if it spells the death of the parent company. My Boise-friends union doesn't try to eat the hand that feeds it, they just collect a reasonable due and use it to make sure that the employees aren't mistreated. Big city unions use thuggish and manipulative coercion to exact outlandish dues which they then use to strangle the parent company with toxic demands. Why are American car companies going under? Why is the average Detroit home worth less than $22K? Why? Why outsource out of the USA? Because unions, and the union mentality in general are cancer to legitimate business.
Wait...do I sound too bitter here?
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Union Poison
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
That is quite a rant. But I can see how that would be frustrating. I didn't even know stuff like that still went on. It seems very "50's coal mining town"ish to me. I get that it's supposed to be for the betterment of the employees life - but you're right, that's taking it too far. There will always be people that abuse good systems to the point that makes them not work anymore, I guess.
get ready for a wave of hate comments.... (not from me though, as I totally agree with you)
Yes.
Joe you are always so very well spoken. You need to be running your company.
OK. So yesterday I put in a 12.5 hour day BEFORE pluggin in to the internet to get to work on my regular job. I may have been slightly hallucinogenic or something.
RRR's first Rocket Writer is from Chicago! (As is your mother.)
Can anything good come out of Chicago?
Listen, I'm not saying everyone and everything that comes from here is bad, I'm just saying that this area is prone to a "union" dementia and that their airport stinks and that it really stinks that they have 45 mph zones all over the city that they don't enforce...that's all...
It's not like I hate people from Chicago, I'm just whining...
I don't know if Chicago or unions are the problem. Those kind of people are everywhere. We get the same kind of threats from people who run off to the Texas Workforce Commission. I think its all about how you're raised - did your mother teach you to take care of yourself or whine and fuss until someone hands you what you want?
Post a Comment