Worst Non Union Experience You Haver Ever Had.....

[Jokinomx]

Mine is that I got fired for being sick with pneumonia. We had a point system for attendance. If you got 3 points in any given 30 day period you were fired. One point for a missed day...not to be accumulated for subsequent days. I had missed a day to support my children at a school function. Later that month... I got deathly sick and missed again. So that was 2 points. I was the lead man in the wood shop and after missing two days ill... they called me and said they really needed me in the shop... so I dragged myself to work on the third day of my illness and put in a twelve hour shift. I was naturally ready to collapse at the end of the day... I went to the doctor and he said I had pneumonia. I stayed home the next day on his orders and I received a call from the Human resources that they had released me due to the fact that I had accumulated three points.

I was shocked...well .. not really... this company hired and fired over 200 people a year with a work force of 100. So I guess I new eventually I would get the axe...

I asked the scumbag on the phone how she slept at night? She said we all have a job to do...

I did call the National Labor Relations board ... for surely in the U.S of A this type of action had to be illegal...

The only question they asked me... Are you Unionized? I said No.. and they said... Any company has a right to Hire .... and a right to fire. I did receive unemployment, for they determined I was unjustly fired...but.. this was one week before Christmas and it really put a burden on my Family.

Anyway.. I will never ever not support a union because of this experience.

[FloridaPat]

1. Worst union firing ever - air trffic controllers in 1981. Went on

strike, got fired by god Reagan and absolutely no back-up from any other union in the country. Then there was the black-listing by the government - and again not one union in the country cared. Then there was the dismantling of PATCO - and not a peep from any other union.

And for that I paid 5% of my pay.

I am neither for unions or against unions. I cannot have a logicially conversation about them with myself let alone anyone else. But I will never join another one. Not worth the agravation and cost.

[MercutioATC]

5. A lot of good people were lost in that firing...

Attempts to rehire them in the past few years haven't generally gone well (at least at my facility). ATC seems to be a "use it or lose it" profession.

[Jokinomx]

6. I agree with you that unions are not always right. With that said...

You have NO rights without a union. If a company thinks your making to much money... you can be fired, if a company thinks your attitude is not up to their standards... you can be fired, if a manager gets a bone up his ass and doesn't like the way you look.. you can be fired, If you are days away from securing a pension .. and the company doesn't want anymore people eligeble... they can fire you.

Just remember ... a company doesn't have to say WHY they fired you, they just have that right. The right to hire and the right to fire.

The protection from that alone is enough to pay your dues. Because without a Union... you might as well just bend over and squeal.

:kick:

[Pushed To The Left]

19. "At-will" employment needs to be banned

A federal ban on at-will employment would be nice. The right-wing would never stop crying!!

[Lindacooks]

24. Yes it does.

In an 'at will' state you can be fired because your boss has a tummy ache and you're wearing a pink shirt. It's simply criminal how easy it is to ruin somebody's life in these at will states.

[nosmokes]

9. a union is made up of it's members.

and just like anything else, it's quite often those that participate the least that bitch the loudest.

i'm not saying that you're guilty of this, pat, but most locals of every industry i've ever been familiar with have a participation rate of less than 5%. so if the leadership is corrupt, or inept, whose fault is it? if you can't afford a night once a month or two to attend a meeting and keep things on the up and up, then just like a democracy, you get what you deserve.

but if you don't think an independent union is worth the cost, vacation in alabama or mississipi and visit a dog food plant or a chicken processing plant, even one that may be nominally union. see what living in a right to work state gets you. shake hands with 10 or 12 of the line workers and i'll lay you odds right now that there'll be at least 3 missing digits due to safety standard violations among that number.

[olddem43]

2. this company must have been managed by compassionate

conservatives. I once worked in a place where we had sick leave but if you had 3 or more instances of use in a year they put you on "sick leave restriction" which effectively cut off your ability to use your leave. One poor fellow had had 5 heart attacks and was therefore on "sick leave restriction" He had been there for about 30 years but that didn't mean anything.

[in_cog_ni_to]

3. That sucks.

Worker's Rights...thank the UNIONS. That is WHY we have Unions. A great example.

[Kanary]

4. right now watching WEP workers in New York,

forced into any low-pay job that is shoved at them, no redress, no concern for the physical health of the workers. Some died, yet here was nothing done.

This is from the video "Day's Work, Day's Pay" about the Clinton welfare deform. It's being shown on LinkTV right now.

So many people don't understand what was done to these people.

Please, watch this video.... it's particularly apt for today.

Kanary

[asthmaticeog]

7. For me, the worst was when my union drive got busted.

So much incredibly hard work only to get utterly, ruthlessly smashed. That's some demoralizing shit. And it wasn't even my boss, it was the out-of-town corporate people above him. Things have been much better since the company got out from under the corporate thumb and went independent, but the whole experience left a very bad taste in my mouth. I've always been sympathetic to unions and always believed in the right to organize bargaining units, but that whole experience has made me RABIDLY pro-union, and I think I always will be.

[DBoon]

8. Never had a union job...

Worked as a management consultant for one of the really big accounting firms. These folks are absolutely notorious for violating labor laws and thinking they can get away with it (and they usually do).

One secretary was out on disability. Her Partner (boss) was illegally harassing her to leave, not wanting to pay the disability. She challenged him, got to keep her job, and the firm was fined hundreds of thousands of dollars. I was warned not to associate with her, as she was persona non grata. You see, by filing the complaint the secretary was an undesirable person.

Another time a partners practice was not doing well, so he decided to get rid of a few of his least favorite people including the only African American in the group. (The way to become profitable is to get rid of people you don't like, right?). Another individual eliminated was a female manager who was six months pregnant. Since the remaining staff was upset about the sudden, unannounced firings, Mr. Partner held a meeting to explain the situation. He actually had the nerve to quote Gordon Gecko from Wall Street ("Greed is good") without the slightest bit of irony. Basically he said these people weren't contributing to the profitability of his practice, so tough. "The only purpose of a business is to make profit", he said, misquoting Peter Drucker.

It is amazing the amount of abuse salaried professionals put up with.

On Edit: This was NOT Arthur Anderson, but what Anderson did at Enron is perfectly consistent with my experiences.

[Jokinomx]

10. damn... Its amazing how these heartless bastards justify themselves!

cheap labor conservatives...

http://www.conceptualguerilla.com/beattherightinthree.htm

This site explains it in a short and easy to understand way...

:kick:

[Nikia]

11. I didn't get a raise

My boss originally lied. The first time he said that it was because times were tough with the company. Then I pointed out that other people got raises. The he said that it was because the plant manager, who was later fired, had some issues with me. When I said that I was going to appeal, he then revealed that he had some problems with me. Most of the stuff was vague and contradictory, but he reduced me to tears. A couple months later, I asked to see my personnely file. There were no disciplinary reports against me at all. There were a couple people who had suffered disciplinary actions that did get raises, less than the full amount, but they got a raise. This year, I did get a full raise, but I am still upset about the incident. My theory is that my manager sacraficed me for his own benefit with the plant manager. I really wish that I would have had a union representive with me in regards to this.
My best friend on the otherhand, had a bad experience with a union. He was fired two days before receiving union protection. At the time, the union was in dispute with management. My father who has worked in several manufacturing facilites says that is not uncommon, firing people right before they receive union protection.

[Jokinomx]

13. Yep... but your Friend didn't have a problem with the union..it was the

company letting him go before he was legally protected by the union. My shop routinely hired from a temp service. The new employees were not protected by our union. After ninety days, the employee had to be either released or hired. This way the company doesn't have to keep records or document anything... if the Foreman or plant manager FEELS you have done a good job ...you would be hired and you had to join the Union. I have worked in shops that you didn't have to join the Union either. That would be up to the individual shop union members.

:kick:

[Nadienne]

30. "Times are tough" -

That was told to one of my co-workers this past Christmas... She got a much smaller-than-usual bonus. Everyone else got bigger bonuses. And no one would tell her the truth about why she got a smaller bonus.

[skygazer]

12. I once got fired for doing too much work

I was working as a helper in a kennel at a greyhound track (late 70's). My boss, the trainer, was asked to take over another kennel whose trainer had left suddenly but he had to wait until someone could be found to take the kennel we already had. So I went to the new kennel and worked it (for $85 per week) while he took care of the old and "supervised" me. Before long, I was doing everything in the new and when his relief showed up, he began living a life of sheer laziness. The big boss got word of it, told him he'd better get off his ass or he (the big boss) would fire the trainer and hire me. Result - the trainer told me I'd have to go because I made him look bad!

I got another job within half an hour.

[Jokinomx]

14. I love it... ain't this world just a peachy place to be..:-)

Thanks for sharing your experience...

:kick:

[madrchsod]

15. "fired" or should i say never rehired

after my heart attack...

[greekspeak]

16. I got chased around in a golf cart in 95 degree heat and told to RUN with

large bundles of filthy towels and bedclothes I also had my job threatened for getting a drink of water from the water fountain because drinking water was lazy. My step brother worked for the same guy at a different time and had to mow that guy's yard, which had hornets nests in the trees, a golden retriever chasing him around trying to attack him, and a constant case of poison ivy. Got paid less for doing it than a lot of neighborhood kids get paid to mow a lawn. And...the guy was AND IS a DEMOCRAT. I could go on about some of the other aweful things that went on at this guy's business, but let me just say that seeing how he treated his employees drove me much further to the left concerning how workers are treated in this country.

[sweetheart]

17. I took a job ...

with a firm, and was instantly handed a non-disclosure and an
agreement on intellectual property rights that was outrageous.
I am a professional in that firm's field, and already know everything
about the area of business, yet the agreement they asked me to sign
would prevent me from working in my own field, and as well stop me
from publishing my own work.

Naturally, i asked to discuss the agreement before signing. I was
fired shortly on, for refusing to sign the agreement as written.

Funnily, as they were firing me, i learned that the company fired
many more people than it hired, and derived a sort of pleasure from
screwing people over... so i just laughed at them the whole time..
ha ha ha.. stupid sickos.

Workers rights would be nice...ha! :-)

T

[Mike Niendorff]

18. My nominee:

I had a job on a painting crew back from 1989 to mid-1992 that has to at least make the finalists' list on this question. First off, the boss's favorite pastime was to scream at his crew. Not instructively, mind you, just screaming for the sake of screaming. We worked 9 hours a day, 6 days a week, in this environment (always at breakneck pace). No safety training, no safety equipment except inadequate respirators that wore out after about three days of use (and we were working with industrial lacquers, where respiratory protection is a MUST). If we asked for a replacement, we'd be screamed at some more. Meanwhile, the boss sprayed lacquer 8-10 hours a day WITHOUT a respirator, or even a dust-mask. Seriously, I don't think any non-painter can appreciate just how insane that is -- 5 minutes of those fumes and most people are so affected that they can't remember what day it is. Even worse, lacquer fumes cause permanent nervous system damage. Even with a respirator, I didn't escape that damage fully (fortunately, after 7-10 years, the nervous system actually will manage to repair some of it -- I can testify to that, too, thankfully).

But that was just the start of it. Once a week, sometimes twice, we'd do a complete stain-job on whatever 4000 square foot house we were working on. This meant full cabinet package, millwork, everything in the house. The stain was sprayed on (by the foreman) and then wiped down (by the rest of us), and it hung in the air like a mist for the duration of the stain-job. Since it's basically a solution of pigments and mineral spirits, it burned your eyes like hell the whole time. The respirator would only catch about 95% of it, so you were coughing up stain-colored phlegm at the end of the job. You had to bundle up in long-sleeved shirts, wrap your head/hair, tape all breathable joints in your clothing shut, and cover all exposed skin with vaseline, or you'd have to spend an hour wiping your skin down with solvent to get yourself clean again. Oh, and did I mention that we worked at breakneck speed? That meant that the boss kept the windows sealed (no ventilation) and the heat in the house cranked to the max, so that all paint/stain/lacquer would dry as fast as possible. I remember doing one stain job where it was 99 degrees outside, the windows were sealed up, the furnace was cranked to the limit, and there we were inside -- bundled up like it was winter, stain hanging like a fog in the air, eyes burning like hell, hoping not to keel over from heat exhaustion before we finished. The "white stain" jobs were even worse. They took twice as long, and the stain burned your eyes like straight alcohol. Man, were those miserable days.

Whenever OSHA was on-site, however, a runner would go from house-to-house announcing "OSHA's here! OSHA's here!". Suddenly, as if by magic, the boss would decide to run through the house opening all the windows for ventilation. I'm sure that was just coincidence, though ... :eyes:

I also remember the boss physically chasing IUPAT reps off the job site, and haranging us with tales of how Big Bad OSHA wanted to keep us from doing our jobs fast, and how it would put us all out of work if they ever had their way. This went over big with my Limbaugh-fan co-workers. And the same went for the painters' union, too, naturally.

I worked at that hell for two and a half years (I need the money to go to college) until I finally started having physical problems related to the chemicals we were working with. I did some research, discovered just how many safety corners my boss was actually cutting, and then gave the information to his crew before quitting on the spot. He lost half his crew within a month. I am proud of that to this day.

A short time later, I learned that he "flashed out" a bathroom on one of the houses he was working on -- meaning that he concentrated the fumes to a high degree, and something ignited them. I gather that he burned one of his arms pretty good in the process. Anyway, he died about three years ago of a heart attack (in his early 50's). When I heard about his death, my first reaction, honestly, was "how in the hell did he survive even that long?" I'm just glad he didn't manage to take me out with him.


MDN

[Bluzmann57]

20. My cousin got the boot for trying to organize

workers at his place of employment. It was, and is, a foundry, notorious for being hot, hard, work. He tried to organize the employees there and got fired because of it. He took it to the Illinois Labor board and they told the company to reinstate him with full seniority and back pay. But by that time, he had found another job. He took the money though. I think it was in the neighborhood of $10,000. So there's a happy ending to this story at least. The plant is still not Unionized though, and quite likely never will be.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

21. Spent three years as a temp during the Reagan recession

The worst place was a metal plating plant that was too cheap to hire an extra shift, so they had been working their employees 12 hours a day, 6 days a week for 3 months by the time I was assigned there. The employees were so tired that many of them slept instead of eating during their 30-minute lunch break. This included guys whose job was to walk around on catwalks guiding metal parts through vats of unidentified but nasty-smelling chemicals.

The owners were lizardly-looking guys in expensive suits who peeked in every once in a while.

I told the temp agency that I wouldn't go back after 4th of July, because the owners announced that we would have to come in on 4th of July to work unless we "made up for" the holiday by coming in on Sunday.

Because of all the overtime, it was the most lucrative temp job I had during the three years, but I was getting severe eyestrain, because my job required inspecting newly plated metal parts through a microscope all day.

I phoned the temp agency and told them that I wasn't going back. I was lucky, because I had just gotten a fulltime teaching job for the fall and didn't need the money as badly as many temp workers did.

[stavka]

22. Hey - sounds like you should have been fired.....

You knew the rules when you took the job - you broke them.

Sure, that is rough, but there is no law protecting your job.

Your employer is obviously weak morally from your post, but on the other hand, I've had employees like you (situationally speaking) that I wish I had the power to fire. - I'd fire half of my currents if I could...

Truth gets lost in the details.

[Nadienne]

29. Are you joking?

I mean, gee, I can almost understand...

Boss: "Thanks for coming in, even though you were pretty sick."

Worker: "Yeah, I know, but I really shouldn't've. I got even sicker."

Boss: "Yes, you shouldn't've. Not that I care about your health. It's just that, you broke the rules, and now I have to waste my time hiring and trainig someone else to fill your position. You're fired. That oughta teach you."

[Lindacooks]

23. I've got two - they're my husband's, actually

One, being fired for speaking out against MN Gov Pawlenty's cutting 50% of the child abuse prevention budget in this state, crippling many proven programs to help and protect abused children.

Two, being fired for mentioning his job on his website. What is his website? It's a support group for abused people, especially women and children. They knew about his site when he applied for the job, and they never said a word about not mentioning the company in his BIO on his site.

Now, he's going back to school to get his teacher's license. So he can join a union and get some protection from this frivolous abuse of power.

I have to ask - the company had a point system for attendance? You make it sound like the union had the point system. Unions built the middle class in this country, heroically fighting for workers, especially after WWII.

[dryan]

25. Owner's wife was jealous....

of the fact that I had both a Louis V handbag and briefcase. We had a meeting on Saturday and she came into the office. I was dressed casually but had my handbag and case. She made a crack about "how could I afford a designer bag and case on what I made (I was an executive secretary). She kept going on about this. The following Monday my boss said that maybe he WAS paying me too much and also could I not bring my Louis bag and case to the office any more!

[Nordic]

26. call a lawyer

I know that in California what happened to you is probably illegal

[dryan]

28. Thanks, but....

I don't work there anymore.

[BrotherBuzz]

27. My two year "No Cut Contract" with the Army

Heck, as a draftee, I didn't even see the contract, let alone sign it.