You say that you like the place that you work so much that you don't want to
leave, then I say you don't have any reason to gripe.  If you like a place
so much, you shouldn't need to bargain.  I guess it just seems to me that
you liked the place so much you felt you needed to go on strike.  That
doesn't make too much sense to me.  I guess I really don't know though.  If
I don't like my job, I just bitch and complain never really doing anything
about it until they get sick of hearing me and "downsize" me giving me
reason to go and find a job elsewhere.  What I'm saying is that I'm
spineless and I really don't know anything.  You did give a good example
with the cellular company but it all comes down to one thing as far as I'm
concerned.  Karl Marx said that all history is a series of class struggles.
Struggles between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat.  Basically, the
Business Owners, and the Workers.  This would seem to hold true.  While I do
disagree with Mr. Marx that this (Capitalism) needed to be stopped, I don't
agree with his solution.  Those who own businesses have the right to run
them as they see fit.  They are the ones that will lose, the workers can
always find another place to work.  They also took the risk, where as the
workers took none.  So I guess that's why I sometimes have a problem with
unions.  It's too easy for the workers to make claim that the company is
their.

Who was Karl Marx by the way?  He invented the idea of Communism.

-----Original Message-----
From: tclug-list-admin at mn-linux.org
[mailto:tclug-list-admin at mn-linux.org]On Behalf Of Benjamin Exley
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 10:35 AM
To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org
Subject: RE: [TCLUG] OT: union job


> Unions have no place in the IT/IS field.
I would have to disagree. Unfortunatly, I've been in a position where
I've felt it nessecary to use collective bargaining to get what we
wanted. What was it? We wanted to be treated fairly, and not have
to leave our jobs. This isn't to say that we couldn't get better paying
jobs elsewhere, it's just that we like the place we work so much
that we didn't WANT to leave. We felt the only way we could get
people to listen to our concerns was to threaten to leave as a
whole. It is amazing how quickly people start listening when the
entire IS department threatens to walk off the job. They wouldn't
have listened if only a few people made that descision. Maybe we
didn't technically have a union, but we were a union in spirit.

For another example of a white colar union, take a look at Boeing.
In the mid-90s, many of the engineers there felt that the company
was headed in the wrong direction, and felt that their concerns
were not being addressed. They loved working there so much that
they couldn't stand to see the company suffer due to the acts of a
few people in upper management. They decided to unionize, and
did in fact go on strike. That brought on changes very quickly, and
the people I've talked to about it generally regard it as a positive
experience.

Unionizing is sometimes the only way to be effectively heard and
respected. Sad but true.


ok i'm done.


Ben
-----
Benjamin Exley
Information Systems Manager
The Minnesota Daily
bexley at mndaily.com
(612) 627-4070 Ext. 3190
_______________________________________________
tclug-list mailing list
tclug-list at mn-linux.org
https://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list