Reference, Questions and Help > Polls

Sooo, Why Haven't the Roadrats organized?

<< < (2/7) > >>

Carolina Jethro:
I remember the 1990 so called strike well... I was a house tech then and I saw contractors last about an hour when some of companies came to picket lines and said " get in the plant now or you won't have a job!" Since some techs can't make it to next check they started crossing in droves. I have been at a job since where the company changed the pay scale once we were at site and the techs agreed to walk. Well when I walked the next day... it was a lonely trip. I figure nothing is going to change... too easy for people to get in field so a lot of techs are scared to rock the boat.

RADBASTARD:
I walked in 90 and the ibew failed us big time they didn't do squat for us.No reps., No advice,No direction.Ibew SUX!

Lets face it an be honest most hp's are spinless jelly fish and are afraid to lose their jobs and we can't even agree on a dose rate let alone do join together. Some would stab their own mother in the back if it ment they could stay a extra week.
Now there are only a few hp companies so you can't burn to many bridges like in the past.
We are all self centered and only worry about #1.
That sounds mean but it is the nature of the business.
Nobody else is gonna take care of you,but you.

The ones that really hurt the business is the locals that will work for alot less to stay next to their homes than just say no so that their company has to raise wages.I do understand that people want to be with their love ones and I am all for that,but that is one of the major hurdles that hurt us with wages.I haven't gone back to my home plant since 91 and I like to think it helped a little by doing my part not going to jack up the wages, for the lonest time they had a hell of a time staffing and now the pay at the top end.

The utilities think we are nothing more than the common knuckledragger that works in the plants,but we have to take a test.The knuckledraggers even make more money than the hp's and deconners.

JUST SAYING MY 2 CENTS

alphadude:
basically, u have a thousand different personalities with RATs.  no two can agree on the same issues and politics which are needed to organise.  we can see some of that here!  the infamous black lists of the past, different pay rates for the sweeties, promotion in RAT companies of total loosers and devious individuals, egos, etc all contribute to the inability to organise.  individuals can't function as a team without a strong leader. unions usually dont fuction that way!

oh yea! for u Bush fans, the present adminstration is anti-union!

Chelios:
It seems to me that the problem is organizing, and not at just one plant. It would have to be nationwide and be recognized by all the plants. Contracts would have to be negotiated and signed. The effort would be monumental and would take an enormous amount of time. Who can do that, work outages, look for work between outages, and have time for family. I believe most roadies look for the jobs they want and apparently the pay and perdiem are sufficient. If it gets bad enough, the interest will pickup. I don't believe that it will ever become viable unless congress passes a law.

Luscious:
Alright;

Now we have some of the excuses, and some of the history, and hope that everyone knows that it does not have to be IBEW, again I ask why not organize?

FWIW, take a hard look at the travelling crafts, in the north, they are all organized and play shop lines/work division strictly.

Take the Millwrights, the boilermakers, the carpenters, the laborers, etc. for the most part they are all organized union workers!

There is no reason why HP rent a techs, deconners, etc can not be organized. The motto is organize or die!

I do not think we need long winded discourses as to the benefits of being represented by a union, and there is no doubt that there will be growing pains. Hell if the migrant farm workers in California organized years ago, (some with questionable immigration status), again, there is no reason why road techs can not organize. It just takes collective action, and I assert that now that there is only a handful of contract companies that it would be easier now than in the past.

As for the plants recognizing a union, legally they have no choice in non-right to work states, and one of the major goals of the AFL-CIO is to organize unorganized labor, so there are resources available.

... for now

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page