In response to Jennifer Arnold's letter, I would like to go on record and say I am not union brain washed.
I believe the shop I worked in a little over 23 years ago, the top pay at the time was a little over $9 an hour with no health insurance to speak of.
So yep, when I got the chance to go to a job that started out with more than I was making with good health insurance and more than a week of vacation a year, you bet I jumped on it. So over 23 years later, I'm still there. You make it sound as if union members twist the arm behind a company's back to get their pay and benefits.
I'm pretty sure a company knows before it sits down at the negotiation table what they're going to do. Let's say you have a company selling a product for 500 bucks and by the time they pay the total work hours and wages and insurance and it's only costing them 100 bucks to make the product and they are coming out with a big profit.
Tell me why you think it's so wrong for the workers to make a fair wage? You say we don't support Democrats. Tell me why is Obama still in office then? You say companies move away because of unions. I hate to tell you they move away so the fat cats that own them can have a shoddy-made product produced with little or no regard to a worker's safety at a lower-than-dirt wage so they can pad their fat pockets even more.
Let me tell you, I bet you money a lot of the people at the company in town wished they had unionized a long time ago. You're telling me all the people let go with 20 or more years where there are dead beats, I don't think so.
Me, I don't need the union protection. My attendance is good and I've just put in my 23 year. I've seen dead beats in the union and non-union both. You're going to have them no matter what. Why do other workers attack other workers? Lawyers have unions. Doctors have unions. You don't hear anyone attacking them and I guarantee they make a lot more than the average union worker. I'm not going to waste my time writing a letter every evening.
So, I'm sorry you feel so negative about the American worker. Maybe you were fired or let go from a good-paying job. I don't know. That's where that union protection is nice to have if you do need it. You have a nice day.
