I have seen union people that were paid to do one little task, nothing else. The union would not let him do anything else, they wanted him sitting around doing nothing rather than do something other than the one task he had been hired to do. There I had a man making $45.00 an hour and I could not ask him to sweep the floor, or ask him to help another person load a truck. He sat on his rear and read a magazine till I had more for him to do in his trade. The only time I myself was ever in a union was when I was driving a school bus. One day as I inspected my bus I saw a low tire. I drove over to the bus barn and picked up an air hose and started filling the tire. The shop steward came over and asked what I was doing. He informed me I was not a Mechanic, and filling a tire was not my job. If he ever saw me doing anything other than drive again he would see to it I was dissapplined by the union. I hate unions.
Another of the things I am looking at is that with the older people going back to work in the lower paying jobs due to the economy down turn. There is no entry level jobs for the kids during the summer. Also people that lost higher paying jobs are now filling these entry level jobs. Something to put groceries on the table. The jobs where a kid could start out and get some training, are being held by old folks that have retired once and now can't make it on their retirement, or folks that are filling the position till they can find a job in their field when the economy revs back up, if it ever does. The retired folks don't want to progress, they are comfortable where they are. So the chain of progression is stagnate. That hurts the workers.
My oldest had a problem. He was one that thought he should be able to start at the top. He quite many entry level jobs saying the Boss was stupid, he was not going to do the things he was told to do, they were stupid task and he was not going to do things that low. I put him on the street, where he finally hit bottom. I'm the one that went out and picked him up off the street. There he was naked, hugging a transformer for warmth, behind a McDonalds, crying about how his friends could leave him in such a condition. His friends stole his clothes so they could trade them for more drugs. I bought him two pairs of jeans and five polo shirts. A weeks worth of underwear, and socks. One pair of sneakers, a belt, and a warm jacket. Took him to my place and cleaned him up, then back out on the street. He knew of a place to go, a homeless shelter.
Two months later he called me and wanted to take me out to dinner. He had gotten his life straightened out and had a job, and an apartment. Two years later he came to me asking where he could get a job like I had. He had discovered that one needed training or an education to get a good paying job. He was tired of mounting tires. I told him to go to a trade school, a union apprentice program, or join the military and have them train him. Took a while to get through that hard head.
Today he is an E-7 Navy Recruiter. He has been a Metal Worker (welder), and a Cop. He has supervised over a hundred men on construction porjects in the Sea Bees. He finally has the training he needs to get a job when he retires in five years from the Navy.
His younger brother graduates next May with a Degree in Micro Biology. He was worried there may not be a job when he gets out of school. He is fortunate he got picked up on a research project. That will see him through his Master's program.
