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Do you belong to a union?

Posted by daniel23 • 4/15/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: union, work

I was wondering how many of you lot out there belong to a union? Since the dawn of trade-unionism my family has been in their fighting, giving as good as getting. I currently belong to the Industrial Workers of the World(IWW) but will also join the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) when (or if) I get the job I'm aiming at.

I hate the bureaucracy of much of the trade-union movement, and see industrial unionism as superior, but we have to work with what we got.

Yourselves?

User Comments

4/15/08

Theresa111

Yeah. My husband and I make up a union.

[reply]
1. 4/15/08
  
  daniel23
  
  Touche.
2. 4/15/08
  
  Theresa111
  
  Touche`
4/15/08

mugshot

Im in the union of lives on mother earth!

[reply]
1. 4/15/08
  
  daniel23
  
  Hippy!
2. 4/15/08
  
  Theresa111
  
  MugShot:
  
  You've got a frightening avatar! I am shaking in my tennis shoes.
3. 4/15/08
  
  mugshot
  
  Hippy!!! Why I oughtta ...
  
  Theresa - and how does my bare back frighten thee my dear child?
4. 4/15/08
  
  Theresa111
  
  The writing on it reminds me of the bad guy in the Halle Berry movie, the one where she has been admitted into the luny bin for supposedly murdering her husband. Penelope Cruz was also in it. Scary ... the writing, especially. Sorry!
5. 4/15/08
  
  mugshot
  
  LOL bless you its old English lettering...I am an Anglo Saxon I do apologise for saying. I apologise further for your shaking tennis shoes
6. 4/15/08
  
  Theresa111
  
  Okay then. But apology not needed as I am judging your tattoo as being something frightening. Sorry I really pretty nice and tolerant too.
4/15/08

wehireu

Yes, I belong to a union.

[reply]
4/15/08

MadameX

I've never been a union member myself, but I did some work on a national boycott of union-busting law firms when I was in law school and spent some interesting time with union folks at the George Meany Center for Labor Studies during that time.

[reply]
1. 4/15/08
  
  daniel23
  
  Any particularly interesting experiences?
4/15/08

musampa

My Union is my country which I have

[reply]
4/15/08

daniel23

So we have a grand total of one union member, not counting myself? You lumpen/petit-bourgeois slackers you.

[reply]
1. 4/16/08
  
  timethief
  
  @daniel23
  My answer is "no". I am self-employed.
4/15/08

cayasm

Yes with a union Tgwu, have been with them about 20 years and have done me vvery proud for the last 20 years or so

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4/15/08

oxymoran

yep

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4/15/08

Anok

Do stay at home moms and unpaid political bloggers have their own union?

My husband is working on getting into a particular union that we both feel is still strong and worth being apart of right now.

[reply]
1. 4/15/08
  
  aningeniousname
  
  The Teamsters?
2. 4/16/08
  
  Anok
  
  hehehehe....no, the teamsters here, not so much in the interest of the union members anymore. But you didn't hear that from me
4/15/08

ekim941

Nope. I have always been a non-union mason.

[reply]
1. 4/15/08
  
  kevingoodman
  
  I actually have a strong appreciation for real masonry espeacially old time field stone work.
4/15/08

kevingoodman

I belong to the FreeMasons. That's kind of a union.

[reply]
1. 4/15/08
  
  ekim941
  
  Pfft. You give the "Real" masons a bad name.
2. 4/15/08
  
  kevingoodman
  
  I was just about to invite you and then realized your an irregular - I still like you.
3. 4/15/08
  
  ekim941
  
  I could invite you to be an apprentice but you might get dirty.
  "Oh the humanity"
4. 4/15/08
  
  kevingoodman
  
  Hey I fix up homes for living - I don't make money by paying others.
5. 4/15/08
  
  ekim941
  
  You don't make money at being a "Free" mason
  Sorry, little humor for us "Real" masons.
4/15/08

kevingoodman

I have a strong appreciation for masonry espeacially old school field stone work. have built a side walk, garden path, a retaining wall, and someday I'll make my version of stone henge.

[reply]
1. 4/15/08
  
  ekim941
  
  Cool. Is stone henge a clock or a calendar?
2. 4/16/08
  
  kevingoodman
  
  I don't know but it looks cool. Never seen the big stonehenge in england but I have seen some very arcane looking neolithic stone circles in Poland.
  
  I personally think it is just art - a celebration of possiblity.
4/16/08

HighlanderCMI

I'm currently a rep/member of Unite, although prior to that I was in Connect and prior to that the CWU (Communications Workers Union). Always been in a Union my whole working life and always would be.

[reply]
4/16/08

chicky401

I'm not in the union now. I was when I was a cocktail server in Atlantic City though. Did not like the union at all, you were treated much better as a Harrah's employee then by the union. Was a state law for casino cocktail servers to be in the union though.

[reply]
4/16/08

jungl

Used to be a part of an union when I had a real job.
Been thinking about joining the IWW or the syndicalist union when I start working again, but neither are strong in my country.

[reply]
1. 4/17/08
  
  daniel23
  
  The IWW used to be.
2. 4/17/08
  
  daniel23
  
  You live in Sweden, right? Join the SAC. Even if they are sell-out reformists and betrayers of anarcho-syndicalism.
4/16/08

bnsullivan

I don't belong to a union myself, but since I do research in occupational health in the aviation industry, most of my research participants are union members (pilots, cabin crew, mechanics, etc.). I'm generally pro-union.

[reply]
1. 4/17/09
  
  BradChristopher
  
  Yes, I still belong to a Union, they just voted to merge or affiliate with the National Teamsters Union. We were originally known as The Newspaper & Mail Deliverers Union (NMDU) since being formed in 1901 when corporate goons were hired to beat and in some cases kill innocent workers asking for a fair days pay and maybe some health benefits for their families. Now we are Local 1901 of the Teamsters Union and proud of it. Unions built this country and made it what it is or was, because it seems to be changing drastically for the worse. God Bless America and may God help us!!!
4/17/09

LynneaUrania

I have been in 4 unions in my lifetime, the first where my father illegally entered me when I was under age. I was impressed at how that union made every effort to block me from understanding the trade and prevent my own advancement.

I did work to vote out the last union I was in. The union was invisible and unresponsive to worker's needs.

[reply]
4/17/09

libdrone

I have been an union member since starting my current library position. Having been raised in a union family, I fully support unions and believe that our union (AFSCME) is likely the reason we have such good benefits.

[reply]
4/17/09

melindaville

I belong to the Writers Guild, the Actors Equity, and the Screen Actors Guild (although the last two I haven't been active in for some time).

[reply]
4/17/09

michaelwillow

Yes antiracist union

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