My Grandfather's Plumbers & Pipefitters Union Pin
I understand unions, they are also a part of this family’s history. In the above picture one will see my Grandfather’s 30 year pin that I am soon to pass on to my son. My sister holds his 40 year pin. We took great pride in his retelling of achievements during WW2 with the one way he could physically support the war effort. His local even won the Navy “E” Award. Those were the glory days of what unions were. They were united in their professions to enable continuity at home and products for the military overseas. My grandfather, grandmother, mother and uncle were always on the move to the next big project. It was a good life but one of many sacrifices as well. Oh, how unions have degraded…
Just over 20 years ago, I worked at a major furniture manufacturer as a claims analyst. My husband was in the Navy and out to sea for a 6 month cruise. I had upgraded my own work position while he was away to provide those extra expenditures that often occur while he was gone… like child care, auto repairs, pizza night etc. The position was fabulous and I excelled. However after a few months, I was exposed to the ugly underbelly that today’s modern unions exude…
The Upholsterers Union went on strike. They wanted to change their hours. They were hostile, menacing and threatened to harm the ‘office workers’ including me, and I was pregnant, at the time. I lost my respect for any union goons those months. When you want to tell a business owner what, when, how he was going to run the business he built, then you are over stepping the bounds. You are an employee only, you can be replaced and far cheaper.
Now the Unions want to tell all Americans how their states are going run their state budgets. I don’t think so. This is not the Union States of America. This is the United State of America! It’s a huge failure for unions to be seen continually whining about their overblown checks and benefits, while performance by unions is at it’s lowest level. Have you seen the low quality levels of educated graduates from high school and colleges? Have you noticed auto recall after auto recall? Look around there are so many more failures. Why do union workers in any avenue constantly receive bonuses, awards, handouts, salary increases, and more via the taxpayers for such shoddy performance?
It does not look like unions reward their members with time served achievement pins of such quality any longer. Looks like cheap and low quality begins right at union headquarters. What does headquarters really do with all that money?
Bobbi85710's Mouth in the South 