SEIU membership in Michigan drops 80%

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• LMAO!!
  I just saw this in my gmail:

  Recycling Tip
  You can make a lovely hat out of previously-used aluminum foil.

  • It will go well with the duct tape dress your working on....:)

    • I was thinking more along the lines of the tin foil hat crowd.

      • I thought you were just trying to update your wardrobe when you go head to head with the troll....dress the same as it and confuse it all to hell...:)

        • I don't even address the troll any more. I just TD and MO.
          It's tough to ignore industrial strength stupid, but I have to or I'll lose my temper.

• Given a choice, those forced to join SEIU now can tell them to go to hell and they did. There goes all that money funneled into the MI dim wits then to the national dim wits from the forced members.

  • The DNC is reportedly the hardest hit..Nancy pelosi will have to give up booze and Botox, Harry Reid may have to give up his meds and Debbie Waqsherhands Much may now have to live with kinkless hair.....

• Looks like the union bosses in Michigan won't be getting their usual bonuses this year. Next up we will be reading about how the Union Pension fund just collapsed, and needs a bailout from the feds, you know, just like Detroit.

• I worked (briefly) for a union shop in PTLD, OR. After my probationary period, they told me I had to join the union.
  I asked:
  Q
  Am I going to get a raise for joining the union?
  A
  No
  Q
  am I going to get a bonus for joining the union?
  A
  No
  Q
  Am I going to pay dues to the union?
  A
  Yes
  Q
  so, you're telling me I am going to have to pay money to work, for no benefit to me, and if union in New Jersey goes on strike, and we strike with them,and I am NOT getting paid for it?
  A
  Your fired.

  Only union job I ever worked, or will.

  • Thankfully, not all union jobs are like that. I joined the Apprentice Program for the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 12, in late 1978. I knew NOTHING about operating heavy equipment, but had passed a test that showed I was highly trainable.

    The taught me the basics, and put me out on a job at half the pay of a journeyman, but full benefits. That's where the REAL learning begins. Of course, I still had to complete six semesters of training, on my own time, and was expected to spend some of my free time between projects at the training site, learning new skills.

    32 years later, after having worked my way up to be a grading foreman for the third largest construction company in the world, I took an early retirement, so that now, I have fun for a living, as a photographer, and with my giant rocking horses.

    Not once in those 32 years was any company forced to hire me, or even to not fire me once hired. I only got paid for hours that I worked, and even though my pay package was considerably more than a non union operator, union contractors could still bid competitively on jobs because they knew the job would get done efficiently, due to our training.

    I retired proud of the work that I did over the years. And the fact that the companies I worked for profited from my work.

    That said, of all the unions in heavy construction, IUOE is probably the only one I would have wanted to be a member of.

    • I completely understand. I used to be IBEW, and I will admit that the majority of the construction unions are good for one particular thing, they make sure they have the best trained, most knowledgeable people in the field, and they spend lots of time making sure they are properly trained. The reason for this is, they cannot afford to have incompetents working on jobs where people's lives are at risk. It wouldn't look good for them if people were getting injured because of sloppy work by the journeymen. However, the public employee unions are nothing more than a breeding ground for laziness, incompetence, and stupidity.

      • Heavy construction has it's share of fatalities, even with the training that union members go through. I've seen two people killed on the job while I was there, and got killed myself once. I can just imagine what it's like on jobs without training programs.

        • I was thinking about the end users, but I do know of one IBEW guy that was working at the local horse track, and he got a complaint about dimming lights during night racing. He went to the control room and the panel exploded in his face, burning him over 60% of his body. He was out on comp for a long time.

        • My dad worked for a bank in a skyscraper and one day the electrician reached into a box and brushed his wedding ring up against a high power line. Electricity does some weird things - or at least they seem weird to lay people like me. The current did little harm to his body... except for third degree burns around his finger where his ring used to be. That's right, the gold wedding ring simply melted. I kept saying, "Dad, there's gold in that box if you have the courage to go after it!" but he wasn't interested.

        • That's why the first rule of working on electricity and electronics is REMOVE ALL JEWELERY!!!
          That even includes necklaces, earrings, and any other piercings. Electric can easily "jump" across air and nail you if you have anything metallic on you. It's also why the military only issues horn rim glasses, like Drew Carey wears, to enlisted personnel.

        • I wasn't wearing any jewelry when I got electrocuted. I've never worn jewelry of any kind. I guess standing in that knee deep water helped make me a good ground for that 12,000 volts that was looking for a way out.

        • Ya think?

        • I stopped wearing any jewelery years ago, squeezing into tight places is bad enough without getting hung up on jagged metal, nails, and assorted whatnots.

          Crawling through an attic in a house in S. FL, in the summer, with 18 or 20 inches MAX, with roofing nails sticking through the decking, I want to be as unencumbered as possible. A tool belt with a tape measure, duct knife, drill, snips....normal tools of the trade was bad enough. I must have lost $500 or $600 worth of tools in attics over the years, after 10/12 hours.....its worth it to stop at home depot and replace the tool rather than to crawl back through the attic to look for it.

          I also wanted to gain about 40 pounds, so when they said "get the skinny guy" it was someone else.
          Unfortunately, I seemed to be unable to gain weight for some reason.....

        • I'm 6'2" 230lb, I don't do most attics, but there are some of the newer homes that have tall attics, but the heat is horrible!
          Do you smoke?
          How tall are you?
          What do you weigh?
          I bet I can fatten you up.
          What part of Florida are you in?

        • I was going to tell you to quit smoking, works every time.

        • TMI. We don't need to know where you're pushing your six inches.

        • I'm pushing 6", and at the time weighed about 160.
          Yes, I smoke, and was living in Boca at the time.
          But since I moved to Germany, am no longer crawling in attics have been partaking liberally (in this case that is NOT a bad word) in the German beers, I have put on about 40 lbs.

          All the brand new shorts, most of the pants, and some of the shirts I brought with me no longer fit.

          Until my mid 30's I could buy my jeans in the kids dept. Saving about 10 or 15 $ a pair.

          Now my lady says I look " like an adult man" and not "like a kid". I think I just look fat, but that's just MY opinion.

        • spiders

        • Ghost's favorite bugs?

        • Crawl spaces are horrible, there is little to no clearance, you never know what is living in that damp, dark, hole, and if you come p against a poisonous snake, you can't get out fast enough to save yourself. And then, there are Ghost's favorite bugs.

        • Attics are better than crawl spaces in my opinion. In Atlanta, my rental home had a crawl space filled with black widow spiders. FILLED. Shine a flashlight beam in there and all you saw was hourglasses. The landlord said, "It's no problem. They're basically shy. As long as don't place your hand where you can't see, you're fine." Whatever. I thought about crawling in there once and then shuddered, changed my mind, and called the landlord.

• The remaining 20% are brainwashed like you know who.

  • No, they're actually caregivers in institutional settings, like nursing homes, who voted to unionize. The people who quit were home caregivers taking care of elderly or sick relatives who former Governor Granholm's legislation forced into the SEIU even though there is absolutely nothing the SEIU can do for them. All it was was a giant grab for union dues by the SEIU and, of course, the Democrats who controlled the state government at the time went along with it. That's one of the reasons we now have a Republican state government.

    • JP, I think you missed my point. The 20% I referred to are the ones who decided to remain in the Union, therefore "brainwashed like you know who".

    • Connecticut's governor did the same thing... issued two executive orders "allowing" PCAs and home day care providers to unionize... they were repeatedly harassed by union thugs ahead of the "vote"- via mailed ballot which most threw out (supposedly looked like junk mail) and of the few ballots that were returned, most voted for the union. Dues are being deducted from state medicaid reimbursements. More money laundering for the mafia- I mean Democratic party.

• Now someone should give the SEIU the coup de gras and file a class action lawsuit to get all the money they stole back.