Unions are the last line of defense in the wage and benefits war. Unions do not protect the bad workers nearly as much as they did a decade ago. Most companies would love to see us make $9 or $10 an hour for the next 10 years. and with minimal benefits. Teachers and Nurses and Police and Firefighters have unions but it seems to be the auto union that gets the label for all unions. A Lot of subcontractors are union workers. "Lucky to have a job" is a companies way of belittle the hard work, good attendance, positive attitude and an annual increase in productivity (do more with less). My employer is lucky to have me...and I just ask for what is fair and just. No greed here. Unions allow us to see how much our employer really makes and all the budget numbers...I'd rather have a union supporting me just in case my employer decided to fire me for no justifiable reason, or a trumped up reason. jmo....peace

I hate to say it,but in these times you can't always get everything your asking for. Don't get me wrong,I THINK you should get everything you ask for,but WE all know the kind of people we have to deal with,GREED! You just know they would replace every AMERICAN JOB by illegalls,if they could. Bush should go crawl under the rock he come out from,he's got this whole country screwed up for the working class,IMPEACHMENT is the least they should & should've done to this guy!! Long time ago.

momof4 - i agree with you. Most employers view their employees as expendable. But this might also give them the opportunity to weed out a few the bad workers and to hire some better ones. Also, most employers don't care if they lose everybody. Because right now there is a surplus of people out there looking for jobs. If WM is able to bust the union, they can hire new people at lower wages.

You know, I have been on both sides of the fence (grunt and management). I see both sides. Unfortunately the management side no longer remembers what it is like to do the grunt work. I will definitely admit, that employers do not appreciate their employees. They drive brand new cars, while the employees still make what they did last year and the year before.
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I worked for a company in Rockford. Worked very hard. Then when it came time for annual reviews, they said there was no money in the budget for raises. Yet the company was able to go out and buy brand Cadillacs for the owners, and their sons.
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It is as if the employers don't fully realize the company would not be where it is today without the hard working employees they employ to do the dirty work. All they care about is the profit.
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I have to say it. Unions are worthless today. Yes they were need 60-70 years ago when the working man was only paid $0.25 an hour and forced to work 80 hrs a week. But now there are some employers who do appreciate the employee and will give them a decent wage and benefits. For the most part, think about, if the automakes did not have unions, and paid the employees real wages instead of $25-30 an hour, the price of that vehicle would be a lot cheaper.

I have worked for Waste Manegement in the past. Despite what somemay think, this is not a very easy job to say the least. In addition, WM has the additude toward thier employees " there is no one who isn't replacable". It is very difficult to have a positive attitude that work enviroment. These men/women work very hard. WM is very safety conciencious which is fine, but they make the routes unreasonably long for their drivers. They actually have people follow you on your route to make sure you dont do anything wrong. These employees dont want to die in thier trucks (which are all in very poor shape) but they don't want to live them in them either. I am on the side with the workers. WM had a high enough turnover rate as it was, there is no way they can replace everyone. It will cost a fortune in training/accidents. Hang in there guys, they will have to settle!!!

Whenever a union gains something for its members, all U.S. workers benefit whether union or not.

Sorry but I agree they ought to be lucky to have a job in this day and age with the economy so wrecked by bushwacky! I'm not a union lover after having gotten a bad taste of being let down by a union some time ago.

Totally agree with you onelife2live. Companies should be giving their employees maybe not everything they want but they should at least listen to what they are saying. Your employees are the ones that make YOU money, not the other way around.

That's what all the companies say..."you should be lucky to have a job"....bull, the companies should be lucky to have so many good workers.

they should have been lucky to had been employed at all,its not easy getting a job today.