Quote:
Originally Posted by PM_Mama00
It's too bad the greedy UAW has ruined the word "union". ALL for teachers unions, police unions, fire unions. But you and I both know "union" is a bad word around here.
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Preface: This is not an attack or rant against PM_Mama00, but something that i felt I needed to share. Please read it with my voice being calm and collected.
I'm really hoping that you used "greedy UAW" in a sarcastic sense.
The UAW gets a lot of blame and a lot of misinformation directed toward them. My father worked for GM (in a parts plant) for 30 years and was a proud member of UAW for that time. UAW made sure that my father was paid a working wage (which was only $15/hour when he retired), had health benefits that didn't put us in the poor house on public welfare when I was in the hospital for a week with salmonella poisoning at age 9 (from a pet turtle - who knew?), and contributed toward a pension for his time spent working (which is only about $1200 a month).
When the auto industry was in danger of complete collapsing, the UAW granted many concessions in order to save jobs and the industry. The pensioners lost their health care from GM. UAW picked up the health care of all the retirees.
UAW saw that my father received a livable wage, health benefits, job protection (Yes, union employees can be fired from their jobs, but the unions make sure that policies are followed and not just because a boss has taken a dislike to an employee), and let him be able to put 4 kids through college- with 3 of them becoming teachers (something that my dad is extremely proud of).
Oh, and the "greedy UAW", has fought for equal positions and pay for women and minority workers, equal protection for religious and sexual orientation, and other protections.