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RossMc
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03 Mar 2010, 12:38 pm

I work long hours at a union job. I have to work every weekend, so I can't have a life. My boss is a 45 year old lesbian who lives with her parents. She is determined to keep me from transferring. I can't get another job, since I make $22.13 an hour at my full-time job and $22.65 an hour at my part-time job, but would have trouble earning even $12 an hour anywhere else. The same job I do pays $11 an hour to start if you are non-union, and those jobs have 50 to 100 people applying for each opening.
The few people who have weekends off are not retiring. Everything is done by seniority. I have been working in this job for 16 years, but I am still at the bottom when it comes to seniority.
I



RightGalaxy
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03 Mar 2010, 1:53 pm

You don't need a weekend to have a life BUT if you can't stand it anymore and you honestly think your boss is holding you back, go to the union and complain about her. Just curious,
is the union Communication Workers of America? I found CWA to be far better than IBEW, but that was years ago. Good luck with whatever you decide.



RossMc
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03 Mar 2010, 2:14 pm

I have complained to the union, and they said I can't do anything about it. In fact they don't understand why I'm complaining, since they are firm believers in seniority above all. The union is AFSCME (American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Workers). It only does one thing well, which is to keep the members from getting fired for cause when they screw up. It does not really address pay, benefits, layoffs, or working conditions. It is doing exactly what the members want it to do. It has an aging, poorly educated workforce who, though they are poorly paid, are still making much more than they could ever hope to make on the outside., so hanging on to their job is what they want above all.
In recent years, the newer members have been heavily recent immigrants from Haiti, Africa, and the Dominican Republic. The middle-level union officials- the gray-haired fat ladies with heavy Boston accents, and the Vietnam vets with their white-haired ponytails are freaked out by this, so you can't get a straight answer out of them, because they are so suspicious and confused by this.



Maranatha
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03 Mar 2010, 4:43 pm