Interesting Story Out of CT where Employees at the Windsor Locks Public Library submitted a petition to the state of Connecticut earlier this year to leave their union, which they have belonged to for eight years.
Rose Horan, a circulation clerk at the library, announced this week that representatives of the state have completed verifying the signatures on the petition.
Three full-time employees and six part-time employees at the library belonged to the AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees), which is part of the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations). Horan, who was the union president for the local library employees, said the director and a library page were the only employees not required to join the union.
All the union employees were paying $300 in annual dues, she said.
“The staff of the Windsor Locks Public Library decided to decertify our union because we felt that AFSCME was no longer serving the needs of the employees,”
Great !
A fantastic decision! Unions had their place early last century to protect workers. Now they only serve to enrich their leaders and put workers and employers on an adverserial footing.
Re:Great !
You really seem to have a bug up your ass about unions.
I remember your last rant about Clearwater, FL wanting to hire “smart college graduates”, even though that line came straight out of Jacksonville, Fl.
Since you like to brag about your education and degrees, you should know that “adversarial” is misspelled in your post. Perhaps Clearwater is correct on the “smart college graduates” angle?
These library workers are correct to leave the union if it is not meeting their needs. I would not say that that means all unions have outlived their usefulness. If anything, in the current climate of working reality in libraries, unions are probably more useful than ever.
I hope these workers find a union that does meet their needs.
Re:Great !
Geez, I mistyped something I’m so ashamed I may never post again, or I’ll just post anonymously so no one can pin my typographical error on one person.
I am indeed of the opinion that unions have outlived their usefulness. The idea that people must join a union as the article noted is abhorrent. That they were forced to give $300 to an organization to which they did not wish to be affiliated seems like extortion to me. If workers wish to join a union is should be their personal choice, not one forced upon them by others. I will never join a union as it is against my principles.
As to having anything up my ass, there never has been and I am unclear why my personal beliefs upset you so.
It is easy to go along with the majority, which in this profession is not the conservative bloc, but I prefer to maintain my own beliefs. If others share my beliefs all the better, if not I stand by my convictions nonetheless. I don’t flip-flop on issues, I critically evaluate them and take the position I consider to be the moral and superior one.
Continue to make your petty comments on my typing. Continue your anonymous postings if you must, but remember that there are some of us who don’t hide behind masks like the Hezbollah terrorists shown on CNN this week. We take a stand for what we believe is right – publicly, vocally, and with determination.
N.B. The ‘smart college graduate’ comment I was posted was under a subject line I wrote about Jacksonville. I am current with what is going on in Florida libraries as I live there.
Re:Great !
If you ever work in a position that is covered by a union–you’ll still pay dues, even if you don’t sign a card.
While I belong to a union I’m not entirely enthralled by them, however they do serve the purpose of protecting the employees.
I speak from personal experience. A few years ago, due to my own, shall we say, lack of professionalism, I had some problems. I won’t go into details, beyond saying it was nothing illegal, but it did interfere with the quality of my work. Without a union, I could very well have been dismissed. But I did have a union and it gave me a second chance–a chance to correct the problem and prove that I was a good employee. I ended up with a letter of reprimand in my file for 30 months, but that is now removed.
I know our local goes to bat for its workers and they help to keep our employer following the letter of our contract. And I’ve talked to fellow members who have had management try and squeak something by–like not giving them contractually agreed to leaves. The current board level supervisor for our union, who is new to the position this year, has done this to several employees, whether intentionally, to save money, or out of ignorance is currently being debated by those of us affected.
Unions, well, ours at least, protect employees. I know that a few of the comp techs for the board (who are not unionised) were told by their boss that if there was one more complaint from a teacher about them, they’d be fired. I don’t have to worry about being summarily dismissed because a teacher doesn’t like me. (Which is what could happen to those techs–if a teacher had a hate on for one of them, they could make a complaint to try and get rid of that tech. Whether it was a legit complaint or not.) The teacher could try to get rid of me, but there are checks and balances that come with being unionised so it would be much more difficult.
I think you live in a dreamland if you feel that every workplace gives fair and equitable treatment to the employees. They don’t. Employees in this day and age _still_ need protection.
I’m glad you have such high principles–I used to say I’d never join a union either. But then, I needed to eat and have a roof over my head, jobs for LTs are scarce here, so I had to take a job that was unionised. I had very little choice if I wanted to work in my field and NOT move away from where I wanted to live…And I figured if I had to pay dues anyway–I may as well get involved. I do go to Local meetings and I know what’s in my contract and what my rights are.
s/
Well reasoned.
Your reply is well reasoned and I can’t disagree with what you said since you made a reasoned decision to join the union.
There is just one point of clarification and one observation I would like to make. Where I live, Florida, no one can be forced to join a union even if all the other employees elect to join. Florida is a ‘right to work’ state. (Which has nothing to do with not being fired as my co-workers often seem to think). It simply means you have the right to work without joining a union or paying dues to one.
Less important is that the idea that if my work degraded so much that letters about my performance had to be added to my file I would just want to be let go. If I am that bad just fire me. However since I don’t have to support anyone but myself I can afford to be a bit cavalier. I also am an RN so I have another occupation on which to fall back should the library gig not work out.
Re:Well reasoned.
“There is just one point of clarification and one observation I would like to make. Where I live, Florida, no one can be forced to join a union even if all the other employees elect to join. Florida is a ‘right to work’ state. (Which has nothing to do with not being fired as my co-workers often seem to think).”
Floridians are lucky then. I’m in Canada, and to my knowledge my province doesn’t have legislation like that. And the whole “right to work” I have co-workers who would probably think the same thing as yours!
“Less important is that the idea that if my work degraded so much that letters about my performance had to be added to my file I would just want to be let go. If I am that bad just fire me.”
That’s certainly your choice but what if the admin made the decision arbitrarily–someone in management doesn’t like you and decides to get rid of you? You might have recourse under state/federal job laws, I don’t know. But at least with my union, there is a process that management is bound to follow by contract. (I’m not saying that arbitrary dismissal couldn’t happen but it’d be harder to get away with.)
I didn’t want to be fired, and while the quality of my work was affected, it wasn’t affected THAT badly. In the few months between when that letter went into my file and my job evaluation for the year, I improved enough to get a good performance review from my then principal. He felt that I had made the needed corrections and was doing my job well. So, by having a contract, and a union that was willing to go to bat for me, I was able to get a second chance. Would I have had that second chance without a union? I honestly don’t know and I’m glad I didn’t have to find out.
s/