What do I do now............

[chrisdesoup]

[Fate]

Palin is VERY pro union. Unlike Obama, her spouse IS a union member

[bulgron]

Alright guys, I have a problem! I’m a republican and have voted as such since I was able to do so (don’t ask why). I started working at a union shop 3 years ago and never want to leave. Benefits, pay, hours, pension, protection from supervisors that abuse power…..the list goes on. McCain has demonized labor unions while obama sings their praises….. Do I vote McCain and against the union or obama and hope DCvHeller is not overturned.

I mean lets face it, California has the harshest gun control in the nation! What could obama possibly do to make the situation in CA any worse?

On the other hand,

What can McCain possibly do to stop the AFL-CIO.

The union and its collective bargaining will help put my kids through college, competitive pay will keep my mortgage and keep my insurance premiums low. Would I be selling my soul (and my 2nd) to vote obama or would I be doing the right thing?

Lets try not to be too harsh on me and my question!

Gotta love wedge politics.

I can guarantee you that the Dems will have control of both the House and the Senate after this next election. I just don't see anyway that the Republicans will gain control of either chamber.

Do you really want gun grabbers in control of both congress and the presidency?

Put another way, McCain may not like labor unions, but there isn't much he can do about it when the opposition party has control of the legislative branch.

But if the Democrats have control of both the legislative and the executive branches, then they can do a lot of bad things about guns, starting with placing judges on the bench that are hostile to yours and my gun rights.

To my mind, a vote for McCain is the only reasonable thing for anyone to do if only because nothing good ever happens when one party has control of the legislative and executive branches.

Your mileage may vary....

[jason925]

I am union also. I am not going to vote to give up my rights (obama) and dont kid yourself the democratic party is not as labor friendly as they would like you to think.

[bwiese]

Good luck, if your industry is unionized it'll disappear from US in fairly short time due to too-high cost structure (unless you're a gov't employee).

Look how UAW helped kill car companies.

Do also remember that Democrats are far more the friends of the very-low-skilled SEIU type union jobs (because of their sheer numbers and ability to be led like sheep) than they are of the old-line skilled guys (jet mechanics, electricians, etc) with brains and who are fundamentally fairly conservative in their lifestyle/outlook.

You can always get a new job, but you can't get your gunrights back.

[chrisdesoup]

IBEW

Im not concerned about job security (company is not going under), more so with lower company contributions to healthcare, annual cost of living raises, general protection from penny pinchers in Corp. who want to see better stock performance at any cost.

[Santa Cruz Armory]

IBEW

Me to! I'm voting McCain.

[Japedo]

Here is something to think about. I heard it on a radio show, can't remember which one it was last week when we took a road trip, I can't give a source. Obama didn't select Hillary as a running mate, and as part of a cabinet negotiation, he can appoint her as a supreme court justice, should a position become available.

[Riodog]

I ask, "what the hell does your work have to do with your political belief? I've belonged to unions on and off for the past 40 years but that doesn't make them right. It just makes belonging to them mandatory in order to do the jobs that I had at the time.(see note below). Most hard-core union members and union officials are so far out in space that you can't even hold an intelligent conversation with them. I've never voted dumbocrat in my life.

Unions only encompass about 12% of the working (open to debate) population.

I've always found that as a rule of thumb, vote for the exact opposite of what the union recommends and you can't go wrong......Unless you want some one else making all of your decisions for you until you have nothing to say about anything...sorta like the union itself.

Note: any union member may "opt-out" of the union and still retain their job. They'll still retain the pay and benefits but the union will not represent them and they won't be able to vote in union elections.

Just vote what you know is right and don't even worry about the union.
Rio

[chrisdesoup]

You can always get a new job, but you can't get your gunrights back.

Guess thats the bottom line........

[hawk1]

When it counts the dems are not going to help you or your union. Case in point, I went through a strike back when Clinton was Prez, the dems owned house and senate and my union kept telling us while we were on strike that we'll win out in the end as the dems have it locked up with "their" NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) guys. Guess what, we got it stuck right in our collective asses by "their" NLRB boys...I lost close to $30,000 back pay on that one strike. I've always voted republican even before this strike knowing the union reps wanted us to vote dem. Screw that, my guns and RKBA is more important than the unions wants or needs...

[Equalizer2]

I belong to two unions, IATSE & SAG, I have always voted Republican !

[tyrist]

The president is not going to beable to do anything to undermine the contract your union has with the company. The company may offshore inorder to avoid hiring union workers but that is about it. Legally you are allowed to form a union and that union is allowed to negotiate collective bargaining agreements. What exactly do you think the President will do to undermine that process?

Unions work very well with high skilled workers like electricians and mechanics because they are difficult to train (how software engineers were not able to form a union I will never figure out). The work very poorly with low skilled jobs such as united food workers; which is why every contract they end up losing more and more. In a grocery store pretty much only a handful of professions (such as butchers) should be unionized.

[chrisdesoup]

Me to! I'm voting McCain.

Don't tell me you work on 7th in santa cruz......

[bwiese]

Unions work very well with high skilled workers like electricians and mechanics because they are difficult to train (how software engineers were not able to form a union I will never figure out).

Because SOFTWARE ENGINEERS (and hardware engineers) DON'T WANT A UNION!

There's a big libertarian streak in SW guys -they don't wanna be told how/when to work etc. We prefer to be valued for our *individual* skills.

The moment a union work ethic hits Silicon Valley (or the biotech segment) it's dead. Union workflow = lack of innovation.

There are a few unionized software guys, they seem to be associated with Boeing/Northrop/etc. aerospace companies. They'd do far better in another channel of the industry but many of their skills are not portable and they rely on the union for protection, and I'm not sure how well their timecard mindset would do in smaller firms. (I once interviewed a Lockheed guy and wasn't impressed, and other folks report similar situations.)