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Reasonable government set pay rates as a safety net? No way! Itâs MUCH better to make the staff argue with their boss for fair and equitable wages.
Vive le capitalism!
Vive le working poor!!
Looks like itâs One-on-One now, instead of One vs. a Committee.
Everyone sing alongâŠâ«âȘ You canât always what you want, but Iâll try sometimesâŠ
to get what I need. â«âȘ
As I recall, the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire just took place this week. It remains a symbol of why employees need a strong voice - employers are in it for their own profit (and that of their shareholders), and for the most part donât care a whit about employees.
If employee unions are so great, they should buy the company (or start a competitive one) and see if they can afford all the payroll, benefits, pensions, etc..
Oh yes, plus pay the dues to support the hierarchy of the union itself and the millions in donations to their democratic congressional co-conspiring anti-capitalists.
In 21st Century America, any time there is a dispute between management and labor, it is very safe to assume that management is lying, cheating and stealing.
Never understood collective bargaining. I get paid for what I do. Do a good job and you have nothing to worry about. All collective bargaining does is hold back the best and prop up the ones that donât deserve anything.
When I get a raise it is because of what I did not what those around me did.
First, I agree with cdward. Iâm a cashier at a supermarket and weâre not allowed to have a bottle of water to sip - even though we work at âaerobics classâ speed for 3, even 4 hours straight before, possibly, getting a break.
Second, to BloomCo - That being said, I work far harder and faster than many of my co-workers yet I get paid the same. I DONâT get merit pay. Itâs base, just-above-minimum wage. And, the hours are kept at a minimum so as to possibly argue that we didnât average 20 hours a week to âearnâ a vacation. Get it? Whoâs kidding whom?
I left a job making $15 an for sitting on my tush doing nothing for a CEO for two reasons - I was BORED to death and, I felt EXTREMELY guilty because I knew there were tellers making $8 an hour and being the most important people in the bank. THEY meet the customers and do the work to bring in the money, etc. Upper management (and how do they get there anyway) are cluelessâŠ
Democracy! Union! Everybody gets a vote! Oh, the bossâs vote is bigger than all yours. Why? He hires you, he can fire you. Is there a law that he canât move out of state? Country? Business? Look up âBossâ in your Funk & Wagnalls. Any other questions? You have the right to quit.
Granting that this is an unrealistic situation exploited for humor â like one of Wileyâs earlier classics, a slave galley with only one man left on the oars â everyone is still seeing this the wrong way around.
So thereâs only one worker left, and heâs doing all the work? That puts him in a position of uniquely strong bargaining power. Without him, thereâs no work accomplished at all, no executive mega-bonusesâŠeventually, no company.
Unions exist to allow workers to bargain with management collectively, as if they were one person dealing directly with management. So if there really is only one worker left, he is the union, with the absolute backing of the entire âworkforceâ. Talk about solidarityâŠ. He could still be threatened with termination, but then, again, there goes the company down the pipeâŠso whoâs really in charge here?
The greatest weakness of a system dependent on slave labor is that itâs utterly, helplessly dependent on its slaves for its very existence. Once both sides realize that, the fun begins.
I am all for unions. The ONLY fly I see in that ointment, SCAATY_423 is that most people need an income, pittance though it may be. There are reasons to be employed. Lewreader, would I quit this job if I could? In a minute! Do I want to adjust my meager âlifestyleâ (compared to other unfortunates) to accommodate that? Not now at this stage of my life: nearing retirement with no pension except my husbandâs (if it still exists by that time) and whatever small contributions I have made to Social Security in 43 years when none of my jobs have ever exceeded about $12,000 a year. âBrother, can you spare a dime?â
There are companies owned by the workers. ESOP is not a misspelling of the name of the guy who wrote fables.
And if the one worker quit âthe suitâ will be screaming about HIS need for a bailout.
I think that all the union haters really want to repeal the Thirteenth Amendment and reinstitute slavery where workers, regardless of race, color, creed or place of origin, are owned by managers with no more rights than the chains that bind them.
Iâm trying to swear off blasting the right-wing nutters with rational refutations. WTF seems the best way to do this in a simple abbreviated way. Itâs really hard though.
âHow do you deal with mice in the Kremlin? Put up a sign saying âcollective farm.â Then half the mice will starve, and the other half will run away.â
-Soviet-Era Joke, From Ben Lewis, Hammer and Tickle
@junco49: Iâve also long ago given up trying to be rational with right-wingers in 21st century America. You get a more rational discussion from a bag of hammers.
@Junco My sympathies Junco. I commented once before that I thought you had been initially extremely polite & respectful to Fishstix, but he seemed to revel in provoking you.
He is provoking you & being a troll because he knows his self-righteous stance infuriates you. I suspect his trolling & belligerence stems from poor education & from sniffing too many lawn-mower fumes for the last 20 years. And probably his poor employees felt too browbeaten to talk back to him which just encouraged him. Also he is retired now so he can be as bloody-minded as he likes.
Fishstix delights in provoking you, & with so many lame low brow ranters like this around, encouraged by Tea Party rhetoric, etc, it seems you are facing an anti-intellectual onslaught in your country.
We very much admire America & its people, but I am deeply saddened by the divisions in your country, whipped up by political opportunism & the likes of morons like Beck, aided & abetted by Fox News (which Iâm sure Fishie would be delighted by).
Despite our bonds with the US, one our favourite tv entertainments here (OZ) is showing film clips of US citizens in street polls who are so befuddled they cannot tell the difference between France & Iran on a map, & similar idiocies. We know that these are fringe elements because most US people we meet are well educated & usually very coherent. However your media-driven politics seem on a par with the Witch-hunts of 17th century New England. Itâs a dispiriting sight, watching a once powerful, intelligent wonderful friend deteriorating, becoming an embittered, vacuous shadow of their former self.
Fishstix WTF?
The only place I was required to work under union was one of my first drafting jobs. I resented that I had to stop work in the middle of whatever I was doing when the whistle sounded, because I would rather finish. I was told that others would resent it. In my many years of (nonunion) work, I have seen many lazy coworkers and many managers who were only trying to build a dynasty, but for some crazy reason, as soon as I started to get SSA, employers have decided that Iâm ânon-grataâ, so I can only free-lance and since my field is construction design, it has dried up. Thank heavens that I have sufficient earnings in my SSA! (and generous kids)
Didnât United Airlines become a âworker-ownedâ company (United Technologies)?
Howâd that work out, anyway?
If you work only forty hours a week, thank a union organizer.
If you get overtime, ditto.
If you get paid vacation, again.
If you get sick time, some more.
All that said, the power balance has to be somewhat balanced for all that to work. And itâs unstable.
Sorta like âToo Big To Failâ banks, which have now merged into even âToo Bigger To Failâ, so when they do (and they will), theyâll bring down the scenery with them. At that point, I hope your Victory Garden is doing fine!
[Edit]; ^vldazzle, my SSA pittance (and a little retirement annuity) gives me the freedom to refuse work from empire-builders, and pick my projects on my own terms. They hate that.
@ FishStix Well, I must be the only âquintessential leftyâ working in stock market investments these days.
Something of a rarity .. but if the fantasy of âleftyâ makes you happy, so be it.
Iâve seen your types of comments before & Iâve seen your personal attacks on others in these columns before, probably due to your reluctance or inability to discuss in a civil fashion anything that differs from your preconceived notions.
Which, amusingly, is why you look here for validation of your âideasâ from online strangers who, ironically, enjoy reading a âleftyâ cartoonist/satirist.
Ranting that youâre âRightâ is not an debate topic, it is a plea for help.
By the way, yes, your Govt has a $14 trillion federal debt .. & it was nearly $11 trillion at the end of President Bushâs administration. I guess that first $11 trillion was just a lefty, commie conspiracy.
Loved this comic! The is whatâs happening in Wisconsin right now. A governor and GOP legislators have illegally taken long-standing collective bargaining rights away from ALL public employees. These folks wonât obey a judgeâs order to stop the illegally passed lawâs implementation. Without question, state workers and others sickened by the behavior of Gov. Scott Walker enjoyed the humor of this strip and appreciated it being published. Keep up the good work!
@jasx: 1) I wouldnât call this comic leftist. Iâve been a long time reader and from what Iâve seen, Iâd say that W. Miller is neither left nor right, but tries to get the viewer to step back from their preconceived notions and look at the issue in a rational way.
2) Clinton set up the events that lead to that high debt. Our country has a nasty habbit of crediting the previous presidentâs work to the guy thatâs in office when the results happen. Hoover was blamed for the Great Depression. Bush Sr. got bleeep for Reaganomics, Clinton got credit for Bush Sr.âs economic boost. Bush was blamed for 9/11 (even though they caught one of Clintonâs cabinet members w/ the intel documents that could have prevented it, in his home having torched 1/2 of them). Bush also got blamed for Clintonâs forced digital conversion, Obama got credit for the few good thing W. Bush was able to set up before the end of his 2nd term, etc.
comicgos almost 14 years ago
With whatâs leftâŠ.
reynard61 almost 14 years ago
Easy enough once youâve gotten rid of the âCollectiveââŠ
pouncingtiger almost 14 years ago
The ideal comic strip for the Republican Governors in the midwestern states and New Jersey.
EarlWash almost 14 years ago
Ahh, progress at last!
mirthiful almost 14 years ago
Very timely! I love how chipper he looks.
GROG Premium Member almost 14 years ago
In view of the suit against Walmart, very timely.
weasel_monkey almost 14 years ago
Reasonable government set pay rates as a safety net? No way! Itâs MUCH better to make the staff argue with their boss for fair and equitable wages. Vive le capitalism! Vive le working poor!!
thirdguy almost 14 years ago
âŠ.turn out the lights, the partyâs overâŠ
x_Tech almost 14 years ago
Looks like itâs One-on-One now, instead of One vs. a Committee. Everyone sing alongâŠâ«âȘ You canât always what you want, but Iâll try sometimes⊠to get what I need. â«âȘ
Colt9033 almost 14 years ago
A Union of One.
wmbrainiac almost 14 years ago
Yes, American principles, like collective bargaining to stand up against the tyranny of the Corporate Collective.
I re-post because it was said so well.
Brockie almost 14 years ago
Yes you didâŠ.corporations always know what is be$t for us.
Yukoneric almost 14 years ago
Kill the boss and take overâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠ..
Potrzebie almost 14 years ago
So if he calls in sick , is it considered a strike?
cdward almost 14 years ago
As I recall, the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire just took place this week. It remains a symbol of why employees need a strong voice - employers are in it for their own profit (and that of their shareholders), and for the most part donât care a whit about employees.
Manhunter808 almost 14 years ago
If employee unions are so great, they should buy the company (or start a competitive one) and see if they can afford all the payroll, benefits, pensions, etc..
Oh yes, plus pay the dues to support the hierarchy of the union itself and the millions in donations to their democratic congressional co-conspiring anti-capitalists.
:)
WaitingMan almost 14 years ago
In 21st Century America, any time there is a dispute between management and labor, it is very safe to assume that management is lying, cheating and stealing.
Sandfan almost 14 years ago
^ It is also very safe to assume that unions are doing the exact same things.
BloomCo almost 14 years ago
Never understood collective bargaining. I get paid for what I do. Do a good job and you have nothing to worry about. All collective bargaining does is hold back the best and prop up the ones that donât deserve anything. When I get a raise it is because of what I did not what those around me did.
Barbaratoo almost 14 years ago
First, I agree with cdward. Iâm a cashier at a supermarket and weâre not allowed to have a bottle of water to sip - even though we work at âaerobics classâ speed for 3, even 4 hours straight before, possibly, getting a break.
Second, to BloomCo - That being said, I work far harder and faster than many of my co-workers yet I get paid the same. I DONâT get merit pay. Itâs base, just-above-minimum wage. And, the hours are kept at a minimum so as to possibly argue that we didnât average 20 hours a week to âearnâ a vacation. Get it? Whoâs kidding whom?
I left a job making $15 an for sitting on my tush doing nothing for a CEO for two reasons - I was BORED to death and, I felt EXTREMELY guilty because I knew there were tellers making $8 an hour and being the most important people in the bank. THEY meet the customers and do the work to bring in the money, etc. Upper management (and how do they get there anyway) are cluelessâŠ
TheDOCTOR almost 14 years ago
Can't Sleep almost 14 years ago
âŠAnd the boss expects that one employee to do the work of all his laid-off (former) co-workers.
Of course, the boss HAD to cut all those others, so heâd be sure to get his mega-bonus.
lewisbower almost 14 years ago
Democracy! Union! Everybody gets a vote! Oh, the bossâs vote is bigger than all yours. Why? He hires you, he can fire you. Is there a law that he canât move out of state? Country? Business? Look up âBossâ in your Funk & Wagnalls. Any other questions? You have the right to quit.
peter0423 almost 14 years ago
Granting that this is an unrealistic situation exploited for humor â like one of Wileyâs earlier classics, a slave galley with only one man left on the oars â everyone is still seeing this the wrong way around.
So thereâs only one worker left, and heâs doing all the work? That puts him in a position of uniquely strong bargaining power. Without him, thereâs no work accomplished at all, no executive mega-bonusesâŠeventually, no company.
Unions exist to allow workers to bargain with management collectively, as if they were one person dealing directly with management. So if there really is only one worker left, he is the union, with the absolute backing of the entire âworkforceâ. Talk about solidarityâŠ. He could still be threatened with termination, but then, again, there goes the company down the pipeâŠso whoâs really in charge here?
The greatest weakness of a system dependent on slave labor is that itâs utterly, helplessly dependent on its slaves for its very existence. Once both sides realize that, the fun begins.
Barbaratoo almost 14 years ago
I am all for unions. The ONLY fly I see in that ointment, SCAATY_423 is that most people need an income, pittance though it may be. There are reasons to be employed. Lewreader, would I quit this job if I could? In a minute! Do I want to adjust my meager âlifestyleâ (compared to other unfortunates) to accommodate that? Not now at this stage of my life: nearing retirement with no pension except my husbandâs (if it still exists by that time) and whatever small contributions I have made to Social Security in 43 years when none of my jobs have ever exceeded about $12,000 a year. âBrother, can you spare a dime?â
roctor almost 14 years ago
Congradulations BloomCo. on your upward mobility! Advancing from greeter to cart buster. You go girl!
KEA almost 14 years ago
We wouldnât need unions if employers played fair. But they almost never have. Too much pressure to maximize profit.
treered almost 14 years ago
if it all works with one guy, who needs the guy in the suit?
galanti almost 14 years ago
There are companies owned by the workers. ESOP is not a misspelling of the name of the guy who wrote fables.
And if the one worker quit âthe suitâ will be screaming about HIS need for a bailout.
I think that all the union haters really want to repeal the Thirteenth Amendment and reinstitute slavery where workers, regardless of race, color, creed or place of origin, are owned by managers with no more rights than the chains that bind them.
junco49 almost 14 years ago
FishStix and others of your ilk, but especially FishStix
WTF
WTF WTF WTF WTFjunco49 almost 14 years ago
Night-Gaunt49:
Iâm trying to swear off blasting the right-wing nutters with rational refutations. WTF seems the best way to do this in a simple abbreviated way. Itâs really hard though.
hereforthehumor115 almost 14 years ago
âHow do you deal with mice in the Kremlin? Put up a sign saying âcollective farm.â Then half the mice will starve, and the other half will run away.â
-Soviet-Era Joke, From Ben Lewis, Hammer and TickleWaitingMan almost 14 years ago
@junco49: Iâve also long ago given up trying to be rational with right-wingers in 21st century America. You get a more rational discussion from a bag of hammers.
Varnes almost 14 years ago
Looks to me like someone looted the place, took a couple of desks and at least one computer towerâŠ
junco49 almost 14 years ago
WTF
jasx almost 14 years ago
@Junco My sympathies Junco. I commented once before that I thought you had been initially extremely polite & respectful to Fishstix, but he seemed to revel in provoking you. He is provoking you & being a troll because he knows his self-righteous stance infuriates you. I suspect his trolling & belligerence stems from poor education & from sniffing too many lawn-mower fumes for the last 20 years. And probably his poor employees felt too browbeaten to talk back to him which just encouraged him. Also he is retired now so he can be as bloody-minded as he likes. Fishstix delights in provoking you, & with so many lame low brow ranters like this around, encouraged by Tea Party rhetoric, etc, it seems you are facing an anti-intellectual onslaught in your country. We very much admire America & its people, but I am deeply saddened by the divisions in your country, whipped up by political opportunism & the likes of morons like Beck, aided & abetted by Fox News (which Iâm sure Fishie would be delighted by). Despite our bonds with the US, one our favourite tv entertainments here (OZ) is showing film clips of US citizens in street polls who are so befuddled they cannot tell the difference between France & Iran on a map, & similar idiocies. We know that these are fringe elements because most US people we meet are well educated & usually very coherent. However your media-driven politics seem on a par with the Witch-hunts of 17th century New England. Itâs a dispiriting sight, watching a once powerful, intelligent wonderful friend deteriorating, becoming an embittered, vacuous shadow of their former self. Fishstix WTF?
dfowensby almost 14 years ago
member of local 11 77. not gonna happen. collapse before performance.
Blueeyes1952 almost 14 years ago
This is what happens when human intermarry with Borg.
vldazzle almost 14 years ago
The only place I was required to work under union was one of my first drafting jobs. I resented that I had to stop work in the middle of whatever I was doing when the whistle sounded, because I would rather finish. I was told that others would resent it. In my many years of (nonunion) work, I have seen many lazy coworkers and many managers who were only trying to build a dynasty, but for some crazy reason, as soon as I started to get SSA, employers have decided that Iâm ânon-grataâ, so I can only free-lance and since my field is construction design, it has dried up. Thank heavens that I have sufficient earnings in my SSA! (and generous kids)
artybee almost 14 years ago
There he is⊠the last employed American.
pbarnrob almost 14 years ago
Didnât United Airlines become a âworker-ownedâ company (United Technologies)?
Howâd that work out, anyway?
If you work only forty hours a week, thank a union organizer.
If you get overtime, ditto.
If you get paid vacation, again.
If you get sick time, some more.
All that said, the power balance has to be somewhat balanced for all that to work. And itâs unstable.
Sorta like âToo Big To Failâ banks, which have now merged into even âToo Bigger To Failâ, so when they do (and they will), theyâll bring down the scenery with them. At that point, I hope your Victory Garden is doing fine!
[Edit]; ^vldazzle, my SSA pittance (and a little retirement annuity) gives me the freedom to refuse work from empire-builders, and pick my projects on my own terms. They hate that.
jasx almost 14 years ago
@ FishStix Well, I must be the only âquintessential leftyâ working in stock market investments these days. Something of a rarity .. but if the fantasy of âleftyâ makes you happy, so be it. Iâve seen your types of comments before & Iâve seen your personal attacks on others in these columns before, probably due to your reluctance or inability to discuss in a civil fashion anything that differs from your preconceived notions.
Which, amusingly, is why you look here for validation of your âideasâ from online strangers who, ironically, enjoy reading a âleftyâ cartoonist/satirist.
Ranting that youâre âRightâ is not an debate topic, it is a plea for help.
By the way, yes, your Govt has a $14 trillion federal debt .. & it was nearly $11 trillion at the end of President Bushâs administration. I guess that first $11 trillion was just a lefty, commie conspiracy.
BadgerBabe almost 14 years ago
Loved this comic! The is whatâs happening in Wisconsin right now. A governor and GOP legislators have illegally taken long-standing collective bargaining rights away from ALL public employees. These folks wonât obey a judgeâs order to stop the illegally passed lawâs implementation. Without question, state workers and others sickened by the behavior of Gov. Scott Walker enjoyed the humor of this strip and appreciated it being published. Keep up the good work!
Gyrrakavian almost 14 years ago
@jasx: 1) I wouldnât call this comic leftist. Iâve been a long time reader and from what Iâve seen, Iâd say that W. Miller is neither left nor right, but tries to get the viewer to step back from their preconceived notions and look at the issue in a rational way. 2) Clinton set up the events that lead to that high debt. Our country has a nasty habbit of crediting the previous presidentâs work to the guy thatâs in office when the results happen. Hoover was blamed for the Great Depression. Bush Sr. got bleeep for Reaganomics, Clinton got credit for Bush Sr.âs economic boost. Bush was blamed for 9/11 (even though they caught one of Clintonâs cabinet members w/ the intel documents that could have prevented it, in his home having torched 1/2 of them). Bush also got blamed for Clintonâs forced digital conversion, Obama got credit for the few good thing W. Bush was able to set up before the end of his 2nd term, etc.
bcamaiani over 3 years ago
Another right wing fantasy