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IMO
Dec 8, 2018 10:39:13 GMT -5
Post by Tru (NAPA CA) on Dec 8, 2018 10:39:13 GMT -5
How fortunate you are. I know it is hard to walk in another persons shoes,but those of us who do not have those opportunities do need to band together to not be taken advantage of. Sorry about leaving a preposition at the end of my sentence, but l never had a great education, just passed along with others.
I was getting into a Nurses program but my blood pressure kicked me off of it. I did go back to college for a business course and got a good job with the county and later with the state briefly. I raised my son alone and he didn't get many opportunities either so he is one of the masses. But somehow he seems to get jobs. He is smart and a quick learner. Got promotions up to office manager (but small office) then his company was bought out and he was a duplicate and they kept their own manager when consolidating, so here he is at 52 and looking again. Got a job but it may not be what he expected. Less in office and more in warehouse. He does realize he made mistakes in some decisions he has made however when young with out much guidance it happens.
I have personally experienced the start or trying to start 2 unions in 2 separate companies. Logging and gas production. I was a child but l remember the shot guns on the running boards of the car while being escorted out of town by thugs the owner hired. I also remember later the men ensconced in the gas production company who needed food brought to them. Now those industries both have fair wages and benefits, and would not have had without the men standing up to abuse of owners. People need to be treated as humans with living salaries and some decent working conditions.
Since there are government agencies now and general working conditions are watched and checked on and minimum wages etc. People don't think of what the working conditions were like before. I am not unaware and know first hand how unions helped people and how they even helped me personally when a job l was working at slowed down and my boss asked me if l would be willing to share hours with another worker so they wouldn't have to let her go. I said yes, then when it came to my vacation time the manager cut my time on that as well tho l had worked many months at full time to pay into vacation. So my union stepped in and told him no, you are in violation of the rules. He would have done it had he been able to get away with taking away my hard earned benefit. Owners are looking to bottom line and most do not consider the employees unless forced to do so. IMO
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IMO
Dec 8, 2018 12:29:04 GMT -5
Post by markjames on Dec 8, 2018 12:29:04 GMT -5
How fortunate you are. I know it is hard to walk in another persons shoes,but those of us who do not have those opportunities do need to band together to not be taken advantage of. Sorry about leaving a preposition at the end of my sentence, but l never had a great education, just passed along with others.
I was getting into a Nurses program but my blood pressure kicked me off of it.
We both received nursing degrees.
Three of my daughters age 20, 22 and 24 are all registered nurses.
All took advantage of the early college admissions program during high school
as well.
All have more well paying State and Private Duty work than they can handle.
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IMO
Dec 8, 2018 21:47:42 GMT -5
Post by gth (Columbus OH) on Dec 8, 2018 21:47:42 GMT -5
markjames , I counted a total of 17 specialized skills you stated you picked up in your teens. How were you able to do that? Was that in addition to high school?
Tru (NAPA CA), I have no doubt unions have helped many to be treated decently in their jobs. I also know that sometimes thugs are hired, not by employers, but by unions seeking agressively to unionize workplaces simply to expand their power and get more dues. LIke anyting else, unions can be useful or they cn be abused.
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IMO
Dec 9, 2018 11:18:48 GMT -5
Post by Tru (NAPA CA) on Dec 9, 2018 11:18:48 GMT -5
gth so true unions like everything else can be a help or become overbearing to members such as the one where the leader disappeared. I belonged to the warehousemen section of the teamsters. In the 1950;s .. Before Hoffa's time. Our local was a fairly decent one. I was proud to belong. Membership was maybe $5 a month if that, l don't remember. No one had to join, but l am glad l did. They saved me money.
The owners of the logging company in Westwood CA, hired the thugs from out of state to run the workers who wanted to unionize out of town as l previously stated. Thugs can't scare you into joining, but they can scare you into leaving town. I know from personal experience.
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IMO
Dec 10, 2018 11:40:02 GMT -5
Post by Tru (NAPA CA) on Dec 10, 2018 11:40:02 GMT -5
IMO the price of produce in Canada going up to $6.99 for a head of cauliflower is ridiculous and brought on by the trade war going on that should not be happening. The people of Canada who have traditionally been our friends are starting to suffer from this silly ness. We have always had good relations and now even our allies are turning against us.
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IMO
Dec 10, 2018 12:26:23 GMT -5
Post by markjames on Dec 10, 2018 12:26:23 GMT -5
markjames , I counted a total of 17 specialized skills you stated you picked up in your teens. How were you able to do that? Was that in addition to high school?
Skills others needed months/years to perform well, I could often perform well in hours/days/weeks.
My mentors were all highly skilled/multi-skilled entrepreneurs.
Many of the skills I listed are required in a single trade such as HVAC/R, plus they're necessary, or useful in many other occupations.
I attended a unique high school that had advanced in-school technical education as well including mechanical drawing, metal shop, wood shop, machine shop, small engines, power/automotive mechanics and too many technical electives to list.
I didn't need the experience, however I used to help others and supplied cars, trucks, construction equipment, farm equipment, motorcycles, snowmobiles, quads and small engines and equipment for others to work on.
I couldn't participate in some of these classes due to the conflict with our school's early college admissions pilot program.
When I was in middle school some of us went to the high school for metal shop 2 days per week.
Our first project was making a sheet metal tool box.
Due to my HVAC and Sign Company experience with sheet metal, layout, metal brakes, shears, punches, spot welders, riveters, drills etc I knocked out my project in 2 weeks.
I was slowed down due to short classes, few classes per week, cleanup time, waiting for classmates using/sharing tools/equipment and equipment malfunction.
Other much older classmates never finished their project in 10 weeks despite having more classes per week and/or being allowed to sign out tools and work on their project at home.
If I were allowed to work on my project at home I would have finished it in a couple hours.
Middle school students weren't supposed to use the arc welder, gas welder, cutting torches, brazing torches and metal lathes, however I used them anyway for some of my own projects and to help older classmates with their projects.
My parents didn't want me performing much of the inherently dangerous work I was performing at such a young age, nor operating construction and farm equipment, so I had to learn, or teach myself skills without their knowledge.
Fortunately my father was overseas, or out-of-state for months at a time and my mother worked/commuted a lot, plus I left home when I was 16, so I pretty much raised myself.
As soon as I was 16 and could drive "legally" the skills, knowledge, experience, tools, equipment and money I acquired increased substantially.
Previously I had to drive illegally, drive commercial equipment with farm, or special commercial plates, or hire older workers with driver's licenses.
I graduated earlier than most, so I was able to work years before many of my high school and college classmates.
We've always had shortages of reliable, available, competent and affordable skilled tradesmen,tech workers, service providers and subs, so I had to acquire many skills out of necessity.
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IMO
Dec 11, 2018 21:51:56 GMT -5
Post by Tru (NAPA CA) on Dec 11, 2018 21:51:56 GMT -5
I am of the opinion that big trucks should be loaded on trains to save the wear and tear of our highways. Would cut way down on traffic congestion too.
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IMO
Dec 16, 2018 9:51:37 GMT -5
Post by Tru (NAPA CA) on Dec 16, 2018 9:51:37 GMT -5
The big companies say that they make a high percentage of their sales /profits during the holidays.
IMO if they made things more reasonably priced we wouldn't have to wait for sales and discounts to buy things.
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IMO
Dec 20, 2018 9:38:25 GMT -5
Post by Tru (NAPA CA) on Dec 20, 2018 9:38:25 GMT -5
IMO there is way too much Christmas decorations to take down and maybe that is why they sometimes are left up for way too long.
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IMO
Dec 20, 2018 14:04:51 GMT -5
Post by gth (Columbus OH) on Dec 20, 2018 14:04:51 GMT -5
IMO, radio stations playing Christmas music start waaaay too early -- often well before Thanksgiving. Then they abruptly stop the day after Christmas.
Are they unaware that Thanksgiving is a separate holiday, not a part of Christmas? Or have they not heard of the "Twelve days of Christmas," or even persist the music up to New Year's?
Not to mention how the Christmas (er, "holiday") shopping Borg is trying to obliterate Thanksgiving altogether, having already obliterated the formerly relaxing day off the day after Thanksgiving that most of us get, replacing it with the feeding frenzy called "Black Friday."
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IMO
Dec 25, 2018 11:20:28 GMT -5
Post by Tru (NAPA CA) on Dec 25, 2018 11:20:28 GMT -5
Christmas goes on way too long. Merry Christmas today and tomorrow lets get on with normal things...but no ..those sales are still popping up online and in emails. Even phone calls at 7 pm on Christmas eve. Knew it was a sales person from the quick hang up when they hear the answering message.
So here it is Christmas Day and you can see l have had my fill of it already.
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IMO
Dec 26, 2018 11:23:47 GMT -5
Post by Tru (NAPA CA) on Dec 26, 2018 11:23:47 GMT -5
People having to dove tail hours so they can work 2 to 3 jobs to make enough money to support themselves is just such a shame. What has this country come to? When a man (or woman) can't find work that pays decent wages and gives enough benefits to live on and care for themselves? I am not even talking about families. Just a single person who will never earn enough to buy a new car much less qualify to buy a home.
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IMO
Dec 28, 2018 11:35:47 GMT -5
Post by markjames on Dec 28, 2018 11:35:47 GMT -5
Some of our frequently unemployed/under-employed cousins claimed that "more and more" people like them have to work 2 or more part-time jobs as they can't find full-time jobs.
While the percentage of workers with one full-time job and one part-time job increases substantially during robust economies, the numbers of workers with multiple part-time jobs has been ultra-low and steady for years.
The percentage of workers with multiple part-time jobs was 1.1 percent at the time. They have numerous issues that prevent them from landing/keeping full-time jobs, however the lack of full time jobs isn't one of them.
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IMO
Dec 28, 2018 12:30:50 GMT -5
Post by Tru (NAPA CA) on Dec 28, 2018 12:30:50 GMT -5
l do not intend to argue the point l was making. But quote:" There were about 27.62 million part-time employees in the country as of December 2017. Full-time employment usually is associated with certain benefits that are otherwise not offered to part-time employees, such as health insurance and annual leave. In the United States, the Affordable Care Act defines a full-time workweek as 30 hours or more. Salary in the United States can vary greatly between ethnicities and gender. The median weekly earnings of a full-time salary worker, was 1,021 U.S. dollars for the Asian population, but only 678 U.S. dollars for the Black or African American population. On average in 2016, female salary workers earned an hourly wage of 13.01 U.S. dollars and males earned an hourly wage of 14.96 U.S. dollars. Based on a constant value, the wage among salary workers has fluctuated since 1979 where employees earned a median of 13.7 U.S. dollars and 14 U.S. dollars in 2016. Minimum wage in the United States was established at 7.25 U.S. dollars per hour"
IMO is what l was talking about but statistics can be found online to prove just about any point one wishes to make. People should educate themselves for better jobs and yes learning trades is great but not all do and life moves on..what l am talking about is the average person who used to hold full time jobs in positions like logging, manufacturing etc and now need more than one job to make ends meet, since those jobs have gone away. Times have changed. Even one percent is way too many to have to joust for several positions to make ends meet and that is my opinion. 27 million is a whole lot of people, some of whom l know personally and those l was speaking about. IMO they are not statistics they are humans.
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IMO
Dec 29, 2018 23:53:50 GMT -5
Post by gth (Columbus OH) on Dec 29, 2018 23:53:50 GMT -5
It has become common in recent years for people to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," out of a vague and IMO mistaken fear that a non-Christian might take offense. But without the Christian observance of Christmas (even if often highly secularized), there would be no "holiday" to be happy about.
IMO, after Christmas, such persons should receive wishes of "Happy Holidays" instead of "Happy New Year." After all, might not someone who does not follow the Gregorian calendar, like a Muslim or Jewish person, be offended?
Silly, of course, but no more so than those who fear "Merry Christmas" is somehow offensive.
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