Has anyone here been through one? I have worked here at a local refinery for about a year. I am older about 10 years from retirement. I worked at BNSF for 2 years and now here for a year. only 2 union jobs I have ever worked. In fact I was in management for 25 years. I was hoping to work at this job until retirement. Contract is up jan 31 and it does not look all that good.The company is bringing in a strike force to learn the ropes. Anyone on here been through this?

I was out for 111 days in 1977-78, and 90+ days in 1982 with the UMWA. The violence of those strikes will never be matched by present day unions. Crazy times for sure.

Never worked union in my life, but my Dad,and Grandfather worked union all their lives.Ive hired union guys I know for short periods in my business at times.My advice, lots of work out there right now, keep your eyes open and do what you have to do, its your life, and your families life you have to take into account.Im not anti union at all, but you do,espesially nowadays, have to watch out for your own wellbeing.

I am not a union man, but when you signed on to the union you made a deal. You should have asked yourself this before you signed on with the union. Good luck anyway.

I was out 6 months once back in 1979. It was a good thing the price of fur was so high as it helped pay bills and food.

My father was a union carpenter, and I am a member of the steelworkers union. I have been involved in several contracts, and often times, when a union is negotiating a contract, they will either take a strike authorization vote or bring in a strike team as a negotiating tactic. When the company sees that the union is willing to go on strike if an agreement is not met, it gives them a little more incentive to negotiate and not just deny everything the union is asking for in the new contract.
I am definitely for unions, especially in types of jobs where companies pay a CEO millions of dollars a year. Often times, the only way for employees of that company to get a fair wage is to have a union. If they can afford to pay a CEO millions, then they can afford to give the employees of the company a fair wage.

Only had one union job in my life crapsters I mean Teamsters. Only thing unions do is make union leaders rich. Sorry your in that bind and hopefully if they stick you won't lose more then it costs.

While we’re on the subject, let’s not forget which political party the unions sell votes to..

Sorry Jwill, hope it works out for you. Take PSB’s advice though. Remember, union leaders and attorneys don’t lose money from strikes.. only the folks they pretend to help.

Do what you feel is best. Personally I'd have no problem walking right past a picket line to go in to work as long as they paid what I felt was fair. While I support the idea of unions, my first responsibility is to my wife and kids, not my co-workers. I've got six mouths to feed and bills to pay.

teamsters are nothing more than common thugs and gangsters. if the rest of them are like teamsters I don't know how an honest man can look himself in the eye to shave in the morning and still send them dues.

I agree with dfabs as union and company do a lot of puffing during negotiations to try and bluff the other side. Worked union for 38 years never went on strike but took a lot of strike votes to get some of the workers demands put in contract.
Be patient and be ready, usually a lot of b.s. before actual contract is ready to vote on.

With the advent of the Janus Decision by SCOTUS, workers are no longer obligated to pay forced Union Dues to a union that supports political parties that do not represent the worker.

You can now opt out of the union, keep your job, and all the benefits of the contract without being coerced, and shaken down by Union Thugs.

w

In Ohio, many of the unions now endorse Republican candidates and even mention support of President Donald trump in the ads. In one of the ads I saw, the union boss said he had been a proud life long democrat and now for the first time was proud to endorse a republican. The democrats have turned their back on the working class and most unions know it. The teachers union is another story.

The West Virginia coal miners union are very publicly pro President Donald Trump.

When I had my security company, we frequently were asked to give bids to companies that thought their workers may strike. I always gave really high bids, because we did not really want to work a strike. Most of the time they accepted my bids and paid us a nice retainer. Not one single time did the strike ever take place.

Keith