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Pat: Thanks for your comments. I don't happen to share your point of view based on my years of experience with the Steelworkers union and what I have learned about them from others who the union let down. Look how they refused to help those women at Eveleth Taconite. Read the story in "Class Action".
Some unions, such as the Steelworkers, cut deals with management behind the back of the rank and file. They have agreements with management that they will give the members the impression they are supporting them, gin them up with hatred for the company and in the end, the deal they come up with was agreed upon long before the theatrics began.
One only look at the declining membership of unions nationwide. Locally, the workers at Northshore Mining have rejected Steelworker representation two times. They are happy workers now, they make good money (sometimes even more) than their union counterparts, they aren't forced to give some union part of their paycheck and they can solve problems with their supervisor without rabble-rousers intervening. Also, before the market soured, the workers at Mesabi Nugget rejected union representation. Workers at Magnetation chose to have another union rather than the Steelworkers represent them. The nurses at the hospital in Duluth are growing increasingly unhappy with their Steelworkers representation and some are quietly looking to decertify and elect another union to represent them. You have to understand why.
As for the Mesabi Daily News, I feel they do a good job, as evidenced by the many awards they receive from the Minnesota Newspaper Association. Results speak for themselves.
As for retirement benefits and job protection by the Steelworkers Union, don't even get me started with the stories, some personal, about how little they care about the person. They just don't want the job eliminated because it means guaranteed extortionist dues collections. They let the victims lose their job, they protect the perpetrators (especially if they are part of the clique)and they could care less about the person losing the job. And please, don't use the old worn out saw that, "You must have done something wrong". That's always the usual cop out and gets spit out by people that are blindly loyal to the union and don't have the aptitude to sort out facts.
I suppose I could have a beer with you, but it would have to be a Coors, a non-union beer with the best taste.
Yours cordially, orrcountry.
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