[KIPAX]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

I've seen good unions and I've seen bad unions so you can't tar them all with the same brush.

Yeagh your right and really that should be applied to just about everyhting and everyone.. gosh theres probbaly even a decent traffic warden out there

But....

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

I've seen pig headed union leaders go for all-out strikes when it was plainly a stupid move and I've seen factories closed down and people out of work due to union action not to mention the weeks and weeks without pay before that when they were on strike and the whole family suffering.

I have seen more of that than anything else.. add to that the closed shop where you wernt allowed to even work somewhere unless you where in a union.. add to that the factories and thousands of men who stop work by coming out in sympathy strikes etc

all in all it leaves a bad taste in the mouth and I wasnt being sarcastic when I said maggie thatcher... she was the only person as far as I know in my lifetime to have stood up to them.. not only that.. she beat them... She is the only prime minister we have had (again in my lifetime) with balls... not like the weak so and so's we have leading us nowerdays..

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

I've also seen sensible union reps negotiate on behalf of the workers and due to their specialist knowledge offer a great deal of help and support. Sometimes just the moral support of having somebody there beside you can be a huge confidence booster when you feel like you are in a no-win situation.

Thats fair enough and I daresay they have there day and are a help.. But I think they went a long way to ruining this country and we would have been better off without them.. so the bit of good they can do in no way makes up for the bad they have done in my opinion..