Yeah, we should hire @db4690 as our union rep or something. You know, us long-time knuckle draggers in this business need someone to present a polished image for us! 
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A little while ago, I had my opportunity to be union rep . . . I turned it down 
That is truly a mixed-bag . . . the union rep has to constantly walk the line, because not only does he have to turn wrenches and perform his regular duties, but he also has to field TONS of phone calls from low-life, thieving, inefficient, willfully disobedient, etc. mechanics who are hoping the union will step in and save their bacon from a rightfully deserved termination
and if youāre not good at time-management, those phone calls can eat up a lot of time, at which point you may actually be a decent union rep . . . but an inefficient mechanic whoās not pulling his weight
You donāt want to be the guy NOT pulling his weight in the shop . . . the other guys will HATE you and rightfully so, imo
union rep has way too much baggage, imo
Iām fairly liberal . . . but NOT very liberal
I feel that incompetent, dishonest, thieving, willfully disobedient, physically violent, etc. guys donāt deserve to be saved . . . they should get thrown out on their ___ and learn from their mistakes, just the same as guys in a non-union shop
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Right on I agree with you all the way.
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whats funny about this is that i am a former mma fighter and there is zero chance some old guy is gonna whoop my behind.
i will say what i think and nothing is gonna change if its some old clown that thinks he can fight LOL i do this all the time at work nobody steps up. had two clowns quit at my last iob cause they realized they werent gonna do nothing with just their attitude cause i come right back
as for the service writer ive been putting synthetic oil and yes i know what viscocity its right in my owners manual in my desk.
if anything runs well in this car its the engine.
i get routine PMCS done on my car i am actually a maintenance worker by trade i was also trained in the us army as a 91B so its not like i dont know anything i prob know more than most of these tire and lube technicians that fill power steering fluid over the max line.
Thatās a fatal weakness of unions, imo . . .
They want to save everybody, even those that DESERVE termination, being charged with a crime, imprisonment, etc.
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ātakeā is ambiguous. IMO you have a valid (albeit minor) complaint if that is what they actually said. Service writers should be trained to not use ambiguous terms when talking to customers, as the customers may feel they being purposely misled. Next time you go there, ask if they actually mean that while your car doesnāt require synthetic, you always have the option to select a synthetic oil if you like. If this sort of problem frustrates you, you have three options that will minimize this oil-change frustration.
- Sell the car and use public transport.
- Change the oil and filter as a diyāer, yourself.
- Select a good independent shop that has been in business for years, using recommendations from friends, co-workers, shop-manager interviews, etc. And always use that shop for your oil & filter changes, expecting to pay somewhat more.
If you have the time & a place to do it, and the tools and know-how, option 2 is your best bet imo.
More accurately, unions work to assure that in a dispute, their member 's rights under the contract are fairly upheld and that the procedure is conducted fairly.
Most employees, union or not, want to work in a decent workplace with decent management and decent fellow employees.
I read everything you just wrote . . .
But Iāve CONSTANTLY seen unions try to save even those who donāt deserve it
Sure, everyone wants a decent workplace
But I donāt want to work hard and watch my coworkers steal in broad daylight, tell the boss what he can do with himself, read the newspaper instead of working, work on their own projects instead of their assigned task, etc. . . . and the union STILL saves their job
No, sir
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I watched the International Electrical Workers local at my Delco plant do this again and again.
One example; The prototype shop fired a machinist for stealing tools out of others tool boxes and taking them home. He was fired. A year later in contract talks, he was rehired and paid for the year off to settle a stack of bogus greviences. No one in the shop wanted him back, but the union āsavedā his job.
The UAW local in our other plant was worse. Kept a heroin addict on payroll. You couldnāt drug test a worker unless an accident occurred. They didnāt let this guy touch things when he was high at work.
Unions can be their own worst enemies.
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I highly doubt that. Now that a studio apartment costs over $1100/month, the lowest living wage is $20/hour, and it is pretty much impossible to hire a sober, honest adult for less than that. In fact, if I was at a job interview and a wage of less than $20/hour was proposed, I would tell the interviewer very bluntly that it costs more than that just for me to set my alarm and get out of bed.
Around here, even fast food starts at $18/hour, so I canāt imagine anyone would agree to spend thousands of dollars on tools and equipment to work as a mechanicāeven a āmaintenance-onlyā mechanic for less than $20/hourā¦and that would be the wage floor for someone with zero experience.
I take all my vehicles to a small, privately-owned shop called My Driveway. The āmechanicā at My Driveway charges $0 for labor, and buys the parts online to keep costs down. All work is done to the highest quality standard, using the highest quality parts, fluids, and materials. There is no need to book an advance appointment, and there are never any attempts to sell unnecessary repairs. I suggest you take all your vehicles there as much as possible.
All depends on you demographics, In rural Ky, you start around $12 an hour at a saw mill less at fast foodā¦ Around my area, a little north of Nashville where the median price of a house is about $438,000 and fast food close by starts about $12-$13 and hour and GAP distribution center NE of Nashville starts about $17 an hourā¦
That took me a second to sink inā¦ 
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That sounds like a great place! Do they work on hybrids and late-model SUVs or are they limited to pre-2002 economy sedans?
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+1
The Board of Ed for which I worked had one electrician, who would be dispatched for relatively minor problems. (Big electrical issues would result in an electrical contracting firm being brought in) Anyway, our in-house electricianāErnieāwas an incompetent, and things would frequently be worse after he put his hands on something.
Case in point: One of my colleagues reported a lot of noise and static on her intercom phone, so Ernie came to āfixā it. When Ernie left, the intercom phone no longer functionedāat all. I got my Swiss Army knife and some electrical tape from my car, and after stripping some wires and taping everything back up, I got her intercom phone to work without any problems.
Despite almost constant complaints about the quality of Ernieās work, he kept his job because of the union to which he belonged.
Who ever is flagging my comment better go back and flag about ten other ones before me. Sheesh.
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These types of shops can still make a go of it, charging nothing for labor, b/c they donāt have to pay any income or payroll taxes ā¦ lol ā¦
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I think you missed it. I do believe he is talking doing it yourself, in his driveway. No one else involved. Except I have to do it in my garage or the neighbors might complain.
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do you belong to an HOA . . . ?!
Some folks these days seem to feel it is beneath their place in the social order, not their station in life to do manual labor; and likewise donāt want to see it being done in the driveway next door either. In days of yore most folks would say āwho cares what my neighbor does in their drivewayā? Times change. Go figure.
Nope. I would not belong to one but we have covenants that are mostly expired now but still try to abide by them. No signs in yard except snort term political, quiet hours 10 to 7, no home businesses, etc. No pools but since we were the first and only owners in the development had that changed. Cost $100 fir the lawyer but no one has one anyway except the neighbor.
Arenāt we getting a little off topic again? The flag police are out in force.