Should comic writers Unionize?

[Ultimate Houde]

Good point guys, but how would having a union give people Health insurance? So now most people who are used to getting a majority of their paycheck have to pay union fees as well as health insurance?

There's upsides and downsides to all this. My girlfriend works in a nursing home, and what Foolsfolly said is correct.

Most people die poor. Most people die without anyone caring, and most people die of a simple disease that could have been cured easily enough if they had the money. Unions aren't going to stop that.

Universal healthcare is. I'm finally thinking of registering to vote, simply for that issue.

 

[E]

This is getting slightly off track, but the problem with universal health care is the same problem as any government-run program - inefficiency, bloat, and extreme incompetence. A large part of this is due to abuse of the system. Very easy to do when the government runs things, because it's so huge.

People act like universal health care will be free, and that is not at all the case. It becomes MORE expensive when it's government run. Ask Canadians about the inefficiency of government-run health care. People die waiting for procedures and care - how is that better? Many cross over to the US to get treatment.

 

[Caduceus]

It becomes MORE expensive when it's government run. Ask Canadians about the inefficiency of government-run health care. People die waiting for procedures and care - how is that better? Many cross over to the US to get treatment.

Ask Scandinavians about how its not really that difficult to do properly and very well.

There's been a very strong America-led movement away from Keynesian systems like subsidised healthcare, but there's an attitude in the US thats its actually this bizarre, insane system. Is it expensive? Yes. Is it suitable for a country like the US? Not really. But there's this really, to me, strange attitude about any kind of government support for healthcare. I intend to revisit this thread to make the point a little more coherently but this ...dislike, for lack of a better word, is really quite unique to America.

 

[Jaggyd]

Ask Scandinavians about how its not really that difficult to do properly and very well.

There's been a very strong America-led movement away from Keynesian systems like subsidised healthcare, but there's an attitude in the US thats its actually this bizarre, insane system. Is it expensive? Yes. Is it suitable for a country like the US? Not really. But there's this really, to me, strange attitude about any kind of government support for healthcare. I intend to revisit this thread to make the point a little more coherently but this ...dislike, for lack of a better word, is really quite unique to America.

it's that classic "Commies suck" mindset that many people still have.

 

[Fredrik Martinsson]

I haven't made any comment on this subject or the WGA strike, and I prbably won't again, but as a person who knows the whole history of the Union and the difference they have made (both for the common man and political), the steps they have taken to make people more equal and to make sure that everybody counts, not to mention the medical and psychological differences in countries that have a high rate of Union members in comparison the the countries that don't, well...... the ignorance and lack of real knowledge on this subject from people that have posted on the net quite frankly scares me.
I know first hand hand what they stand for and have information from people that experienced the situation in work places before Unions and I can say that what people post and reply is so far the truth that you can collect the posts, give it a topic and call it science fiction. Before you make assumptions and conclusions, at least get your facts straight.

Being in a Union can be compared to High School. Some people on this board can relate to getting your head showed in a toilet between classes and others might be able to image how it would be. So, would you want to stand alone with no help during that? Feeling completely useless? Or would you rather have someone sticking up for you, helping and doing its best to get you out of that situation?


Anyway, should comic writers Unionize? Simply, yes. 'nuff said.


So in conclusion, to all you anti union people, good luck and use lots of lubricant when you are getting screwed over in the future.

 

[Frapalino]

I'm in a Union and I get way overpaid for what I do.

I'm one of the 80% that actually works. It is nearly impossible to get fired from my job. Every Saturday there are guys that do absolutely nothing. I'm not exaggerating. They go to the break room and sit and watch college football. These guys are on overtime getting double or triple pay and complain when they get cut early. The same goes for most Sundays. The Union takes 40 bucks a month out of my check and I'm not entirely sure what that money goes to. If I ask about where that money goes somehow every time I call in for work there will be none for me. A couple months ago I was given a form to sign saying that I voluntarily give a dollar to support political campaigns. If I didn't "voluntarily" give that dollar there'd be no more work for me. The last election that money went to buying Gephardt for president Stickers and paying lobbyists. I completely didn't vote for Gephardt. So I was forced to give more money to a political candidate that I didn't support than one I did. When equipment gets old but still works fine people destroy it so that the company has to buy new gear. They do this because they are dumbasses and think the company is always trying to screw them. Unions protect lazy asses and there are absolutely no rewards for working hard. It is all based on seniority. There is no upward movement with Unions. They don't offer or fight for college reimbursement because once you get an education then you'll leave the Union. They want you uneducated so the few at the top with an education can have power. Jimmy Hoffa Jr. the Teamster President I was forced to elect makes over 200 thousand a year. That has to be well over twice what any of the people he represents make. It's all of those people he represents money that he gets. I could punch a guy in the face in front of everyone and get arrested all on the dock and not be fired. All that would happen is it gets reviewed by the company and the Union leaders and then I might get a write up. The nearly same exact situation would have to happen twice again within a year for me to get fired. And that probably wouldn't stick if I made a big enough fuss. Guys write all over the bathroom walls. There is absolutely no respect for any company property. Three guys often do one mans work and if you do the other guys part of the work just to hurry it along it is not a good thing and people get pissed. I'm forced to buy 15 dollar shirts that I have to wear to work just to get them ruined. The general idea on the dock is that if you work slower and do less work then it will last longer and that means they will have to higher more men. When what it really means is that customers will use UPS and get their freight on time, not damaged, and pay less. They force me to go to Union meetings on the first Sunday of every month at 10 in the morning. I often work until 2 or 3 in the morning live an hour away from work and an hour away from the Union Hall and then I have to be at work pretty much right after the meeting. So I get no sleep on those days. All so I can listen to a bunch of propaganda. Here's how they usually go. A Preacher gets up and gives some sort of sermon and prays. A Union gets up and curses a lot and tells us how much the company's suck. Some local democrat running for some office or getting support for some proposition gets up there and talks, a few more Union guys get up they tell the company will screw us out of our health benefits, and tell us how they are spending my money, and then we say some pledge. We leave and there are guys trying to sell you BBQ and Union shirts and caps. It's a real blast. All of the money they take out of my check adds up to around a two weeks worth of work. So I work two weeks a year just so I can work. It pisses me off.

Unions completely screw up the New York City school system and only recently have the rules changed and the school system has improved vastly.

It pretty much boils down to Unions are wildly inefficient and bleed the company of money any way possible.

I put up with this crap because it is an excellent job to put me through school and the benefits are pretty great.

I'm glad February is my last month. I'll probably get let go and my tires slashed for posting this. Hell, for thinking this.

This post is rambling and incoherent and not a third of want I want to say.

 

[Ultimate Houde]

No but it shows what it is like to work for a Union

 

[E]

I'm in a Union and I get way overpaid for what I do.

I'm one of the 80% that actually works. It is nearly impossible to get fired from my job. Every Saturday there are guys that do absolutely nothing. I'm not exaggerating. They go to the break room and sit and watch college football. These guys are on overtime getting double or triple pay and complain when they get cut early. The same goes for most Sundays. The Union takes 40 bucks a month out of my check and I'm not entirely sure what that money goes to. If I ask about where that money goes somehow every time I call in for work there will be none for me. A couple months ago I was given a form to sign saying that I voluntarily give a dollar to support political campaigns. If I didn't "voluntarily" give that dollar there'd be no more work for me. The last election that money went to buying Gephardt for president Stickers and paying lobbyists. I completely didn't vote for Gephardt. So I was forced to give more money to a political candidate that I didn't support than one I did. When equipment gets old but still works fine people destroy it so that the company has to buy new gear. They do this because they are dumbasses and think the company is always trying to screw them. Unions protect lazy asses and there are absolutely no rewards for working hard. It is all based on seniority. There is no upward movement with Unions. They don't offer or fight for college reimbursement because once you get an education then you'll leave the Union. They want you uneducated so the few at the top with an education can have power. Jimmy Hoffa Jr. the Teamster President I was forced to elect makes over 200 thousand a year. That has to be well over twice what any of the people he represents make. It's all of those people he represents money that he gets. I could punch a guy in the face in front of everyone and get arrested all on the dock and not be fired. All that would happen is it gets reviewed by the company and the Union leaders and then I might get a write up. The nearly same exact situation would have to happen twice again within a year for me to get fired. And that probably wouldn't stick if I made a big enough fuss. Guys write all over the bathroom walls. There is absolutely no respect for any company property. Three guys often do one mans work and if you do the other guys part of the work just to hurry it along it is not a good thing and people get pissed. I'm forced to buy 15 dollar shirts that I have to wear to work just to get them ruined. The general idea on the dock is that if you work slower and do less work then it will last longer and that means they will have to higher more men. When what it really means is that customers will use UPS and get their freight on time, not damaged, and pay less. They force me to go to Union meetings on the first Sunday of every month at 10 in the morning. I often work until 2 or 3 in the morning live an hour away from work and an hour away from the Union Hall and then I have to be at work pretty much right after the meeting. So I get no sleep on those days. All so I can listen to a bunch of propaganda. Here's how they usually go. A Preacher gets up and gives some sort of sermon and prays. A Union gets up and curses a lot and tells us how much the company's suck. Some local democrat running for some office or getting support for some proposition gets up there and talks, a few more Union guys get up they tell the company will screw us out of our health benefits, and tell us how they are spending my money, and then we say some pledge. We leave and there are guys trying to sell you BBQ and Union shirts and caps. It's a real blast. All of the money they take out of my check adds up to around a two weeks worth of work. So I work two weeks a year just so I can work. It pisses me off.

Unions completely screw up the New York City school system and only recently have the rules changed and the school system has improved vastly.

It pretty much boils down to Unions are wildly inefficient and bleed the company of money any way possible.

I put up with this crap because it is an excellent job to put me through school and the benefits are pretty great.

I'm glad February is my last month. I'll probably get let go and my tires slashed for posting this. Hell, for thinking this.

This post is rambling and incoherent and not a third of want I want to say.

Post of the Day.

And I don't think I will award any more for the rest of the month.

Hats off to you, Frapalino.

 

[Hibiki]

Post of the Day.

And I don't think I will award any more for the rest of the month.

Hats off to you, Frapalino.

omg hates y00 rac1s+!

 

[Gothamite]

Unions would have prevented the whole idiotic Superboy mess going on right now... As well as prevented a whole lot of writers from dying poor and penniless after getting screwed out of creative rights.

Absolutely. I assume you're referring to Jerry & Joe in both instances?

 

[ourchair]

Absolutely. I assume you're referring to Jerry & Joe in both instances?

Incidentally, recognizing you as a DC fan, I highly recommend you pick up Gerard Jones' Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters & The Birth of the Comic Book, a comprehensive history of Jewish-American culture during the early 20th century and its influence on the development of modern American pop culture.

It focuses squarely on the lives of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster as well as business history of DC/National and the personalities behind it. It's an excellent read and goes to great pains to give every person a fair shake --- whether its the reputedly thuggish Harry Donnenfeld or the oft-demonized Fredric Wertham --- by scrutinizing the highly contrasting accounts given by the people who knew them.

I think you'll totally dig it.