[rescue] Cluesticks (was Mounting and Dumping)

[Mike Meredith]

On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 14:13:58 -0800 (PST), Lionel Peterson wrote:
> Civil employees and teachers are unionized here as well, but they
> *were* mistreated for a long time, 

Not in the UK as far as I'm aware. I'm still of the opinion that some
unions are not formed because their members have been mistreated. In
fact if you look at the membership of the UK's TUC, there's a large
number of organisations that wouldn't conventionally be called unions
although they perform much of the same functions.

> I have a friend that worked for the state of Pennsylvania, in their
> Liquor Control Board - he was forced into the union (if he wanted to

Well a closed shop qualifies as one of those abuses I mentioned
elsewhere.

> Of course, they still took their "union fee" right out of his paycheck
> just the same... ;^) 

It's not right, but it does make a certain sense if he could obtain
benefits such as my ex-union provided ... strike pay, free legal
services, various welfare payments (including retirement/convalescent
homes), and discounts on various goods and services.