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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Noon chat with Maria Panaritis

Posted by Inquirer Online Desk @ 10:28 AM  Permalink | 6 comments
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  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:23 PM, 03/31/2009
    I worked retail for a couple of years. I was also fired. Fired because I made a decision which turned out, after arbitration, to be the right one. The Acme firing is just business. Now I am now a schoolteacher. Union. I work harder than anyone I know. 14 hour days are typical. Ask my kids. It is time the Reagan-era depiction of unions--casting them as corrupt and useless, be dismantled. Look what corporate America was able to do to this country while simultaneously pointing it's golf-gloved finger down on the working class. Bankrupt Inc. in every way. To be on the lower rung of the employment food chain is frustrating and unstable. We see this playing out in the news. Unions give workers refuge from arbitrary firings due to the imbalance of power. People want to work.
    — Yodude2
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:57 PM, 03/31/2009
    Yodude2, the only times you ever put in 14 hours were decision day for tenure and the the day you chaperoned the prom. Remember who pays your salary. If it wasn't for the unions, Rick Wagoner would have had a shot at turning GM around. Now it's just a government jobs program. Unions were started for the right reasons and they should end for them as well.
    — farginbastage
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:41 PM, 03/31/2009
    unions WERE a great thing. they are no longer needed, except for corruption and bias and strong arm tactics against employers and employees alike. Unions sunk GM!!
    — gnit2
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:51 PM, 03/31/2009
    gnit2: if unions went away tomorrow, we'd be busted back to the gilded age by the end of the week. you know nothing. just keep believing what you hear on AM radio pal.
    — Ryan
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:48 PM, 03/31/2009
    Acme's firing for no cause is not a suprise. That chain is poorly run all the way through. We shop at Wegman's and Publix (Southern) and enjoy the experience. Acme is the worst of the lot for everything. Even Giant is better. Just indicative of lousy management decision making all the way through the chain, and the constant pressure for immediate earnings gratification.
    — Burdee1
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:51 PM, 04/01/2009
    UFCW 1776 protects their income. I was terminated/fired from Acme after 5 years of being a model employee for going away to school. They created a policy that employees are automatically terminated if they do not work at least one day a week. The previous policy was one day a month, which was reasonable for someone that went to school hours away. The union, UFCW 1776, didn't care. I had paid them thousands of dollars over the years and got no help. I even had to pay union dues the weeks I didn't work. I was in college and would eventually graduate and find another job--I wouldn't be a lifetime contributor to the union so they wouldn't protect my job or make exceptions for students. Meanwhile the union helped people get their job back who were caught sleeping and stealing at work.
    — ScottH


6 comments
About Mike Armstrong
Mike Armstrong, a business editor and writer for nearly two decades, is the Inquirer's business columnist and PhillyInc blog editor. Contact Mike via e-mail or at 215-854-2980
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