Would you cross a union picket line?

[Woodman]

Cant this fuckcicle be banned or sumfing?

No, the mods are pussies.

[Berries]

What are they protesting about, that they have a minimum requirement for the distance between the eyes before you can go on one of their TV ads?

[PrincessBandit]

If I saw a picket line at Bunnings I'd go to Mitre 10, they are always withing range of each other in location and price.

Would be my option - they are right next door to each other in my neck of the woods so I'd go for the carpark direction with the kiwi sign instead of the roo sign .

What they showed of the Auckland protest on the box it looked more like rent-a-crowd than actual affected workers. Passing a picket line to buy some weedkiller or polyfilla is a bit different to passing a picket line to take the job of the people taking action. Fuck 'em.

It's my right as a consumer to buy wherever I choose. If I chose to shop somewhere with a picket line and I was verbally or physically intimidated it would be my phone doing the recording and abuse going up on youtube.

Someone trying to stop me from doing something I want to and am legally entitled to do.....

Fuck 'em.

If there is a rational point to be made, let it be made without the strong arm tactics. If you're unhappy with it, don't work in the retail sector where workers get treated like shite.

Echoes of Jack Tame on Seven Sharp (what can I say - sometimes I enjoy watching mindless entertainment on tv in the evening) saying if kiwis feel like we get he raw prawn in Australia then don't move there. Sounded like good advice to me.

No, the mods are pussies.

He'd just pop up again like that hard-to-kill wandering jew weed. I suggested to him once that he put all the rest of us on ignore so that his feelings didn't get hurt to the point where he kept reporting almost every post about him. Maybe we can let him take pride and joy in being top of the ignore list - it's there people; don't be afraid to use it.

[Grumph]

No I would not cross a picket line. I'm too old and have seen too much bad shit from employers to devalue the people protesting by ignoring them.

Plus the wife of a friend was killed when she was run down by a guy driving through a picket line.....

[swarfie]

Nope, not for me either. Been in the Engineers Union (or whatever it's called these days) for nearly 40 years and seen too many mongrel employers try to screw us out of decent wages and conditions. I now work for an Ozzy owned firm that will take any opportunity to screw their workers any which way. I don't agree with all the decisions by our union delegates over the years but without the union bargaining for us we'd be well down the gurgler by now.

[jasonu]

What they showed of the Auckland protest on the box it looked more like rent-a-crowd than actual affected workers. Passing a picket line to buy some weedkiller or polyfilla is a bit different to passing a picket line to take the job of the people taking action. Fuck 'em.

Like these professional shit stirrers you mean?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...ectid=11530694
I'll bet that cunt sue bradford never worked for Bunnings or anyone else for that matter (being a polititian doesn't count as actual work).

[oldrider]

Nope, not for me either. Been in the Engineers Union (or whatever it's called these days) for nearly 40 years and seen too many mongrel employers try to screw us out of decent wages and conditions. I now work for an Ozzy owned firm that will take any opportunity to screw their workers any which way. I don't agree with all the decisions by our union delegates over the years but without the union bargaining for us we'd be well down the gurgler by now.

That type of employment relations makes about as much sense as wife beating!

It's like a farmer treating his animals badly so that they can get more produce out of them!

Unions try to keep that bad boss attitude going among the workers so that they can build their own situation up - create a need exploit the greed.

Employment relations are between employers and their staff - unions are employed by workers - most unions get that round the wrong way - like governments do!

[mashman]

Wonder what it means to the picketers to have someone walk past them whilst they're trying to make a stand for whatever reason? Kinda reminds me of that motorcycle ACC protest thing a while back.

[caspernz]

Like these professional shit stirrers you mean?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...ectid=11530694
I'll bet that cunt sue bradford never worked for Bunnings or anyone else for that matter (being a polititian doesn't count as actual work).

Looks dodgy alright, doesn't help when "professional protester" faces are seen in this setting.

That type of employment relations makes about as much sense as wife beating!

It's like a farmer treating his animals badly so that they can get more produce out of them!

Unions try to keep that bad boss attitude going among the workers so that they can build their own situation up - create a need exploit the greed.

Employment relations are between employers and their staff - unions are employed by workers - most unions get that round the wrong way - like governments do!

Our personal experiences are obviously quite different, for what I've seen happening since the ECA was introduced in the early 90s, suggests an ever increasing need for union presence in sizeable firms.

Small firms might be a different story, but work for a bigger outfit where the line of communication between a worker and the decision maker at the top means layers of middle managers, the employment relationship quickly becomes like being in the army.

[Blackbird]

Wonder what it means to the picketers to have someone walk past them whilst they're trying to make a stand for whatever reason? Kinda reminds me of that motorcycle ACC protest thing a while back.

Back in the 80's when the Boilermakers, Riggers and associated militant unions were always pulling the pin, I was crossing picket lines on a daily basis as a manager in one of the companies which always got targeted because of its size. Never copped any abuse from the company employees who were picketing as I had good relations with most of them. It was a bit different with the inevitable "ring-ins" from outside like Bill Anderson and John Findlay and their heavies. They make the current crop look like saints. Besides, the ideologies and reasons for industrial action between then and now are a world apart.

[TheDemonLord]

Looks dodgy alright, doesn't help when "professional protester" faces are seen in this setting.

Heh - 'Professional protester' - you mean fuckwits who are either unemployed or whose job is so inconsequential that they can just take time off to sit outside a Bunnings for days a time... the phrase 'parasitic vermin' comes to mind

[mashman]

Back in the 80's when the Boilermakers, Riggers and associated militant unions were always pulling the pin, I was crossing picket lines on a daily basis as a manager in one of the companies which always got targeted because of its size. Never copped any abuse from the company employees who were picketing as I had good relations with most of them. It was a bit different with the inevitable "ring-ins" from outside like Bill Anderson and John Findlay and their heavies. They make the current crop look like saints. Besides, the ideologies and reasons for industrial action between then and now are a world apart.

lol... Aye, it's all somewhat watered down these days and very close to being illegal innit. I only ever watched pickets on TV, never been no one, never had to cross one, never been a member of a union. Always thought it a strange thing that someone had to use the threat of their non-production to get what they need, in order to keep coming to work. Still does seem like an exceptionally silly way of doing things. Although I'd say that the reasons have always been the same though i.e. better conditions/money.

[caspernz]

Back in the 80's when the Boilermakers, Riggers and associated militant unions were always pulling the pin, I was crossing picket lines on a daily basis as a manager in one of the companies which always got targeted because of its size. Never copped any abuse from the company employees who were picketing as I had good relations with most of them. It was a bit different with the inevitable "ring-ins" from outside like Bill Anderson and John Findlay and their heavies. They make the current crop look like saints. Besides, the ideologies and reasons for industrial action between then and now are a world apart.

Absolutely right. My way of thinking about a picket line is to stop non-union workers doing the same job as us from going to work. Harassing customers in a retail store setting quickly becomes counter productive is what I'm thinking.

Heh - 'Professional protester' - you mean fuckwits who are either unemployed or whose job is so inconsequential that they can just take time off to sit outside a Bunnings for days a time... the phrase 'parasitic vermin' comes to mind

Use any words you wish to describe 'em, whenever folks who have no skin in the actual conflict partake, the message goes off point.

[haydes55]

Why protest? Just apply for a different job elsewhere. My work refused a pay raise so I applied for other jobs. Got a $3.50 plus commission pay raise by changing job.

[pritch]

I was involved in an industrial action once, it was a real education. One supervisor immediately started carrying a pick axe handle in his ute. A manager tried to hit people in the picket line with his vehicle before he raced away up the road. He must have been really pissed off when he realised he had raced away up a dead end road. Fuckwit!

So having once had the experience I wouldn't cross a picket line. It isn't only the unions that "bend the truth"; the employers, the Government and the newspapers are more than willing to do as well. Consequently it can sometimes be difficult for an outsider to know the facts of the matter.