Union Salaries

I have no problem with ball players, movie stars, CEO's or anyone else making a lot of money, as long as they earn it! The folks who pay the bills get to make that decision. If a team wants to pay a player $110 million over 7 years or a studio wants to pay the star of a picture $30 million for 3 or 4 months work so be it. I can always vote with my dollar by not going to games or the movies.

I couldn't vote with my dollar when it came to paying dues. Colorado allows "pay to play" and the law ought to be changed to create a "right to work". Perhaps in the next general election, we'll see. Accepting things as they are, there are in effect "closed shops" and any time there's a union involved, there will be a "union protection clause" in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Under the current Colorado laws, the employer must collect union dues or terminate the employee.

No problem, them's the rules and I'll follow them as everyone else does. I know I sure as hell earned every penny of my $11.67 an hour while I was driving a bus but I now ask must ask myself, "What do union officers do to earn a lot more than I was making?"

In fairness, I used Union Watch Dawg (long before I called it that) to compare a number of other unions and the ATU Local 1001 officers are not making a lot more, and sometimes less, than they would in the same position in another union. By that standard, there's likely nothing unusual going on here.

I don't have a problem with an officer being payed for 260 hours a month or 220 hours a month or 203.5 hours a month or 25 hours per month, all at the top rate of their occupational group. But folks, they need to earn their money!

What takes 260 hours a month (3120 hours a year)? I have no idea what Holman Carter does, I've never talked to him or even laid eyes on him. I was a member of the local for 17 months after we joined and I'd have thought that he could have found an afternoon or so to "meet the troops". My own fault I suppose, I should have taken the time to get involved. I really didn't need the sleep that much, what with only driving a bus 60 hours a week.

I know that Mr. Rivera from time-to-time posts on facebook during the day. Public knowledge. But then, he only gets paid for 220 a month and I'm sure he spends much more time than that attending to union business; he does need a break every once in a while.

Are the members getting what they pay for?