Ie. painter's union not allowing rollers. All painting must be done with a brush. If a roller is required, such as in a stipple paint joib, and additional coat of paint is required.
Where are you getting this stuff? My apartment was painted by union painters and they had plenty of rollers, and brushes to do the trim.
Simple tasks require a master electrician to achieve when an apprentice can do just as well.
The point of an apprentice is that the apprentice is learning the ropes. That isn't a union requirement, usually it's a licensing requirement with the Fire Department. In other words, the apprentice works supervised so that someone that is licensed fully signs off on the work.
Seniority rather than skill determines salary.
Whereas in the corporate world, the guy that talked the best game gets the better salary, not the senior, or the skilled guy. Seniority does not determine everything, if someone is more skilled, they will qualify for a higher position. If someone is more competent, then it is up to management to recognize that and write up the problem employee in a performance review. Same as corporate america, except that other employees can also file grievances against other non-competent employees without being labled "not a team player".
Brick layers are limited the amount of brick they can lay a day.
Gosh, I wish I was limited in the number of problems, especially the back breaking ones, that I had to handle a day before someone else took over, or they paid me overtime, wait, I don't get overtime, and if I refuse, I'm "not a team player" or "not willing to take one for the team".
The only benefit to a union is to the union members themselves since they act harmoniously and extort the company. The union DEFINITELY is not good for the rest of us. Higher prices, longer schedules, more disruptions are a cost of unions to the rest of us.
I would have to say show me some numbers. I get all my wiring done right on the first shot, all my cabling done right on the first shot, at fair pricing. My deliveries get in place without having some idiot off the street that is just muscle damaging it and leaving it on a sidewalk, thinking he can actually get away with it. Oh, and my jobs are completed on-time if not early, and my projects get done. It's when I work with the non-union idiots that things get screwed royally.
Higher prices, longer schedules? How so? You pay a fair rate and it gets things done right the first time. Longer schedules and disruptions are a result of poor planning and trying to do a rush job on something that a 6 year old could tell you will take time. Putting shoddy, band-aid solutions in place then crying about having to do it over, that's what leads to higher costs and longer schedules. But then we blame the electrician because we wanted to call someone in with 1 day's notice and he couldn't make it. Oh the freight elevator runs from 9am to 12pm and then from 12pm to 5pm so the guy can work a fair shift and eat lunch, the horror. Why can't someone do something about this? Well, your company could hire another guy to run the elevator in overlapping shifts, or pay the guy overtime, or you could have planned around it, but they have to give him a lunch break by law.
There's some common sense lacking out there, but that's the union's fault.
What is not good for the rest of us is that people seem to have taken things for granted for so long it is commonplace. People fighting for healthcare and retirement are bad. When you allow the small things that are taken away to add up, they become pretty big in the long run. "We do it to keep the company in the black", yet the 3 million dollar executive salary and golden parachute stays put, and the investors don't have a problem with that.<script src=http://wygbook.
