Union bullying tactics

are in the news this morning but I also heard something about them from a neighbour before they reached the media.

My neighbour's job is the running of big building operations - not your average house or small business site but major engineering undertakings. He deals with unions all the time, one union in particular. He believes unions still have a place in the workforce but he also says their role has changed over the years. 

There is one union however where those in charge believe the role has not changed. They are there to dictate to those who employ them, those who pay them. This union believes it is the master, not the servant. They can get men (there are almost no women) to down tools and walk off the job for the smallest imagined infraction of the rules and regulations they have laid down.

Union membership is no longer compulsory in this country - unless you want to work in this industry. Forget trying to get employment unless you join the union on these big sites because these big sites won't even exist. Nobody is going to get the contracts unless the union is involved and the union can dictate the terms of the contract. 

I don't know how things got to this point but it should never have been allowed to happen. This union came in from interstate a little while back and has simply taken over. One site has reportedly been shut down forty-nine times over a twelve month period...and that is just one site. It is driving costs way above what they should be and the bullying that goes with it is apparently unchecked.

Of course the Labor party in this country arose out of the unions. It is still union based. It gets massive funding from the union movement. Labor does not want to upset the unions, particularly this union where so much employment lies. 

My neighbour has to deal with this union. It is the one which causes almost all his problems. They seem to have influence everywhere, not just on the actual site. When he last spoke to me they were preventing the transport and delivery of supplies on a site because someone was not happy about a tool which had been supplied. It had come from somewhere that was not union approved. The union approved tool is more expensive but, according to my neighbour, the quality is not there. It is not difficult to imagine that there are "arrangements" along the line.

I thought back to an organisation I once belonged to. That organisation has since become a union. The role it once undertook, which was clearly for the benefit of the members, has changed. They are now spending a very large sum of money on a political campaign which cannot be said to be of any benefit to the members.  It is not the intended function of any union.

Unions should be there to ensure the safety, well being and proper employment of their members. They should not be there to dictate. How did things get to this point?