I have kept abreast on the reading on the unionization of the steamwells.
I have been a union member myself for many, many years and I believe in most cases they are a necessary evil.
I read about the process of trying to organize everyone there for a vote and become a union shop.
I read in the newspaper that the non-union votes overwhelmed the votes to become union. I believe that is the legal process that was overseen by the National Labor Relations Board.
I am not saying I am against or for.
I do not work at the steamwells and have never work there, but I do understand that if your working for a company that is non-union and pays a fair wage (I do not know what it is) the residents of Lake County will all want to get a job at the steamwells, because they work year-round, rain or shine, in most cases seven days a week.
That is the goal of a Lake County resident to work at the steamwells for a fair, permanent income.
The moral of this story is, I feel if you want to be union you should join the union and go to work for a company that is union versus forcing other employees and the company you are working for to automatically become union.
That choice would be yours and not theirs. If I owned a company at the steamwells and my employees wanted to be union, I would tell them the best thing you could do is to go to work for somebody that is union instead of trying to force me to do things that I am not willing to do.
I respect both sides for their choices. This is just something to think about when you go to work seven days a week, how lucky you already are.
Ron Rose
Lakeport
