I cannot allow runners broad comment to stand. In my thirties (now in mid seventies) I was in charge of a large 500 employee production department in heavy industry where 130 of the employees were engineering maintenance tradesmen and their helpers. They were excellent union men and when I moved up they told their immediate supervisors to make themselves scarce approaching knock off time on my last day and made a presentation to me. There isn't a higher proportion of bad union member employees than there are poor supervisors and employers. Competent supervisors and employers in most situations make bad union officials ineffective.
Foyle

Bullies are essentially cowards.

They are notorious for picking on the weak(er).

So when they push... PUSH BACK.

Ya may need to dig up or accumulate some dirt. Preferably personal.

Bullies are easily bullied.

Dont fear them, that's their greatest tool.

l know a guy, in management no less, who used to get bullied, so, one day, in the stair well he pinned the bully by the neck and told him to find a softer target. Not my preferred method, but it ended the problem instantly.

Foyle, runners original comment was in relation to unions vs small business. That's really when unions can flex their muscles and the power often went the heads of the reps. 5 employees is a very different story to 500 employees, and you need to take this in context. The employers and supervisors of the 500 employees, usually have large monetary and legal resources behind them, whereas the employer of 5 people will often have less resources (and those that he has are normally tied up in the business) than most of their employees.

That said, I do not see many cases of unions bullying small business these days. It was certainly quite common in the 80's. In a number of cases the bullying happened despite protests from the MEMBERS at the worksite, who were forced to comply with the union rep when they didnt want to (were on the side of the employer).

Aimee

I am glad you are 'a very tolerant person'. Your reation to my post does not indicate that. I am glad you are not my judge as you accuse me of having a hatred for people. If that is the case I am in big strife.

I have no affilation with any political party. Pointing out union thuggery as happens regularly on building sites in WA is straight out bullying.

I do admire Tony Abbott as he seems one of the few politicians geniunely concerned about the number of abortions in this country. I know very little else about him.

I realise that many times on these posts I have a counter view and I see no reason not to air it. Turning the other cheek has nothing to do with having an opinion.

Runner - the CFMEU represents 7000 members in WA while the SDA and LHMU both have over 20,000 each. Those 40,000 however are mostly female and earning under the average wage, and don't make great tabloid fodder. Perhaps you missed the news last night that while the police have dropped the assualt charge against the CFMEU official they are still investigating the employer for assault over the same issue?

I am not making any excuses for Joe McDonald and the CFMEU, their thuggery is disgraceful, but the majority of unionists are not construction workers earning $100K, they are ordinary working people trying to maintain a work-life balance.

On the workplace psycho - I believe some years ago a study was done proving that upper management and executive figures were far more likley than the rest of the workforce to be pyschopathic or sociopathic - basically you can't get to the top in most businesses without cutting down other people and climbing up on their corpses. It takes a completely self-obsessed individual who really does not care about others to be a success in many businesses.

There was a gobsmacking case of a workplace psychopath on the recent 4 corners episode on Telstra's call centres. I don't know the guy's name, but he was like a robot - no compassion at all.

The employees were terrified, even the middle management level. A pregnant employee had to provide a doctor's certificate justifying the increased number of toilet breaks she was taking.

We dumped Telstra as a result of that.