Mahoning Valley Forum

Members and friends of the Lansingville Block Watch walked to the Center Bridge area today to honor the workers who toiled for years in the mills of Youngstown.  Participants exchanged many wonderful stories about grandfathers, fathers and other family members who worked in the mills over the past hundred years.

          I'm wounded! As the Political leader for this district I was not informed of this parade, a.k.a.
          gathering. And I spent weeks preparing my speech.

John:

The city probably would have made you bring a bill for a $400 parade permit and police to break up our march. It would have made the 1937 Strike look like a water balloon fight......

            Yeah! Better it happened on the Q.T. But I really had a great speech prepared, I spent 2 weeks researching the history of the American labor movement. Maybe I'll save it for next year ,maybe the insurance issue will fade away by then.

one who waits for an invite, misses the parade. :o

     One must be informed of the time and meeting place to be there.

Yep, I concur.

I was informed and I publicly apologize for not reading my email in a timely manner. I did have out of town family that day and we had to much to squeeze in. Here's to next year.

Love the pictures--true mill rats if I ever saw any!

YOW dat peyak with the yellow hard hat and blue t-shirt with shorts yet  ---  he MUST have worked "inside" some place - maybe the kitchen  :o  way too fat for a mill worker.  Maybe he worked at the White Castle  :o  It even looks like he just got out of BED  ;D probably has a hungover and wants the poison to kill the snake  :(



GOD BLESS ALL THOSE WHO WORKED IN YOUNGSTOWN'S MILLS  :-*

jrs and rr one who waits for an invitation to a parade, one must read this message board to know that a parade is coming soon to your local neighborhood. ::)

I missed the boat on this one. Did they toss candy? It looked like everyone had a good time, especially the person who ate the Ruffles then tossed the bag to the ground....The International was closed that day, because of the holiday...
Please let everyone know when the next parade is..

I just looked at the original post.  There was no time given and we had discussed a couple of different locations.  Whoever finalized the time and location neglected to post it on the forum.   How does that foot taste iwasthere?

Now Now Mr. Rowlands - lets be careful - Please don't FEED the Bear ! ! ! Just think - iwasthere just MIGHT have a foot fetish and LOVES to put them in his mouth  8)  I think he just might be a toe behind my record of feets tasting  :'(

rr you could have ask questions about the parade. i did and i received my info. rr i thought you are antilabor and this kind of parade would have gone against all of your pro-corp ideals. kennyjoe is right i do have a foot fetish, kennyjoe are you canvassing my neighborhood again? :o  rushgal blogger i thought your commie pinko neighbor would have given it to you over nightly gossip session that you two have at the fence that separates your homes. what happen is that commie gossipping with another neighbor at their fence. if he is he is a two timing fence gossipping friend. i would find another neighbor to gossip with at the gossip fence.

Me anti labor?  I am all for what labor used to be, but not what it is becoming now, just another venue for ultra left wing liberals.

A couple of years ago I joined a working class studies mailing list that was moderated by our own Dr. Linkon.  I didn't know much about labor studies and wanted to learn about it.  Well it turned out to be nothing but a bunch of kooks advocating the demise of capitalism, forced takeover of business and industries, and outright socialism if not communism.  That is nothing like the values of the working class family that I grew up in, with a father who worked at Valley Mould and a grandfather that worked at Shenango Steel.   Somewhere along the line the traditional working class was taken over by radical leftists, and that is what I am against.

I kind of agree with you Mr. Rolands - Unions sure are not what they use to be however I think that capitalism has kind of always remained the same.  I kind of think a lot of people would agree that MONEY has a EVERYTHING to do with LIVING and with governing the LIVING.  Most people think Capitalists have Lots of Money or should have - I hope most people reading this would agree with that statement.  Particularly wealthy people like lets say Bill Gates who started from you might say nothing and now has more money than I am sure he ever dreamed of having is well taxed even after having set up probably numerous foundations of which I am sure has gotten tax breaks from.  I have heard that he pays his employees well - I don't know if they are unionized.  He seems to me, from what little I know, to be an excellent example of good capitalism in today's world.  Now lets look at Delpi Packard - would you call that good capitalism ?   What about Republic Steel ?   Weather you are an atheist or Christian or just a good person I hope you would consider The Bible as a book that has a lot of good points and a lot of truth in it.  I still find it hard to believe that when St. Paul was put in prison in Jarsalem that all he SAID is "I am a Roman Citizen" and he was believed - never had to show his birth certificate, SSN or give his mother's Madden name - he was just believed - we sure have come a long way since then.  Look at all the retirement MONEY set aside by Capitalists for employee retirement only to come up MISSING - it happened so many times that THE GOVERMENT had to step in and create an agency to deal with this.  Look at Avanti and Cafaro - from what I understand a break was given by Youngstown on taxes and Ohio was supposed to have paid a large share of the employee's wages - Cafaro was not alone in loosing money on that capitalest venture.  The union's hands are tied - they MUST represent ALL employee's even if they choose not to be a part of the union AND if they do not do their best to represent an employee then guess what? Layers start making MONEY.  I have talked to The Chief of Police AND the Mayor of Youngstown about crime in my area and how dissatisfied I am with da poolice I just wish the the President of the Union or at least a Steward were present.  The same holds true when I had trouble with some WRTA bus drivers - The Union should have been there and listen to what their people are doing wrong.
PHEW - just give me a very short story and I'll give ya a novel
sorry I said MORE than enough
thanks for letting me vent.
S'BOHUM (God be with you on your way)

Unions were sorely needed at one time and did much to better both the working conditions and the economic status of their members. Indirectly this also helped non-union workers in similar jobs as well as mid to lower level salaried  workers (foreman, managers, etc.) in both union and non-union shops.

Today's unions are a business. their goal is to make money. I realized this back in the early 90's. I was a steelworker on the lower tier of a two tier pay scale. There was a $2.75 difference between tiers. For reference, $2.75 was over 30% of the high tier pay rate. The district rep suggested that we ratify a 5 year contract that bumped the second tier up a whopping $.05 a year. That's great in only 55 years I could reach parity with my union brethren! 

Meanwhile, this same union district was trying for at least the second time to unionize NorthStar Steel. Those non-union workers were already making a bit more than our high tier workers. The union was advertising on local radio about the need to help these poor unrepresented workers.

I was aggravated that my union dues would be spent to reach the entire listening area when the target audience (those affected) was only a couple of hundred people. A couple of hundred people that already made more than our highest paid guys. I was aggravated that my union would spent more time money and effort to "help" them than to help us.

Then it dawned on me, the union had to make choices. They could fight to get 30% more wages for, and dues from, a handfull of second tier members or they could fight to get a couple of hundred (already well paid) new members paying dues. They chose to ignore the current members to chase the bigger money (which they never got).

I left the union as soon as possible after that.

Hey iwasthere just to let you in on some info---my pinko commie neighbor better not be 2x'm me over somebody else's fence. He knows that I know where he lives and it's close to the fence so he better not be starting anything over someone elses fence..Got-It

rushgal i have no problem with your 2x gossipy neighbor, he is the one who is double fencing you on the side. you better keep a close eye and ear on that neighbor of yours because those commies #$%^^ you cannot trust. my experience in the work force it is better to have an union rep in the shop then relying on the the owners of the business to give you a fair wage and benefit packages. there are several non shops in ytown area that pay a living wage with a decent fringe benefit package but they are the expection. i wonder what ytown would look like if there was not a strong union labor force in the mahoning valley in all aspects in labor. i wonder if the forum health workers would have been at the table discussing the current forum health status if it was not for the strong pro/nonpro union? as for iwasthere i will always be advocate for fair union representation in all labor venues.

Why?Town - Thanks for your reply - and as I said in my last post it is ALL ABOUT MONEY ! ! !
Union or Nonunion, Socialest, Communist, Democrat, Republican and on and on and on including another topic that "they" say don't discuss and that is Religion - ALL ABOUT MONEY - who has IT, who controls IT, who spends IT, how IT is spent and on and on and on.  I hope you kind of catch my drift ?   The newer half of the almost 2,000 year book I mentioned in my last post says the "money is the root of all evil"  and it also say something about being "your brother's keeper" AND "to love one another" - a most difficult task to accomplish then as it is now.  I am very sorry to hear your story about the union and even sorrier that you left the union.  The Union saved me from a few days off once - it was about an accident and management did  not believe in accidents - I was at fault period was what they believed  - when it was really the new equipment I was using that had a large part in the accident. Perhaps that is why even after retirement I am still in the union and believe they help me everyday.  This "media" we are using intrigues me and even though I don't know you at all I would like to ask you a personal question - why didn't you quit where you were working and GO for the better paying job at the nonunion steel mill ?   Back "in the day" or "way back then" it should have been an easy enough thing to do???  May I please go further and ask "are you retired from the 'steel mill'?  If you are then is the company living up to it's agreed upon benefits???
It kind of "ticks" me off to see the pickets at Nemenz IGA in Struthers - I love shopping there and hate myself for crossing a picket line all at the same time.  Mr. Nemenz has contributed to a number of worthy causes that I have been connected.  I know of a few employees that say it is an OK place to work and are OK with their working conditions.  We can both agree that the union is there for MONEY - and more members which equates not only more MONEY but more power too.  Thanks again for your reply - I know I have learned because of it.

Keenyjoe330,

Mu union membership was at a local aluminum factory, they always made less than the steelmills. I did indeed try to get into NorthStar several times, for some reason I never got the call. Leaving the union for me was actually taking a management job. I worked in management for 17 years until being laid off this past January.

I don't like the pickets at IGA either, they're not fighting for their own jobs, yet are jeopordizing other's jobs.

if it wasn't for the union at my shop i would not have been able to retire at the age of 48yrs young. unions do provide a good living standard for all concern. :D ?town the iga picketers are not even working for union wages without any fringe benefit package options, but minimum wage. oddly, the sponsor of the picketers goes against their mission statement ::)

WOW youwerewhere?  IGA picketers work for minimum wage AND against their mission statement ???  YOU SHOULD do some informational picketing next to them - may be Mr. N would pay you something to do it.  Being retired at such an early age - hay you could join THE RACKET and let people know THE TRUTH.

I worked for Mr. Pilgrim during my YSU days and right after I got out of the Navy.  My cousin Pojo was a union rep at the place across the street and down Lake Park Road.  When the Post Office called I went there because it was over a dollar more but still not the same as the steel mills or GM.  The way I see it the union did you a favor and you ended up in management  :laugh:  My brother was in upper management at Republic and gets a lower retirement from them than do the regular employees - who got IT from The Company.  But hay that what happens sometimes or a lot of times when people with a little money get it taken away by little people with a lot more money - if ya catch the drift ? ? ?   I was at a meeting today and a lawyer asked "who belonged to a union"  her and I were the only two that were SURE - one person who shall remain namelesssss JUST retired and wasn't sure - not to worry he has such a good retirement the union could take their dues out and he would never even notice. :laugh: 8) ;D ::) And that person is REAL HYPED UP on UNONS   ; The lawyer was in a Union  :-\  Must be SOMETHING to Unions if lawyers are in them.  I know a JUDGE who works for Social Security and she is a steward in THEIR UNION.  :o
I think THE UNIONS ARE BECOMING CAPITALISTIC   :o :o :o  I mean really just stop and think about it - money and members - that's what it is all about  :-X 

kennyjoe,

I believe my current permanent layoff is from the company "across the street and down Lake Park Rd".

Who is/was Mr. Pilgrim?

Mr. Pilgrim  was owner of Pilgrim Aluminum - a really nice guy - honest and fair as far as I could tell.  I remember one time we went on strike - it was fall and cold out - we had someones small trailer/camper and he let us use his electricity and bathrooms - what can I say ?  I am talking a while back - while at YSU I think I worked there first out of high school about 1964 or so then when I got out of the Navy in 1971 for about a year.  I ended up in packing and remember him working right next to me wrapping stuff for an order.  He had a swimming pool out the back door too.  At one time he had picnics for the employees from what I was told and everyone used the pool - it was pretty big.  He died I would say maybe more than twenty some years ago - may he Rest In Peace.  Maybe it was longer than that because Jackie Diamond, may she Rest In Peace, bought his home after he died and she lived there awhile and THAT has been fifteen to twenty years ago.  Ugh I am starting to feel OLD  ::)

kennyjoe you will never be old in the eyes of us. :)

G0 Go Kennyjoe ::)

 :D DITTO  :D