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I spent 28 years in blue collar work as a member of the Machinists Union. Great wages, incredible pension that I did not have to pay anything in to and when I took early retirement at 55 it was with a 21% reduction and I got a slight raise over my base pay. By the time I retired I was up to 49 days of paid time off, holidays plus vacation although we did not get any paid sick leave.
When the company was sold the new owners did not think women belonged there and they tried every thing they could think of to try and force me out even though I was number 5 in seniority. The union forced them to knock it off.
So I'd have to say that being a unionized worker was a very good thing for me. I absolutely believed in giving them a good days work for the pay and it was not uncommon for me to stay 15 or 20 minutes extra (without overtime pay) to finish something that really needed to get done and I was not the only one in the shop who ever did so.
Did we have any slackers? Yeah, 2 or 3 which is not much out of more than 120 employees. Most everyone there knew what a good thing we had and was grateful to be so lucky as to have wound up there.
Location: Sometimes Maryland, sometimes NoVA. Depends on the day of the week
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I work for the gov't. My first gov't job was in an agency with a union (white collar job). I never paid union dues although I was protected and covered by the union (right to work), and I saw what the union did. They were able to get contracts that allowed teleworking and a 4-day (10 hour day) schedule. Very useful in the metro DC area where people could spent 2-3 hours a day commuting. In general, the union was very low-key (we legally couldn't strike), but it was nice to have an extra layer of worker protection. That agency ran very well, and in general the workers were happy.
Now I'm at an agency without a union. It amazes me the difference. I don't know how much it the union and how much is just bad management, but when it comes down to bad management - there is nothing for us. Morale is terribly low. For example, our agency head refuses to let anyone telework, despite congressional mandates. I've seen admins with far too much power allowed to legally force people out of jobs (by "forgetting" to do paperwork), not to mention verbal abuse. No, I don't think this is a result of not being unioned, but seeing what I had before, I think a union could help with a lot of the issues. The gov't workers union doesn't have a lot of power, but they are able to do good thing. When I go back to my first agency, I will be paying union dues.
10 years ago I would have said that unions were needed and great when they were created 100 years ago, but they have outlived their usefulness. I disagree now, and not just because of my recent experience, but because I have been watching what has happened in this country with buisness excesses, productivity, worker salaries, health care benefits, etc. In the past 10 years we have moved further and further away from thinking of others to a mindset of personal greed. Some call it personal responsibility, which I don't deny should exisit, but we have gone too far, IMHO, toward a culture of greed. And when the rich and powerful get greedy, they take it out on the little guy living day-to-day who is needs the job too much to risk it all be speaking up. Take the single mom working at a big box store for $8.50/hr. After taxes and paying for the health insurance for her family, she may be working for $1/hr. But she needs the job she has too much, and there just aren't other jobs he can pick and choose from. I've got a friend back home who works at one of these. The stories she tells of people being forced to work off the clock (e.g. clean up your area after you clock out), having to schedule everyone for 31 hours so they don't qualify for benefits (nor can make a living), but no set schedule and no flexibiliy - so you can't hold down a second job. Things like that. My friend is between a rock and a hard place - she can't speak up because she would be fired, and she quit because, at $10.50/hr, there is nothing else in the area that will pay her enough to feed her family. Her husband has been laid off recently (construction) and they are barely scraping by. She is 55 years old, so school, moving, etc aren't really option. Besides, how could she take classes or anything when she barely has enough money to make it through the month nor can she get a set schedule to plan classes around? Oh, and she use to make very good money cleaning houses, but she hurt her back moving furniture and so this is the best option. :\
Unions have outlived their usefullness. At one time they provided employees and children with protection from being taken advantage of and cheated. Now it is only the union leaders who benefit from the union. They got to luxury hotels for meetings, go to meetings off site during working hours and when a member has a problem, they file a grievance. I worked in management for 30 years, retired with a pension 60% of my salary. A union worker with 30 yrs retired with a pension they couldn't afford to live on. Every time a contract was negotiated, their leaders took the money up front, benefits up front, and no one cared about their retirement.
Unions have outlived their usefullness. At one time they provided employees and children with protection from being taken advantage of and cheated. Now it is only the union leaders who benefit from the union. They got to luxury hotels for meetings, go to meetings off site during working hours and when a member has a problem, they file a grievance. I worked in management for 30 years, retired with a pension 60% of my salary. A union worker with 30 yrs retired with a pension they couldn't afford to live on. Every time a contract was negotiated, their leaders took the money up front, benefits up front, and no one cared about their retirement.
I don't think that's a problem with the concept of a union, but rather a case of poor managment. Just one more thing that needs a good housecleaning in the good ol' USA.
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
8,309 posts, read 38,774,074 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jertheber
Yes, it's a tough one alright, do you want a say in your work life? Our freedom here in the US, ends at the door of business, it's their ball, you don't like it? Go home. Calling that a choice is displaying a lack of understanding the worker mentality, fear, is always part and parcel of the workers perception of fair play, he/she knows the boss favors a non union shop and so they get on the boss's side to please.
For the record....Nobody is compelled to pay dues to the unions, if it violates their notion of fairness they may pay an "agency" fee to an organization of their choice. Of course the Unions must still provide representation for these folk's. Unions are not a bad deal for workers, considering the era when you had no, "right", not to work.
In the days when picket lines were broken up by mercenaries, labor unions were necessary. I'm sure there are instances where they still perform a necessary function, but things have gotten pretty ridiculous in many others. For example, at a radio station no one can touch the sound byte decks except for the assistant engineer because it would make his job uneccessary. The host could do the job and still perform his duties, the producer could do the job and still perform his duties, the janitor could do the job and still perform his duties, etc. etc. The union basically creates and perpetuates inefficiency. Does anyone disagree that the UAW had a large measure of culpability in the failure of GM?
To be honest, unions work in some instances and don't in other instances... its situation dependent... one thing is for certain, when a union gets too big, its usually BAD... cause then its not about worker's rights, its about union profits going into pockets of union leaders... never ever let something get too big...
. Does anyone disagree that the UAW had a large measure of culpability in the failure of GM?
I disagree. The unions got what management gave them. GM fail to make quality cars people wanted. They advertise big gas guzzler vehicle,instead of promoting fuel efficient cars. They gave the employees those hefty pension and medical benefits. Management poor decision destroy GM and the economy also.
Our union just sign a new contract. One of the things we had to sign was that the company isn't liable for pension funds going low. They will not put more money into it,because of poor management or bad economy dragging it down. If our insurance premiums goes up,it was up to the employees to pay out of pocket to cover cost. The company look out for the best interest. GM could've done something like that years ago.
Location: Just transplanted to FL from the N GA mountains
3,997 posts, read 4,141,865 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by texdav
Bascially the only thing I saw unions good for is letting slackers get by because they have time on others.Shame its come to that.
Most people who put the unions down, usually are those who have tried to get in one, and for one reason or not it hasn't worked out.
My husband's union, while not perfect by no means, really does mean better quality and skilled workers. I've seen many a job start non-union, only to be finished when the non-union contractor was let go and a union contractor brought workers in that actually knew what they were doing. Granted, it cost more... but sometimes there is truth in the saying, "you get what you pay for."
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