♦ UNIONS !.. Kroger forcing kids to Join..!!!! (high school, college, wages)

[1BigBear]

My son has been working for Kroger for 4 months.. He's been harrassed by union officials and Mgmnt to sign up & pay initiation and monthly dues. It's close to $150...what they want....."Just sign by the X, son"....they say.
What does a 17 yr old know about UNIONS..??? (or Jimmy Hoffa ?)
They~ MGMNT is Threathening to remove him from schedule and probably fire him if he doesn't join..(I won't let him.) as the membership application paperwork clearly says ..."" ...I am also aware that I may legally refrain from being a member of UFCW Local Union 700 and forgo all rights and benefits(ha!)of membership....
I'm sure someone has a kid working for Kroger... or knows Indiana labor laws......
Is this actually TRUE ??? That your kid MUST JOIN...or be FIRED..!!.. ?

[TheWriteStuffIndy]

This is from a page on [url=http://www.ehow.com]eHow | How To Do Just About Everything! | How To Videos & Articles[/url] regarding Indiana law and union organizing and operations. As is stated below, your son does not have to formally join the company union, but he must pay his share of dues that union determines, via a formula produced in agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor, what it costs to actually operate the union. We live in what is called a "union shop" state, versus some other states that are referred to as "right to work" states.

I've been told that Republicans in the Indiana General Assembly will likely try to produce a law in this session of the legislature to at least partially move Indiana toward "right to work" status. But we will see. I tend to be a fairly liberal kind of guy politically, but IMHO, labor unions lost their ability to properly function a long time ago, and the kind of organizations that they now maintain tend to be corrupt and misguided.

I know that doesn't help your son right now, but at least you'll be able to explain it to him.

"By Indiana and federal law, no worker can be required to join a labor union as a condition of her employment. However, since the union representatives are the ones who negotiate the benefits and wages for the employees in collective bargaining agreements, all employees at that job can be required to pay union dues equal to the operating costs required for the union to function. Additional dues, such as monies collected for the sake of political donations and activism, cannot be required from employees by law. So an employee can choose to not be a union member, but some of his wages still go to the union to cover expenses. Those dues are less than what full union members pay in dues because the additional funds are used in ways that the nonmember legally does not have to fund.

"Read more: Indiana Union Labor Laws | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/list_6063958_indiana-union-labor-laws.html#ixzz1BKHeZheY"

[BCLead]

As The Write Stuff says, no, your son does not have to join the union at Kroger, but he must pay the union dues. This is nothing new. I worked for Kroger the summer after high school graduation, 1981. Guess what? We went on strike that summer. My own son, worked there from 2005 to 2009 while in high school and on college breaks. He did not have to join the union, but he did have to pay the dues.

[pmasters]

A union for mimimum wage workers?

[Jillaceae]

It is fairly common for grocery stores to be unionized, and their workers usually make more than minimum wage, though not necessarily an incredible amount more.

[Aarmin]

Interesting.. I worked at Kroger as a Utility Clerk (part time) during high school and slightly beyond. 2001 - 2004. I was never pushed, or even asked to join the union.

[1BigBear]

WELL ....HE WAS REMOVED FROM THE SCHEDULE YESTERDAY... Kroger management said they were forced by the Union jackwagons to remove him, till dues of over $200 were paid in full.
( yeah ..pay up kid ! Then→ work for no pay for 6 weeks or so.!!)
WHAT A CROCK..of BS !

[domergurl]

well, if the labor legislation passes .... he'll get back to work.

[Michelle Morris]

I have lived in IN most of my life, a large portion of that being up in NW IN near Chicago, and I just don't understand unions at all. If they are so great, why do they have to force people to join? Seems to make no sense to me at all.

[maybemover96b]

To Michelle Morris -As the TheWriteStuffIndy's post points out this persons son does not have to join the Union.

Regarding your not understand unions. I believe unions brought American workers many things and still do today, including:

Safer working conditions
Child labor laws
Minimum wages
Eight-hour work days
40-hour work weeks
Profit sharing

Like any organization it has practices, policies and procedures not everyone would agree with. But an even brief look at working conditions prior to labor laws gained by strikes and other actions of unions would lead most — I would hope — to believe that we as a nation better off because unions formed in the U.S.