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I'm just curious to see what everyone has to say about this. It seems in the last 10 years, probably longer, it has become popular for workers to bash labor unions, and claim they are unnecessary. I have also been told they are greedy. There are literally over 100 of them, probably many more, and I think the view of them all is based on the actions of a few.
At any rate, with wages plummeting, people lining up for minimum wage, honest American's seemingly backed into the corner... Is anyone else starting to feel like unions may indeed serve a purpose again? They've been declining in presence for nearly 30 years now, and not much has been going good for the average worker anymore.
I'm just curious to see what everyone has to say about this. It seems in the last 10 years, probably longer, it has become popular for workers to bash labor unions, and claim they are unnecessary. I have also been told they are greedy. There are literally over 100 of them, probably many more, and I think the view of them all is based on the actions of a few.
At any rate, with wages plummeting, people lining up for minimum wage, honest American's seemingly backed into the corner... Is anyone else starting to feel like unions may indeed serve a purpose again? They've been declining in presence for nearly 30 years now, and not much has been going good for the average worker anymore.
It is not popular for workers to bash unions. It is popular for greedy corporate pigs who want to soak and exploit labor to line their own pockets and buy a summer home in the Hamptons to bash unions.
If ever there was a time when the U.S. needs to see a resurgence of labor unions, it's now.
Some of the carnage that the corporate war on workers and their unions has wrought: a decline in wages, benefits, unions and jobs--while corporations and the wealthiest 1% have amassed the largest concentrations of wealth in history.
Here in WI they've doing a really good job of pitting private union & non-union workers against one another, as well as public unions vs taxpayers. Sadly it's working here and all across the country.
Divide and conquer indeed. Very soon the American worker will have no voice in the workplace. Take your $8 dollar an hour job with no benefits or take a hike.
Unions make me think of my former neighbor who was the admin for the Boilermakers or something like that. I remember her telling me about the big union paid trips she would go on with the union head she worked for-- as well as seeing pictures of their new fancy office digs where the desks for her and her head cost over 10k a piece.
It made me think-- I wonder who in the union at the common worker level how they are fairing and would they feel ecstatic to know their union dues go to pay for what I think many would view as excess.
Personally-- I think many unions have made their bed and are now having to lie in it. Some of the "workers rights" unions went after in the past decade or longer were really exploitation of management/corporation. I don't agree that corporations should also be explotative and excessive but when you can't let go of pretty craptastic employees because the union says no-- no one wins.
Ironically I had this conversation with my French coworkers a couple weeks ago. They were discussing their own unions and many of my colleagues stated that they felt unions were becoming weaker and less effective because their own greed has crippled some of their effectiveness (i.e. companies just end up going to other countries for labor, etc).
Unions make me think of my former neighbor who was the admin for the Boilermakers or something like that. I remember her telling me about the big union paid trips she would go on with the union head she worked for-- as well as seeing pictures of their new fancy office digs where the desks for her and her head cost over 10k a piece.
It made me think-- I wonder who in the union at the common worker level how they are fairing and would they feel ecstatic to know their union dues go to pay for what I think many would view as excess.
Personally-- I think many unions have made their bed and are now having to lie in it. Some of the "workers rights" unions went after in the past decade or longer were really exploitation of management/corporation. I don't agree that corporations should also be explotative and excessive but when you can't let go of pretty craptastic employees because the union says no-- no one wins.
Ironically I had this conversation with my French coworkers a couple weeks ago. They were discussing their own unions and many of my colleagues stated that they felt unions were becoming weaker and less effective because their own greed has crippled some of their effectiveness (i.e. companies just end up going to other countries for labor, etc).
Excess on either side is not helpful.
Yea, I think we are seeing the pendulum swing. What the unions have done to corporations 30+ years ago, we the workers are paying for.
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Three of our 5 family members were union members, now down to 2 as one got promoted to management. Do far it seems like they take dues but have done nothing to help the workers. The two still in unions are public employees, and there are budget issues. Their unions have agreed to higher
contributions to medical and to either pay cuts or more hours for the same pay. The other problem I see with the current economy is that in union jobs layoffs are strictly by seniority, so often the best are let go while the "dead wood" is allowed to keep their jobs.
I suspect that unless the economy gets better soon, many public employee unions will be straining to remain viable. Trade unions on the other hand might remain strong if they can manage with fewer worker members by increasing dues and not alienate them.
Yea, I think we are seeing the pendulum swing. What the unions have done to corporations 30+ years ago, we the workers are paying for.
You are right.
I remember reading about the teachers union in NY-- where teachers can't basically be fired without an extremely lengthy review process. So while the teachers are pulled out of the classroom they are sent to this holding place to sit with other teachers everyday and still get paid until their review comes up-- which can be several years later. Its ridiculous. In my world, if you are really completely incompetent, you can be fired.
At the end of the day what is going on-- I don't think unions will be able to solve.
The world has become flat. With technology, transport, etc you are not going to get huge wages in certain positions any longer because it is not required by the company. They can go elsewhere for that labor or invest more heavily into technology to still bring down labor costs. And this is not just outsourcing out of the country-- it can be "outsourcing" to different states with cheaper labor costs.
The fact remains is that some jobs that may have paid $25.00 an hour 5 years ago may not be worth in real dollars the $25.00 an hour. I had friends in IT during Y2k who made killings basically modifying simple code to ensure that the world would not collapse during Y2k-- heck I even had a contract to do documentation for every piece of software, technology impacted by Y2k and I got paid way too much to do even that job. The fact remains is that the wages they may have gotten paid during a shortage for skills are just not relevant now.
Not every job is suffering wage depression. Those in my network have actually had their wages steadily increase since 2007-- those that continued to increase their skills are also finding new jobs and better wages. However, they are in demand skillsets. Not every job is and nor will they be.
Three of our 5 family members were union members, now down to 2 as one got promoted to management. Do far it seems like they take dues but have done nothing to help the workers. The two still in unions are public employees, and there are budget issues. Their unions have agreed to higher
contributions to medical and to either pay cuts or more hours for the same pay. The other problem I see with the current economy is that in union jobs layoffs are strictly by seniority, so often the best are let go while the "dead wood" is allowed to keep their jobs.
I suspect that unless the economy gets better soon, many public employee unions will be straining to remain viable. Trade unions on the other hand might remain strong if they can manage with fewer worker members by increasing dues and not alienate them.
THIS.
This is what I despise about most unions. My cousin is a teacher- a very good one. Her kids have done very well on the end of the grade exams, she is super passionate. She has no tenure-- and will not have her job renewed. Meanwhile some of the deadwood at the school who have had students that do not do as good-- are keeping their jobs.
My mother works in a union shop (they dont have representation but the whole airline is pretty much run as a union shop). When layoffs happen they get rid of those with no seniority when in reality most of her bitter coworkers who happen to be there for ages keep their jobs. No one gets a true review- everyone gets the same annual increase no matter if you are excellent or if you plain suck.
I would fester and die in that kind of environment.
... They've been declining in presence for nearly 30 years now ...
Indeed. Here is the opening paragraph from the latest Union Membership news release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
"In 2010, the union membership rate--the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of a union--was 11.9 percent, down from 12.3 percent a year earlier, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions declined by 612,000 to 14.7 million. In 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available, the union membership rate was 20.1 percent, and there were 17.7 million union workers."
The data show interesting demographics of union membership by state, government, and industry. Here is a link to the .pdf, in case you are interested: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/union2.pdf
Three of our 5 family members were union members, now down to 2 as one got promoted to management. Do far it seems like they take dues but have done nothing to help the workers. The two still in unions are public employees, and there are budget issues. Their unions have agreed to higher
contributions to medical and to either pay cuts or more hours for the same pay. The other problem I see with the current economy is that in union jobs layoffs are strictly by seniority, so often the best are let go while the "dead wood" is allowed to keep their jobs.
I suspect that unless the economy gets better soon, many public employee unions will be straining to remain viable. Trade unions on the other hand might remain strong if they can manage with fewer worker members by increasing dues and not alienate them.
That "dead wood" your referring to is usually the older workers.........your into age discrimination perhaps?
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