Do you work for the union? do you like it?

I worked in a union shop for the last 4yr. The pay was pretty good, benefits so-so, working conditions sucked. The union usually sided with the company. There were almost daily contract violations by BOTH sides. Unions pit employees against the supervisors and managers. Keep poor workers around hurting product quality and driving away business. And it is the least senior people that pay when there is a lay-off. I worked in a non-union shop for 16yr prior, I liked my job but I fell for the union rhetoric "get a few years under your belt, and you're gold" 2mos ago I left for a non-union job, better pay, way better benefits, working conditions are better. I WILL NOT WORK IN A UNION EVER AGAIN! I urge you and your co-workers to vote it down!

 

Me and my wife are both in unions, and it is a good deal for both of us, I get union representation when ever there is a need, and they got a benifits package this contract that is good. (Last contract health insurance from the company ran 900 per month, now only 175). My wife is a teacher and her union is so nuetered in our state that is barely functions anymore, but its still the best way to leverage for better conditions. I would say to think of unions as a tool to better your job, but you have to be willing to use it and to learn how it works.

 

Unions = people that can't stand on their own merits!

 

A while back the UAW agreed to start new workers in at $9.00 bucks an hour while these "old brothers" were still making their $30.00 bucks an hour.

 

I've been an educator and member of the NEA/MEA for 20 years and have seen things steadily get worse for teachers over that time. People love to blame the union for "keeping bad teachers" in the classroom, but the laws have always existed that allow administrators to remove poor or incompetent teachers- they just have to follow the proper steps. The problem is most administrators are too lazy to follow the steps and dismiss said teacher- it is easier for them to just shuffle staff around, perpetuating the problem. Now that Michigan is a right-to-work-for-less state, and tenure laws no longer exist, teachers are being harassed and terminated without cause, usually as part of an administrative vendetta.

 

Back when my parents lived in Michigan some of the districts layed off everybody on staff the last day pf school and would rehire based on budget the next year, so the newest and least educated teachers got the rehire first. Im worried that kansas will swing that way after they cut tenure here this spring.

 

I wouldn't mind working for a union, one of my friends is in a union and they take safety pretty seriously, I dont love my company enough to break my neck for some of the things Im asked to do.

 

I like my union, it hasnt failed me yet. I worked in the same field previous to this job, and it was non-union, and i got told at least once a month that, if i didnt do the job they wanted, turn mystuff in and they would find someone that could, worked very long hard hours for horrible pay, super-shitty pay, and absolutely zero recognition when excelled at my job, and nothing but harrassment when i didnt. I would take the union vote, it would be worth it my opinion. You could gain some very beneficial things from it. Only downfall is they have to fight for every employee, shitty or not.

 

This thread has gone better than expected. I've worked with union guys before but did not opt to be part, and there were a lot of things where most of the guys didn't agree with what the union rep was doing but that's just how it was -- grievances for salaried managers helping out hourly guys for 5 minutes, grabbing a broom to sweep up a spill, stuff like that. I've also worked for a non union company where I could see that maybe had I had a union things might have turned out better, horrible boss so I quit, the only job I've ever felt like that but I probably still wouldn't have joined. There are other jobs...

 

Thanks everyone. This turned out better than I expected. Like I said I work for a box factory called PCA they are a pretty big company and I have now complaints of how work environment is as well as pay and benefits. We have always been big in safety and I realky like out management. I think this all came about with some of the old timers that have been there for 20+ years and dont really know how good they have it because they have never worked anywhere else. So with what ive read and know now. I think I will vote no.

 

I work in a field where I am one of less than a dozen non-union workers. I have my own contract, which I negotiate every three years. The other 350+ are all in some sort of bargaining unit.

The bargaining units do get higher wage increases each year. We get very little. But, the unions keep lazy people there, and you get a lot of situations where they cry "change of working conditions" for any minor additional thing they need to do. Frankly, it's absurd and I hate the whining--especially since I'm one to go in on weekends and the middle of the night when I feel I have things that need to get done. Those of us who negotiate our own contracts are very devoted because they could get rid of us at any time for any reason, or simply not renew our contract when it's up. That's not a worry, realistically, as long as you do your job.

I've never been in a union and I would like to keep it that way, personally.

 

I was in a Union once, they lost millions in bad investments using our pension fund and didn't tell anyone that they were going to make the investments until after it was confirmed a huge loss. I don't trust them now.

 

I was a Teamster for a few years while working for UPS, and Consolidated Freight. I hated the Union. I was only part time. Worked my butt off. At UPS I worked 4-8 a.m. If I knew I was in for a brutal day I'd come in early to get organized to make my day a little easier. The Union Steward would always bust my balls. "You don't start work until 4 a.m. You don't touch the packages until then". Piss off. You're not making it easier for me, you're making it worse. Then I was a Supervisor for Arkansas Best Freight (ABF) and that completely sucked. 30% of the Union guys worked pretty hard. 30% got by. And 30% were complete assholes, and they took up 80% of my time. My dad was a Union Pipe Fitter for over 30 years. They treated him fairly well. That was until he was requested to work a job outside his Local. He kept a trailer on the job site so as not to commute ungodly miles. His buddies gave him a shotgun becuase the Local in the job site area were pissed off that the company brought my dad in on the job. Thing was, as a superintendent my father never lost money on a job. He was sought after by many general contractors. So, I hate Unions. Like some who have commented, they have out lived their usefulness. And don't even get me started on the SEIU, NEA radical types. Government employees should not even have a Union. Slackers feeding off the Federal teat. Here's what the job pays. Do you want or not?

 

The best example of bad unionism is also the most recognizable to everyone:

Look at the state of Public Education today... Unions have locked in the principle of "Tenure", bankrupting the system by ensuring continued employment for the most incompetent teachers while not caring a whit about the quality of education.

 

Don't get me started on unions. Here, you can just work and the local union be damned. However, I used to have a job on the West Coast where the unions have control of everything. You don't have to join the union but you still have to pay them. This asinine law has been upheld by the Supreme Court. The call it "fair share" but it really just lines the pockets of the so-called union reps. The local union "rep" did nothing yet made double what anyone actually working did. And the heads of the unions can make ten times what the workers do.

When I was a firefighter-paramedic I once worked out of a station where the less-trained drivers actually made more than highly-skilled senior servicemen just because they were in the Teamster's union, which threatened to shut down emergency services if they didn't get their way.

 

Listening to Michelle Rhee, huh? This quote can be modified by removing the education references and replacing them with military, law enforcement, social services, private industry or any other walk of life references and still be correct. In 20 years as a teacher, I have known a huge number of exceptional and dedicated teachers, an equal number of very good teachers, and a few that were not that great. Those in the latter group could have been better had the administration actually done their jobs and put them on professional development programs and worked with them, instead of always going to conferences during school time so they could earn their Ph.D on the public's dime. Those teachers could have also been terminated if, and once again, the administration actually followed the steps to do so. Dedicated teachers despise consciously incompetent teachers, but abandoning the union (and be capriciously terminated) just to be a martyr does not help anyone.

 

Im in a union now. We make great hourly wages for the job we do (way overpaid)...Not complaining though. If it was non-union, I'd probably be making 10-12 dollars an hour doing the same job. 3% pay raise each fiscal year, lots of time off.

I just got a new job with BNSF railroad and its unionized as well. I have no problems with working with a union.

 

answer to OP's question:
No, and No.

...do a little research and look into the origins of unions/unionization... report back if you like what you find...

..."merit" vs. "complacency"... are they, or are they not, inversely related?

 

Well the verdict is a big NO. 59-30. And I am extremely happy. Thanks everyone for the input.

 

That's the rub. A union gets the upper hand, its workers are happy as shit until the jobs go south, then they claim company greed.