Board 8 > If you could, would you want to belong to a labor union?

(+) Yeah! (+)

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Yeah I'm the president of mine.

Labor unions have a lot of pros and cons, but a well run union is def better than no union.
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I couldn't have my job and also be in a labor union so no
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i don't want a job where a union would be applicable
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I could but I'm not
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I voted yes but yeah like NFUN I don't think any job I'd be interested in would unionize.
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There's no union here.

...and I work for the State. Many thanks to our prior two governors for that - one a Democrat, one a Republican.
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I am a member of a professional organization. Not technically a union but similar. Also, I cannot be a member of a union since I am a federal employee.
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It would have been helpful at my last job, but the agency decided not to unionize and we dealt with inept and, quite frankly, lawless leadership instead. I'm not eligible at my current job.

Unions are great, and I don't understand how a common working man or woman could be against them. If you go back to before unions or look at a non-unionized industry like game developers or Amazon factory workers you see a system where you can work extremely long hours, have essentially no days off paid or otherwise, get fired/laid off for no wrong doing, have no protection from unsafe work environments, no guarantee of fair pay, etc. etc. etc.
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ChichiriMuyo posted...

Amazon factory workers you see a system where you work extremely long hours, have essentially no days off paid or otherwise, get fired/laid off for no wrong doing, have no protection from unsafe work environments, no guarantee of fair pay, etc. etc. etc.

yeah I didn't have this experience when I worked at Amazon

I worked 40 hours per week 4 days per week and occasionally had overtime. Only ever worked more than 50 hours per week during Christmas season.

maybe I was lucky or maybe it's gotten worse since I left who knows
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ChichiriMuyo posted...

Unions are great, and I don't understand how a common working man or woman could be against them. If you go back to before unions or look at a non-unionized industry like game developers or Amazon factory workers you see a system where you can work extremely long hours, have essentially no days off paid or otherwise, get fired/laid off for no wrong doing, have no protection from unsafe work environments, no guarantee of fair pay, etc. etc. etc.

The trade-off is that union leadership can push for things that are against the workers' interests and go too far with their demands. I point to Hostess's closure as probably the only major recent example I can come up with. I'm not sure whether the label was bought up by another company, but they're back again and right now I could really go for some Twinkies.

...no, I'm on Weight Watchers. I'm stronger than this. I lost control last week because of the Twix, I can redeem myself and hold up against that golden cake of deliciousness and its sweet, sweet creamy middle.

That's the most recent example you can think of, and that was years ago. Most if not all unions put contract negotiations to a vote, and they voted to not allow cuts to either salary or pensions. That essentially means that the company didn't actually get beat up by the union, but due to the fact that the crash took out their pension program. If anyone worked against the interest of workers at Hostess it was Wall Street. If not for the crash, the company would not have needed to ask employees to choose between today and tomorrow. It could have kept its pay and its pension.
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I would not mind being part of a union, but I have a fairly cushy tech job so I probably wouldn't see any immediate benefit
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Let's say I can have a job and choose to be in a union or not.

No brainers I'm going into a union.

ChichiriMuyo posted...

Unions are great, and I don't understand how a common working man or woman could be against them. If you go back to before unions or look at a non-unionized industry like game developers or Amazon factory workers you see a system where you can work extremely long hours, have essentially no days off paid or otherwise, get fired/laid off for no wrong doing, have no protection from unsafe work environments, no guarantee of fair pay, etc. etc. etc.

The straightforward answer is essentially that doing those things are good for a diverse workforce, but not good for individual workers. For workers who want money but don't mind working long hours as much, they have the option of working long hours and converting time into money. For workers who look bad on paper, but they personally know that they're a good worker (like ex-cons, teenagers, racial minorities in prejudiced areas) the ability to fire them for underperforming allows them to make a cogent argument for hiring them in the first place. For workers with high risk tolerances, unsafe work environments allow them to turn that risk tolerance into salary

Unions are good for the people already in them, but notably do not fight for the rights of people outside of them, although they claim to.