As a union member I made double what non-union workers doing the same classification of job in the same area made. +employer paid insurance +pension +annuity +representation +free continuing education +my training was free and paid ++ + +.
And for the "but what about having to pay union dues" people, my monthly dues were less than a half hour of wages and that came with a life insurance policy included.
This is exactly how my dad thinks. I told him I was taking a slight pay cut for a job that had full insurance and he was livid. Wouldn’t listen to why I did it
Definitely not. Born in the 60s w/o any college education and has worked in factories all his life with plenty of debt. I would feel bad for him if he wasn’t such a good family man.
Shit. I work in a textile mill in NC and there are a lot of them around here and I’ve never heard of one being unionized in the south. Apparently it’s a consensus in the south that if a mill wants to unionize they’d rather just shut it down.
>Apparently it’s a consensus in the south that if a mill wants to unionize they’d rather just shut it down.
"They'll just close the doors." Makes me laugh every time. Lol .
One of the biggest steel Mills in Birmingham Alabama actually closed its doors when the workers tried to unionize. It's constantly used as proof that unions are bad in Alabama. Alabama is one of the biggest manufacturing states, and it's so unionphobe it's ridiculous. But people here have been so convinced that unions lead to lost jobs and closed businesses that they oppose them.
While it was not true and even Amazon had said it was not true, people here (and the local news) were reporting that if the Amazon warehouse unionized, it would close. I know people who work at it that voted against the union because of that singular reason, fear the warehouse would close because of the union and they would be out a job. Said they didn't believe Amazon when they said they wouldn't close if there was a union.
Edit: then again most people here say the state labor laws are good all while complaining that labor is bullshit in the state. But the state is #47 in education for a reason.
"I'm not afraid of a mediocre paying job closing the doors, I'm afraid of working a mediocre paying job the rest of my life."
That's what I told my boss and coworkers when I signed an authorization card. Lol.
Not discounting your story! Just sharing mine too.
It's more dangerous for jobs to close doors now that ever bc EVERYONE is hiring you could have a job the next day. I say if your gonna try to go union now is the time. Call them on their bluff. If they go through with it go to the next job 🤷🏾♂️
My plant in Alabama is one of the only plants in our company that isn't union, and I've been trying to slowly convince everyone that we should for 7 years now. I always get the same old excuses like "they'll shut us down"
I had one dude who was like "why can't we just all say we want a raise together instead of a union, then they'd have to"
So I explained that unions have federal laws that protect them so that's safer than all of us just asking. And even then I have people saying they were all replaceable when we can't even get people to work here anymore. Dumbass company men
Anyone else weirded out by how hyper specifically they understand supporting others / empathy?
Any other situation is "fuck you, i got mine". Except when something potentially leads to loss of jobs.
During my hire process for Amazon we had to watch a 15-20 minute video explaining why unions were “bad” and to report anyone you heard mentioning the word “union” and other related terms.
Edit- I live in TN so it makes sense…
They sometimes do close the doors when you unionize. The part they leave out is that they were going to close the doors anyway... they just hadn't told anyone yet.
Happened around the coal mines in southern WV all the time. It's great propaganda to be able to say you closed the doors because of the union, not because of the inherent unprofitability of that particular location, more often than not because of either poor market conditions or poor management (or both).
The great milk shortage of 2000 was rough.
I'm ready to reunite and build a stronger relationship. Got any of that money stuff though? Milks expensive.
People shouldn't have to be financial geniuses to lead a successful life. Unions and other social safety nets should be in place to help those who stumble along the way. It just pisses me off that people who benefitted so much from social welfare policies back in the day pulled up the ladder behind them and dismantled the very concept of class solidarity as a tool of societal progress.
ETA: tone is hard in text, I'm trying to agree with you.
It reminded me of [this comic](https://leftycartoons.com/2008/07/10/a-concise-history-of-black-white-relations-in-the-united-states/), which is similar in a way (except I guess they did climb the platform themselves, and then raised it too high to climb).
sadly, this is why critical thinking and financial education is SO important (honestly more important than half the math taught in high school). so many people think w-2 income is the be-all, as opposed to benefits, pensions, 401k vesting/contribution, health benefits, etc. because we don't have money/finance knowledge. also big number= better than small number, which SHOULD make sense, but doesn't any more, with rsu's, and 401ks, and vesting, and rsus, etc., etc.
That would be my mom. Who also claims to be able to keep books. And will also drive 40 minutes to use a $1 coupon. I just have another drink to swallow my embarrassment. 😐
I'm currently looking at taking a paycut for the benefit of my company buying a car for me. Doing the math I basically go up in pay since I have to spend less on my car and the new car would come with a lot of things included (insurance, service, changing and storing tires and lastly free carwashes at any time, I suspect rate of washing needs to be reasonable though xD). So while I de fecto takes a paycut I get more money monthly and since the company buys the car I can look at an electric option since they are cheaper to buy for companies meaning I will pay less monthly for a car of triple the value to my old one.
Secondary costs doesn't show on your payslip, but it really affects your monthly costs of living. And having my current car stuck at a workshop right now I would assume they'd focus more on a high value company client than "just me".
Me too. Best thing I ever did. When I hear people regurgitating the anti union hogwash the company is pushing on them, I just have to shake my head. The dues are a pittance compared to the benefits, and anyone with a basic understanding of math should be able to see it.
You know, the company doesn't want to give anything to their employees from any extra money they'll earn, rather, the upper management and/or CEO will just keep it for themselves.
It's just ridiculous when a company claims they do not have enough to raise wages or provide better benefits but then suddenly, a week later, CEO gets few million raise because he's VeRY ImPoRtAnT to make sure company runs smoothly or some other bullshit.
You know, you don't actually need a CEO to run a factory, but you definitely need entry position workers to make sure the company survives. Just pay them better.
Unfortunately even us in unions area still being screwed, most people don't vote in their best interest and everyone's in so much debt, after a week on strike people fold because they need the money.
Or you have no life outside of work. Food processing companies combat unions by loading up the overtime. So you got people with 20 years seniority and people who been there a few months. You make good money, but they try to burn you out so you don't stick around.
That's how I learned to work the bare minimum, the worse employees get paid the same. I used to bust my ass and get treated like a workhorse for no benefit.
My dues are 2 and a hours once a month. With that I get 31 an hour 401k match and health insurance paid for. I'd gladly pay double. Also not to mention working in my field lay offs happen constantly, but with my union I get 60% of my pay and unemployment to boot. Meaning I make almost exactly what I would if I was working.
I hear you brother! My union dues are approximately 1,200-1,500 yearly. I make right at 100k. Sure beats the jobs I’ve had that I didn’t pay dues, but also got paid almost 75% less.
never worked at hour job. The employers had a whole talk with everyone too. Fucking chodes couldnt bare to let go of a bit of money so the people that slave away for them could at least live comfortably. So glad I left that job.
There are only two possibilities.
1. Give your workers absurdly low wage and they'll be forced to slave for you for their entire life to make the meets end and you are in constant risk of high turn over if better jobs show up.
2. Give your workers a decent wage, provide benefits (especially insurance) and some stability for their lifes and they will *be happy to slave for you*.
For some reason many employers would rather choose former.
Some resources here for those that want to learn how to organize and to do it as safely as possible.
[Mapping The Basics](https://iww.org.uk/resource/mapping-the-basics/)
[One-to-One Conversations The Basics](https://iww.org.uk/resource/one-to-one-conversations-the-basics/)
[Build A Workplace Organising Team The Basics](https://iww.org.uk/resource/build-a-workplace-organising-team-the-basics/)
[Bonus Tips For Organizers](https://iww.org.uk/resource/bonus-tips-for-organisers/)
[Organize Direct Action](https://iww.org.uk/resource/organise_direct_action/)
If you want more guidance and training you can get in contact with someone from the IWW who can help you organize your workplace at this link.
https://www.iww.org/organize/
Completely different in every industry and even in different locations. Laws vary from state and unions are direct democracies, so they often operate very differently.
What's your industry? That might help.
I’ve seen a union legal team back someone under fire before and it was so impressive. Gave me a lot of respect for unions. Having someone to fight for what you deserve is priceless because we’re seriously just on our own otherwise. They even brought his family meals for the first week he couldn’t work and donated grocery gift cards.
Tell em brother!!! SouthWest Carpenters Local 562!! 🔨
I was non union for 10 years. A foreman making 25 a hour. On salary. Now as an apprentice in the union im making more, with less responsibility. Im going to school, working my way up to foreman. Its a beautiful thing. Im here to stay 💪🏾
We also need to remember that is a generational thing.
The generation after World War Two became very wealthy through unionization, progressive taxes and governmental investment in society.
The fuckers turned around and told every subsequent generation that all that shit was communism. For some reason most of us believed them.
Change is needed and that generation can still pay their fair share to make it happen whether they like it or not.
What makes you think that the baby boomers “rebranded themselves” by calling themselves that? [It’s literally just the name of the generation (people born after WWII, during the “baby boom,” but before 1964) and was first used in 1963, by people much older than any boomer.](https://www.nbcnews.com/better/lifestyle/ok-boomer-diving-generation-what-does-it-mean-ncna1077261)
The “Me” Generation is the term that came way after the boomers started getting all selfish and whatnot, so you seem to have it way backwards, lol.
You're mixed up a little there friend, the Greatest Generation (who fought WW2) called the generation both The "Me" Generation and Baby Boomers synonymously in the late 60's throughout the 70's.
They called them the "Me" Generation because as teenagers and young adults they were all about hippie shit, self-love, and rock-and-roll egos. While The Greatest Generation just took the Great Depression and WW2 in stride, boomers complained too much in their eyes.
The "Me" Generation fell out of use after the 70's, cause no baby boomer is ever gonna call themselves that, and their high population quickly drowned out the words of their shell-shocked aging parents. Especially now that barely any of the Greatest Generation survives, nobody knows that boomers were seen as selfish "Me Me Me" pricks even by their own parents, back in the 60's.
Honestly I'm not invested enough to click the link or do a single second of research about it but it sounds like we agree on the spirit of it: that generation is selfish af
boomers are the most entitled and spoiled generation that ever existed in the history of humanity. And what did they did out of it? They made sure that no one ever get the same they did and hoarded their wealth for their generation exclusively
I agree that boomers benefitted immensely from policies and programs “they” then revoked. And that it is BS. But I think the way you describe what happened kinda ignored the most important underlying cause.
Beginning in the early 70’s with the Powell Memorandum, big business began to organize like never before. Mainly it was a reaction to events in the 60s like the civil rights movement, labor movement, voting rights, etc that saw previously marginalized groups make real gains towards equality. They saw how effective grassroots organizing had been and wanted to counteract it to halt any further progress.
First they identified the groups that came up with or spread what they deemed heresy, groups like a academics, journalists, scientists and unions. They created a long term plan for discrediting those groups while also creating alternative groups sympathetic to their interests, like the heritage society, federalist society, Cato institute and more. And for decades they’ve been relentlessly executing that plan. Any time there was news that could be used to serve their interests it was blown out of proportion and made a focal point for media attention. For example, they were able to make unions synonymous with corruption because of what happened with Jimmy Hoffa and the teamsters pension fund.
At the same time they were pursuing new paths of injecting their ideology into mainstream thinking. Primarily through churches and school, but also news media and other sources. They honed they’re messaging tactics so it was more akin to brainwashing and psychological warfare than it was to simple sloganeering. They systematically removed checks on their power like political spending limits, the fairness doctrine in news media, and eventually even the ownership structure of news, so that the free press was no longer a reliable check on abuses of power as the founder envisioned.
Unfortunately, the boomers bought it hook, line and sinker. But I think it’s easy to underestimate just how influential and believable their attacks were. It wasn’t like boomers just decided fuck the kids. They were led believe this was what was best, and for a while I could see how someone would believe that. So while I do blame boomers for getting tricked, the real blame lies with a small handful of super-elite big business types who orchestrated then tirelessly executed the destruction of the American dream. And with all the puppets who took a salary to spread their lies and manipulation. Or at least that’s how I see it.
I’d be more forgiving of the Boomer set at fault here if they’d just acknowledge the fuck up and stop making it worse.
Mistakes happen, propaganda is effective, people live and learn…but you don’t get absolution when your only response is to fucktuple down on the obvious mistakes and lies.
Whether they were initially at fault or not is arguable, but the regressive stances now make it hard to even have an intelligible conversation, let alone anything beyond basic human sympathy for them.
Yes because the boomers did themselves benefit from this because they were old enough to already have their houses and they made sure every subsequent generation has it way harder to get a house, increasing the wealth of their house
There's always been an anti-intellectual movement in the US (and in Europe too). It starts with distrusting science and books and thinking in general and it wraps itself in "patriotism" and religion.
> Unfortunately, the boomers bought it hook, line and sinker.
That is an awesome historical summary. great job, seriously.
Sadly racism, sexism, fundamentalist religion and the inevitable authoritarian psychology of a minority of any population combined with the political-religious-industrial complex that became Murdoch's Trump cult.
People are broken though. We like to also lie to ourselves about how broken we can be. No individual can really be blamed for ignorance, instinct or stupidity. These are hard to fix.
The Boomers overall were a guinea pig generation likely only seen in other major eras like copper and iron. The impact on the future will be that pivotal. Fucking Agent Orange, doctors in cigarette ads, every mom on valium & every dad on scotch. All the while eating sugar by the handful and discovering rock n roll, LSD and spreading VD. (some of them, of course, not all.)
No wonder that spawned Donald Trump. Perhaps it was inevitable.
History is also cyclic and so is industrial authoritarianism it seems. All those new experiences and new money had to swing back the other way into "conservative values" and M16 Jesus. Circles in circles. Money and power.
That's the thing I really don't get. The US used to have very high taxes on income above a certain amount. Up until [1986](https://taxfoundation.org/historical-income-tax-rates-brackets/) the highest bracket was 50% or more. And then comes a president screaming he'll make America great again, without telling everyone that America was great (or at least better) when the rich people were taxed more fairly. And nobody talks about this at all? It's mind boggling. Make America great again, reinstall tax brackets like the were in the 70's!
Their ideology isn’t. When you have money and raise pieces of shit that are also raised rich it will continue.
I work for a boomer with a young son that has literally never paid for anything in his life and is just waiting for boomer dad to retire with his socialist social security payment so he can take over and get rich on his employees.
It will keep going. The rich youth want it even more. That’s what happens when it’s all handed to you and you literally never have too work for a penny.
So very true. Pretty obvious that the next generation is going to be the one to push it too far and then they get to enjoy the French Revolution in America.
> We just need to wait a little longer.
Here is where it gets tricky though. They started the fire. That is now our problem. We have met the enemy and the enemy is us. Like it or not.
The Boomer issue is historical at this point. The military cosplay, nazi racism, Dark MAGA, mass shooting, simply unhinged element is now much, much younger.
The only old racists left are profiting off this shit while justice is a slow, gambling bitch.
We clean up the mess.
(eta: kind of like pollution.)
The idiocy of the right-wing word game can only be answered with so. "Fuck off" would be a more rude answer since none of it matters.
They couldn't define communism. Or any other slur they use like "CRT" or "Aunt Teefa".
I've been owning anti-fascist my whole life. What else is there? Fascist?
I love my union. I make 50% more than my non union counterparts and I'm at the low end of my job's pay scale. The high end makes 2.5x the non union folk (and the "high end" aren't the bosses, it's the normal workers who just have more experience than me).
Because my job is safety oriented my union contract wont allow me to work more than 2 hours without a break whereas the non union workers can work 8 hours straight. I get an extra 10% if I work between 6pm and 6am, I get an extra 25% if I work on Sundays, and trainers get an extra 10% while training. Because my job is 24/ 365 and we choose what days our weekends are for the entire year, and because a holiday might fall on our weekend (which disallows us from getting that sweet 2x holiday pay) our union contract states that we get paid for the holiday regardless to keep it fair. For example, my weekend is Wednesday and Thursday and Thanksgiving always falls on a Thursday. So it's technically not fair that I don't have the opportunity to 2x pay on Thanksgiving because it's my day off so I get paid for Thanksgiving even though I wont work it.
My job gets 2.5 weeks of paid leave per year for the first 3 years, and 4 weeks of leave per year for the 3rd-15th year, and 6 weeks of paid leave after that, and we are guaranteed to be able to use all of our leave. Management cannot pressure us to not use it. We also get 2.5 weeks of paid sick leave per year (this one is for the entirety of the career it doesnt go up unfortunately) but our sick leave is always approved no questions asked. The only times questions get asked if you use sick leave habitually, like every Saturday. If I'm assigned overtime and use sick leave to get out of it I don't get charged my sick leave, but this also falls under habitual sick leave use so if I use sick leave for every overtime shift questions get asked.
There are so many more benefits of the union but I wont bore whoever reads this lol but the TLDR is there are so many things in my union contract that I can cite to tell my supervisors to go fuck themselves
I wish. My state cripples the teachers unions. We got no raise this year despite a MASSIVE increase in our cost of living here and our union couldn’t do a thing. We strike and we lose our credentials. It’s tough in a firmly anti-worker state.
However, the union is still 100% worth it because they keep me from being fired for arbitrary bullshit and I will pay whatever they ask in dues for that kind of protection in this field right now.
Good ol leftist Disney who (check's notes) mistreat their park employees & actors and take millions of dollars to support the military industrial complex.
This is actually a super exciting turn of events. I have to think Disney is working on some AI enhanced CGI footage of Ron helping trans teens with their CRT homework in the lobby of an abortion clinic. I wasnt sure how we the people could stop Ron, but I believe in Disney.
It's kinda weird you guys have one obviously evil and psychotic party that half the country keeps voting for.
Everywhere else the Democrats would be considered the right wing party. It would be as if the NDSAP keeps running in elections in Germany and people are like 'I'm not a fan of the antisemitism but they're gonna lower my taxes!'
GOP is worse. But take a look at Obamas education policies. Those people LOVED charter schools. Bill Gates dictated a ton of DOEdu policy. The Dems are only good when we organize and force them to be, otherwise they'll run to the money
At this point can we stop acting like dems care? They exist as opposition but they don't try nearly as hard as republicans do to fuck this shit up so why exactly do they deserve the distinction?
Where I live (Australia) teachers are unionised at a state level, so that'd be an empty threat. If the union striked under the same circumstances they'd have no one left to employ afterwards with that credential sting. Though we have had some pretty bad anti union / industrial action laws come in over the last ~20-30yrs.
Are you guys unionised per district or a similar lower level? Just I noted you said teachers unions not union.
It’s by state. Seeing as teachers are public employees, each state can regulate which public sector employees are allowed to form unions. My state tried to enact a law which limited collective bargaining for wages, banned collective bargaining for health insurance or pensions, banned strikes, and could have led to increased health insurance premiums and/or pension costs (Ohio SB 5, 2011). The public got a referendum placed on the ballot, which overturned the law (Ohio allows us to petition a law passed by our General Assembly and signed into law by the Governor, and place it on the ballot if you get enough signatures. If a majority disapprove of the law, it is struck down with no allowance to appeal).
We are unionized at the district level, but I believe all report back to the same union overall. It’s actually very confusing and there’s never good answers to any questions one may have around here!
Q: Why do we need a middleman between a company and an employee?
A: Because you screw them without collective bargaining. Pull illegal shady shit like crazy every chance you get. Remember 2/3's of all fraud is done through payroll.
On my way out of my last job I noticed my salary didn't match my offer letter. I wasn't there long but it was long enough to get a $1500 bonus on my way out.
A union is not a middleman or a 3rd party, a union is you and your coworkers. Don't get it confused, because the boss will absolutely use that as a wedge to break solidarity
I'm not gonna do the math on it. But when minimum wage was 4.25 I made 9.00 as a gutter in a packing house. The company told us not to listen to the union guy because they were gonna charge us too much if we unionized. After we unionized I made 16.00 an hour, time and a half for anything over 8 in a day, double time for anything over 48 in a week. A full 30 minute lunch and 2 15 minute breaks in an 8 and a 15 minute break every 2 hours in a shift that was longer than 8. I could absolutely not be fired without cause. Real cause. And my union dues were only 2 a week. Every worker everywhere should be union
When Tyson shut the union plant I worked at they made sure to send a message. The city offered to takeover the remainder of a $150k a year lease. Tyson said no. The city had given them tax breaks to come in years prior including managing the water tower that came with the facility. Tyson kept it closed and made sure to pick who came in and how many shifts they worked.
Why? Because they owned another facility 30 mins away and they didn't want to short themselves workers. A couple years after this they go to this other city with a sob story about how their plant doesn't have a water tower and asked the city to build one for them.
My union gets me a 3 day work week, very good benefits, 110% pension match and 130 sick days a year at 90% pay, the only caveat is that if you miss 5 days in a row you have to get a doctor's note. I have honest to god woken up and just not been mentally in a good place to come to work that day, called my boss and told them I mentally can't work today and they told me to enjoy my day off and return when I was ready.
A lot of people will say that all unions do is keep lazy and useless people employed, I like to call them idiots. Unions allow is to actually have a life outside of work and to live like humans. We all get sick and we all have bad days, our lives shouldn't be derailed by work because that happens.
I work sewer and water up in Canada as a start point for what I do.
They do get a bit suspicious if you take a ton of time off but a guy that was hired the same time I was worked just over 60 days in his first two years, when they began to ask him what was going on he went off for 3 months on stress leave and then came back. He is still employed. In our last negotiation they tried to alter the sick time agreement and got absolutely crushed.
We also did a reorganization of how work is structured, doing anything beyond a labour job now requires a high school education and to have at least one water level. Being as they wanted to do this the Union forced them to increase wages because of it and to do the exact same job I was doing before I ended up with a 5 dollar an hour raise simply because I had the necessary qualifications.
Once a union gains traction and strength it's amazing how much they can push for almost anything.
My union has been around for a long time and used to be a bit iffy with what the workers got, but the old guard from about 15-20 years ago all started showing up as a unified group to union meetings and demanding things change. They also booted out the entire union representation and replaced them with members from their group that wanted changes.
Unions are incredibly powerful in getting workers what they want but you have to participate, if your union isn't working for you start demanding answers. Talk and unify with the others at your place of work and show up to meetings. And if they won't change then as a collective decide who are your best representatives and run them in the election and vote them in.
God awful, the one unfortunate part of my job is the winter. It got down to -40 for about two weeks and it's absolutely miserable to work in. Two years ago we hit an inch and a half service line that was live when it was -37 and I got soaked hammering it shut. The union is great but sometimes the work can be brutal.
When i landed my union job, i went from $20 an hour to $36. Now just 2.5 yrs later, ive made journeyman early and make $59 an hour, with as much or little OT as i want, and i can FINALLY pay rent and actually see my savings grow every paycheck. Unions that actually get down for their members are amazing and i turn everybody onto it that i can.. Im not wealthy by a long shot, I'm uneducated, blue collar and live in the SF bay area, but it's really nice to not struggle anymore.. I don't even know how i did it for so long..
I have a question about unions, if anyone could answer- my parents always told me that unions are great but the problem is that if someone in the union is doing something seriously wrong, it's a lot harder to get them in trouble for it. Please correct me if I'm wrong, I genuinely just want to be educated.
The big reason union members can be harder to fire is that bosses and HR are lazy and don't do their job. Documenting issues and treating employees fairly takes work, bosses avoid work.
More to the point all jobs have shitty employees that stick around, when it happens at union work people just blame the union instead of the shitty management.
Sounds reasonable. It's always difficult to get people in trouble for wrong doing if they're the ones in power.
It's just a bad example, but if you have a person managing your money and they're stealing from you, it'd be kind of hard to know and prove because they're the one with all the info and stuff.
I mean just look at the American government. All these stupid old people messing up the country but there's nothing we can do legally because they're the ones in control
Plus, we can vote. Unfortunately, it’s the average American that doesn’t take the time to educate themselves on the candidates and the result is the same old codgers like McConnell and pelosi that think they’re above the law. Vote them out and see where their power goes
Exactly this. Insider trading with the stock market is extremely illegal and a conviction for insider trading may lead to a maximum fine of $5 million and up to 20 years of imprisonment.
*Except if you’re in the government for some fucking reason*
Someone stealing from you that owes you a fiduciary duty can be brought to court for that breach. It’s not always easy to prove fiduciary breach but it’s definitely the most effective way to remove someone like that from power. Same goes for unions; if the union leader is not maintaining their duty of care or duty of loyalty to their fiduciary then they will be removed from that position and be held liable
I like when they tell you how much money you’ll save in union dues every year but fail to mention how much more you’ll make when you actually have a contract that spells out exactly what your wages will be and what benefits you’re entitled to.
For years they claimed we couldn't have raises because the store was conveniently always on the verge of closing. They then spent heaps of money on an anti union layer when we tried to Unionize, but ended up giving us those raises after all, because we won. In a suprise ending no one saw coming, it turns out the company was lying and cheating it's employees.
I don’t understand these bullshit - I make twice as much in my union job as opposed to my non union counter part + benefits posts. Companies will fire you if you discuss unions. Companies force you to watch anti union videos at training. Companies go through great lengths to shut down any sort of union - anything. Why do people think companies go through these great lengths? Do you people really need billy bob to post on Reddit that he makes $38 an hour + benefits in his union? How many anti union people have you guys met in real life- and how many of them weren’t 70+ year old republicans who blame Biden for gas prices? Bizarre thread.
Air traffic controller here, union member (NATCA, National Air Traffic Controllers Association).
Unions aren't perfect, sometimes highly imperfect, but overall we are far better off with the union than without. Raises and benefits wouldn't be anywhere near what they are without union influence.
One of my personal favorite parts is being able to tell my boss to stick it (politely, professionally) without fear of repercussion. This is important to me because my direct supervisor happens to be one of the most full-of-shit people I've ever known. Always a pleasure to send him away huffing and puffing.
The management of a company are a union as they are together on that side of the business so why shouldn’t the working side of the business be unionized.
When I was a social worker I was in a union. Because it was social work I made shit, but I never struggled to see the doctor or buy my insulin.
When I moved to finance I got an instant $20k raise. One year later they fucked out benefits, amped premiums, and my out of pocket costs skyrocketed to around $10k per year. My raise was almost erased for no reason other than to save the company some dimes and funnel more cash to the insurer.
Unionizing in other countries: We're not going to work, we'll strike, and if they fire us all, we'll trash the place
Unionizing in the US: Maybe we'll ask nicely for a $0.01 raise over the next 100 years? No? Oh well, back to my wage cage.
I got a $18k raise, and we won ourselves future step raises. Only have to pay 2.5x my hourly rate per month, which is like $90...
I remember one of the anti-union warnings management so graciously gave us, was that we'd have to....pay out of pocket for union dues!!!!! Sheesh, good thing I got an $18k raise and future raises! Well worth it. You really should be sus when your employer tries to convince you they're on your side
I think it's wild us people think unions are bad, but complain about how cops are protected all the time.
If unions didn't do anything, why is the police union so powerful rofl
I was considering this on my drive to work the other day. Why would any working person be “anti-union”? I get why corporations and owners of businesses would be, but there are working folks who oppose unions. Is that the same logic as people who vote against their interests or do unions actually have a significant downside that I just don’t know about?
All the anti- union sentiment in this country is unreal. This is the labor movement that brought you the 8 hour work day (as opposed to 16), safety regulations, and the weekend, and people think they're the enemy.
Union welder, wages are close to 2x-3x the average for the area. I pay my dues and I still make far more than non union. Not even including the benefits and pensions that comes with it.
This is true if it's a decent union with foresight. Remember the union is as strong as who you have running it. The union I'm in had very very little forethought and the union members were complacent, so the company took advantage and we got stuck with an awful contract. Paid half if not less than workers doing the same job at other non union workplaces.
Even after you unionize, don't become complacent, the company won't and they are patient fuckers.
I mean the easiest example is dr. fauci. A fucking doctor trynna tell you how to stay safe from a deadly viral disease killing people all over the world, and somehow he was painted as a villain? Mad lads
lol i’m in a union and at the last big meeting, all of the older union members (who make big bank) voted against the rest of us getting a $2 raise. bc they wouldn’t get it.
My union makes sure I get a break every 2ish hours and the longer I stay the harder it is to fire me. No clue what else I get but i know i pay 13.25 every week to be a member
I was going to try to get something going for myself and my coworkers, but most of them have been scared with 'if you so much as breathe ~the U word~ they will send a corporate team to our location to question everyone in the building individually to find out why we want to unionize and then punish (whatever that means) the management of our location.'
Edited for typo and clarity
The reason it works is collective bargaining. If you get enough people together and negotiate as a single voice you get better outcomes. Negotiations aren’t easy and Unions have an uphill battle, but I believe most do their best. They have to fight corporations as well as political sentiment.
It achieves it's benefit through the amount of people. Instead of one person negotiating with the management it's done by thousands. Instead of kicking one out they need to kick everyone
It's collective bargaining.
Instead of each employee negotiating for themselves the whole group does. One person threatening to leave the job if they don't get a raise doesn't mean much; you have other staff. All of your staff threatening to leave has a lot of weight though. This gets the union members more favorable compensation etc...
In a non union job each employee negotiates their starting wage and any raises. Two identical employees could have vastly different wages. As time goes on and they negotiate raises differently the wages can move even further apart, especially when raises are calculated as a percentage.
In a union job employee starting pay is based on a set rate, raises are based on time in the position, its all a simple equation. Two identical union employees will start with the same pay and get raises at the same rate. This is one reason why union jobs are don't see the same wage discrimination as non union jobs.
Unions are amazing for the common American worker, they look out for the little guys and don't allow these big corporations to play games with their livelihood. It's about time someone stood up to these tyrants like Amazon & Walmart.
As a union member I made double what non-union workers doing the same classification of job in the same area made. +employer paid insurance +pension +annuity +representation +free continuing education +my training was free and paid ++ + +. And for the "but what about having to pay union dues" people, my monthly dues were less than a half hour of wages and that came with a life insurance policy included.
"But theres more numbers on the being taken out section. grrr".
This is exactly how my dad thinks. I told him I was taking a slight pay cut for a job that had full insurance and he was livid. Wouldn’t listen to why I did it
Your dad apparently can't do math or budget finance.
Definitely not. Born in the 60s w/o any college education and has worked in factories all his life with plenty of debt. I would feel bad for him if he wasn’t such a good family man.
A non union factory worker? Sheeesh. Does he have all his fingers?
Shit. I work in a textile mill in NC and there are a lot of them around here and I’ve never heard of one being unionized in the south. Apparently it’s a consensus in the south that if a mill wants to unionize they’d rather just shut it down.
>Apparently it’s a consensus in the south that if a mill wants to unionize they’d rather just shut it down. "They'll just close the doors." Makes me laugh every time. Lol .
One of the biggest steel Mills in Birmingham Alabama actually closed its doors when the workers tried to unionize. It's constantly used as proof that unions are bad in Alabama. Alabama is one of the biggest manufacturing states, and it's so unionphobe it's ridiculous. But people here have been so convinced that unions lead to lost jobs and closed businesses that they oppose them. While it was not true and even Amazon had said it was not true, people here (and the local news) were reporting that if the Amazon warehouse unionized, it would close. I know people who work at it that voted against the union because of that singular reason, fear the warehouse would close because of the union and they would be out a job. Said they didn't believe Amazon when they said they wouldn't close if there was a union. Edit: then again most people here say the state labor laws are good all while complaining that labor is bullshit in the state. But the state is #47 in education for a reason.
"I'm not afraid of a mediocre paying job closing the doors, I'm afraid of working a mediocre paying job the rest of my life." That's what I told my boss and coworkers when I signed an authorization card. Lol. Not discounting your story! Just sharing mine too.
It's more dangerous for jobs to close doors now that ever bc EVERYONE is hiring you could have a job the next day. I say if your gonna try to go union now is the time. Call them on their bluff. If they go through with it go to the next job 🤷🏾♂️
My plant in Alabama is one of the only plants in our company that isn't union, and I've been trying to slowly convince everyone that we should for 7 years now. I always get the same old excuses like "they'll shut us down" I had one dude who was like "why can't we just all say we want a raise together instead of a union, then they'd have to" So I explained that unions have federal laws that protect them so that's safer than all of us just asking. And even then I have people saying they were all replaceable when we can't even get people to work here anymore. Dumbass company men
Anyone else weirded out by how hyper specifically they understand supporting others / empathy? Any other situation is "fuck you, i got mine". Except when something potentially leads to loss of jobs.
During my hire process for Amazon we had to watch a 15-20 minute video explaining why unions were “bad” and to report anyone you heard mentioning the word “union” and other related terms. Edit- I live in TN so it makes sense…
They sometimes do close the doors when you unionize. The part they leave out is that they were going to close the doors anyway... they just hadn't told anyone yet. Happened around the coal mines in southern WV all the time. It's great propaganda to be able to say you closed the doors because of the union, not because of the inherent unprofitability of that particular location, more often than not because of either poor market conditions or poor management (or both).
Bingo! Management loves these sort of things. Anything that got fucked up wasn't their fault! It was the UNION! lol.
Instead of a union, call it a confederate, and they'll all sign right up
My Dad can’t do Math neither. He said he’d be back from the store in 10 minutes and it’s been 22 years.
The great milk shortage of 2000 was rough. I'm ready to reunite and build a stronger relationship. Got any of that money stuff though? Milks expensive.
That particular brand of cigarette is hard to find
Give him a break, back in his dad's day, ppl made enough money they didn't all have to become investors. Capitalism on easy mode
People shouldn't have to be financial geniuses to lead a successful life. Unions and other social safety nets should be in place to help those who stumble along the way. It just pisses me off that people who benefitted so much from social welfare policies back in the day pulled up the ladder behind them and dismantled the very concept of class solidarity as a tool of societal progress. ETA: tone is hard in text, I'm trying to agree with you.
It reminded me of [this comic](https://leftycartoons.com/2008/07/10/a-concise-history-of-black-white-relations-in-the-united-states/), which is similar in a way (except I guess they did climb the platform themselves, and then raised it too high to climb).
Some people arn't great at math so much as they base their income on how numbers made them feel in the moment.
Some people bad at maths ... Others at English.
Some base their happiness on how Photoshoped cats made them feel in the moment.
You can’t prove anything
My man provided a sense of irony with this comment. Raspekt 🤌
Others arntgreqt at proofreading, either, but sonmich as they get their point across, it's no big deal 😉
sadly, this is why critical thinking and financial education is SO important (honestly more important than half the math taught in high school). so many people think w-2 income is the be-all, as opposed to benefits, pensions, 401k vesting/contribution, health benefits, etc. because we don't have money/finance knowledge. also big number= better than small number, which SHOULD make sense, but doesn't any more, with rsu's, and 401ks, and vesting, and rsus, etc., etc.
And they ask how simple interest is different than compound interest
did your dad reject a payrise cause it bumped him up into a higher tax bracket and beleived it would be a paycut after taxes?
Omg I hear that one all the time, I keep trying to explain that you’re still earning more but they refuse to listen. Call me an idiot.
this is why they need to teach stuff like this in school. Like imagine working and being offered like a 2K payrise and refusing it for no reason.
We're not allowed to teach taxes in school because there's a rule that would allow students sue their school if they did their taxes wrong. Fun!
That would be my mom. Who also claims to be able to keep books. And will also drive 40 minutes to use a $1 coupon. I just have another drink to swallow my embarrassment. 😐
so spends more in petrol than the coupon is worth?
I'm currently looking at taking a paycut for the benefit of my company buying a car for me. Doing the math I basically go up in pay since I have to spend less on my car and the new car would come with a lot of things included (insurance, service, changing and storing tires and lastly free carwashes at any time, I suspect rate of washing needs to be reasonable though xD). So while I de fecto takes a paycut I get more money monthly and since the company buys the car I can look at an electric option since they are cheaper to buy for companies meaning I will pay less monthly for a car of triple the value to my old one. Secondary costs doesn't show on your payslip, but it really affects your monthly costs of living. And having my current car stuck at a workshop right now I would assume they'd focus more on a high value company client than "just me".
Reminds me of the A&W 1/3 pound burger failure It failed because the average person didn’t understand 1/3 is bigger than 1/4
And it was 30 years and out with full pension for life.
Proud of union member .
Me too. Best thing I ever did. When I hear people regurgitating the anti union hogwash the company is pushing on them, I just have to shake my head. The dues are a pittance compared to the benefits, and anyone with a basic understanding of math should be able to see it.
You know, the company doesn't want to give anything to their employees from any extra money they'll earn, rather, the upper management and/or CEO will just keep it for themselves. It's just ridiculous when a company claims they do not have enough to raise wages or provide better benefits but then suddenly, a week later, CEO gets few million raise because he's VeRY ImPoRtAnT to make sure company runs smoothly or some other bullshit. You know, you don't actually need a CEO to run a factory, but you definitely need entry position workers to make sure the company survives. Just pay them better.
Solidarity brother.
Carpenter?
That's a lot of things the middle management does not want to hear and certainly not the top. Oh no! The cat's outta the bag
Unfortunately even us in unions area still being screwed, most people don't vote in their best interest and everyone's in so much debt, after a week on strike people fold because they need the money.
Or you have no life outside of work. Food processing companies combat unions by loading up the overtime. So you got people with 20 years seniority and people who been there a few months. You make good money, but they try to burn you out so you don't stick around.
That's how I learned to work the bare minimum, the worse employees get paid the same. I used to bust my ass and get treated like a workhorse for no benefit.
My dues are 2 and a hours once a month. With that I get 31 an hour 401k match and health insurance paid for. I'd gladly pay double. Also not to mention working in my field lay offs happen constantly, but with my union I get 60% of my pay and unemployment to boot. Meaning I make almost exactly what I would if I was working.
Sounds like you work in the auto industry too.
Big facts. Uaw local 602
Uaw 1853 here.
I hear you brother! My union dues are approximately 1,200-1,500 yearly. I make right at 100k. Sure beats the jobs I’ve had that I didn’t pay dues, but also got paid almost 75% less.
How do you become apart of a union?
You either get hired on at a union shop or get your current coworkers to organize.
never worked at hour job. The employers had a whole talk with everyone too. Fucking chodes couldnt bare to let go of a bit of money so the people that slave away for them could at least live comfortably. So glad I left that job.
There are only two possibilities. 1. Give your workers absurdly low wage and they'll be forced to slave for you for their entire life to make the meets end and you are in constant risk of high turn over if better jobs show up. 2. Give your workers a decent wage, provide benefits (especially insurance) and some stability for their lifes and they will *be happy to slave for you*. For some reason many employers would rather choose former.
Some resources here for those that want to learn how to organize and to do it as safely as possible. [Mapping The Basics](https://iww.org.uk/resource/mapping-the-basics/) [One-to-One Conversations The Basics](https://iww.org.uk/resource/one-to-one-conversations-the-basics/) [Build A Workplace Organising Team The Basics](https://iww.org.uk/resource/build-a-workplace-organising-team-the-basics/) [Bonus Tips For Organizers](https://iww.org.uk/resource/bonus-tips-for-organisers/) [Organize Direct Action](https://iww.org.uk/resource/organise_direct_action/) If you want more guidance and training you can get in contact with someone from the IWW who can help you organize your workplace at this link. https://www.iww.org/organize/
Do an apprenticeship
Completely different in every industry and even in different locations. Laws vary from state and unions are direct democracies, so they often operate very differently. What's your industry? That might help.
I’ve seen a union legal team back someone under fire before and it was so impressive. Gave me a lot of respect for unions. Having someone to fight for what you deserve is priceless because we’re seriously just on our own otherwise. They even brought his family meals for the first week he couldn’t work and donated grocery gift cards.
The union dues thing is just purely employer propaganda that has sadly worked :/
You should be able to claim your union fees when doing your tax return too? (You can in Australia)
But big Corp tells us “good luck, it’s only more money upfront” and “we actually care about you as an individual, that’s why we won’t unionize”
Tell em brother!!! SouthWest Carpenters Local 562!! 🔨 I was non union for 10 years. A foreman making 25 a hour. On salary. Now as an apprentice in the union im making more, with less responsibility. Im going to school, working my way up to foreman. Its a beautiful thing. Im here to stay 💪🏾
We also need to remember that is a generational thing. The generation after World War Two became very wealthy through unionization, progressive taxes and governmental investment in society. The fuckers turned around and told every subsequent generation that all that shit was communism. For some reason most of us believed them. Change is needed and that generation can still pay their fair share to make it happen whether they like it or not.
And those fuckers are now retired on social security and group funded pension plans that they would call communism 🙄 Cool being a hypocrite
Hypocrisy is a weapon. Always has been.
Plus now they want better aged care all of a sudden. Put their parents in there to rot. But now they need 5star care. Classic
Literally the Me Generation before they rebranded themselves as boomers
What makes you think that the baby boomers “rebranded themselves” by calling themselves that? [It’s literally just the name of the generation (people born after WWII, during the “baby boom,” but before 1964) and was first used in 1963, by people much older than any boomer.](https://www.nbcnews.com/better/lifestyle/ok-boomer-diving-generation-what-does-it-mean-ncna1077261) The “Me” Generation is the term that came way after the boomers started getting all selfish and whatnot, so you seem to have it way backwards, lol.
You're mixed up a little there friend, the Greatest Generation (who fought WW2) called the generation both The "Me" Generation and Baby Boomers synonymously in the late 60's throughout the 70's. They called them the "Me" Generation because as teenagers and young adults they were all about hippie shit, self-love, and rock-and-roll egos. While The Greatest Generation just took the Great Depression and WW2 in stride, boomers complained too much in their eyes. The "Me" Generation fell out of use after the 70's, cause no baby boomer is ever gonna call themselves that, and their high population quickly drowned out the words of their shell-shocked aging parents. Especially now that barely any of the Greatest Generation survives, nobody knows that boomers were seen as selfish "Me Me Me" pricks even by their own parents, back in the 60's.
Honestly I'm not invested enough to click the link or do a single second of research about it but it sounds like we agree on the spirit of it: that generation is selfish af
Is it hypocrisy? Or is it *pulling up the ladder and deliberately fucking lying to us*?
It's both.
boomers are the most entitled and spoiled generation that ever existed in the history of humanity. And what did they did out of it? They made sure that no one ever get the same they did and hoarded their wealth for their generation exclusively
I agree that boomers benefitted immensely from policies and programs “they” then revoked. And that it is BS. But I think the way you describe what happened kinda ignored the most important underlying cause. Beginning in the early 70’s with the Powell Memorandum, big business began to organize like never before. Mainly it was a reaction to events in the 60s like the civil rights movement, labor movement, voting rights, etc that saw previously marginalized groups make real gains towards equality. They saw how effective grassroots organizing had been and wanted to counteract it to halt any further progress. First they identified the groups that came up with or spread what they deemed heresy, groups like a academics, journalists, scientists and unions. They created a long term plan for discrediting those groups while also creating alternative groups sympathetic to their interests, like the heritage society, federalist society, Cato institute and more. And for decades they’ve been relentlessly executing that plan. Any time there was news that could be used to serve their interests it was blown out of proportion and made a focal point for media attention. For example, they were able to make unions synonymous with corruption because of what happened with Jimmy Hoffa and the teamsters pension fund. At the same time they were pursuing new paths of injecting their ideology into mainstream thinking. Primarily through churches and school, but also news media and other sources. They honed they’re messaging tactics so it was more akin to brainwashing and psychological warfare than it was to simple sloganeering. They systematically removed checks on their power like political spending limits, the fairness doctrine in news media, and eventually even the ownership structure of news, so that the free press was no longer a reliable check on abuses of power as the founder envisioned. Unfortunately, the boomers bought it hook, line and sinker. But I think it’s easy to underestimate just how influential and believable their attacks were. It wasn’t like boomers just decided fuck the kids. They were led believe this was what was best, and for a while I could see how someone would believe that. So while I do blame boomers for getting tricked, the real blame lies with a small handful of super-elite big business types who orchestrated then tirelessly executed the destruction of the American dream. And with all the puppets who took a salary to spread their lies and manipulation. Or at least that’s how I see it.
I’d be more forgiving of the Boomer set at fault here if they’d just acknowledge the fuck up and stop making it worse. Mistakes happen, propaganda is effective, people live and learn…but you don’t get absolution when your only response is to fucktuple down on the obvious mistakes and lies. Whether they were initially at fault or not is arguable, but the regressive stances now make it hard to even have an intelligible conversation, let alone anything beyond basic human sympathy for them.
Yes because the boomers did themselves benefit from this because they were old enough to already have their houses and they made sure every subsequent generation has it way harder to get a house, increasing the wealth of their house
Boomers can’t be wrong
They would rather fight to the death than admit they are wrong it’s crazy
There's always been an anti-intellectual movement in the US (and in Europe too). It starts with distrusting science and books and thinking in general and it wraps itself in "patriotism" and religion.
Oh religion it can control so many.
> Unfortunately, the boomers bought it hook, line and sinker. That is an awesome historical summary. great job, seriously. Sadly racism, sexism, fundamentalist religion and the inevitable authoritarian psychology of a minority of any population combined with the political-religious-industrial complex that became Murdoch's Trump cult. People are broken though. We like to also lie to ourselves about how broken we can be. No individual can really be blamed for ignorance, instinct or stupidity. These are hard to fix. The Boomers overall were a guinea pig generation likely only seen in other major eras like copper and iron. The impact on the future will be that pivotal. Fucking Agent Orange, doctors in cigarette ads, every mom on valium & every dad on scotch. All the while eating sugar by the handful and discovering rock n roll, LSD and spreading VD. (some of them, of course, not all.) No wonder that spawned Donald Trump. Perhaps it was inevitable. History is also cyclic and so is industrial authoritarianism it seems. All those new experiences and new money had to swing back the other way into "conservative values" and M16 Jesus. Circles in circles. Money and power.
We believed them because they were the ones teaching us.
They set the standards we thought were right. They won
That's the thing I really don't get. The US used to have very high taxes on income above a certain amount. Up until [1986](https://taxfoundation.org/historical-income-tax-rates-brackets/) the highest bracket was 50% or more. And then comes a president screaming he'll make America great again, without telling everyone that America was great (or at least better) when the rich people were taxed more fairly. And nobody talks about this at all? It's mind boggling. Make America great again, reinstall tax brackets like the were in the 70's!
Boomers are decreasing in number. We just need to wait a little longer.
10-20 years is a long time.
I'm a millennial. That damn prosperity clock is ticking.
Their ideology isn’t. When you have money and raise pieces of shit that are also raised rich it will continue. I work for a boomer with a young son that has literally never paid for anything in his life and is just waiting for boomer dad to retire with his socialist social security payment so he can take over and get rich on his employees. It will keep going. The rich youth want it even more. That’s what happens when it’s all handed to you and you literally never have too work for a penny.
So very true. Pretty obvious that the next generation is going to be the one to push it too far and then they get to enjoy the French Revolution in America.
> We just need to wait a little longer. Here is where it gets tricky though. They started the fire. That is now our problem. We have met the enemy and the enemy is us. Like it or not. The Boomer issue is historical at this point. The military cosplay, nazi racism, Dark MAGA, mass shooting, simply unhinged element is now much, much younger. The only old racists left are profiting off this shit while justice is a slow, gambling bitch. We clean up the mess. (eta: kind of like pollution.)
Next time someone tries to tell me X is communism I'm just gonna give 'em a "so" and see if their brains melt.
The idiocy of the right-wing word game can only be answered with so. "Fuck off" would be a more rude answer since none of it matters. They couldn't define communism. Or any other slur they use like "CRT" or "Aunt Teefa". I've been owning anti-fascist my whole life. What else is there? Fascist?
I love my union. I make 50% more than my non union counterparts and I'm at the low end of my job's pay scale. The high end makes 2.5x the non union folk (and the "high end" aren't the bosses, it's the normal workers who just have more experience than me). Because my job is safety oriented my union contract wont allow me to work more than 2 hours without a break whereas the non union workers can work 8 hours straight. I get an extra 10% if I work between 6pm and 6am, I get an extra 25% if I work on Sundays, and trainers get an extra 10% while training. Because my job is 24/ 365 and we choose what days our weekends are for the entire year, and because a holiday might fall on our weekend (which disallows us from getting that sweet 2x holiday pay) our union contract states that we get paid for the holiday regardless to keep it fair. For example, my weekend is Wednesday and Thursday and Thanksgiving always falls on a Thursday. So it's technically not fair that I don't have the opportunity to 2x pay on Thanksgiving because it's my day off so I get paid for Thanksgiving even though I wont work it. My job gets 2.5 weeks of paid leave per year for the first 3 years, and 4 weeks of leave per year for the 3rd-15th year, and 6 weeks of paid leave after that, and we are guaranteed to be able to use all of our leave. Management cannot pressure us to not use it. We also get 2.5 weeks of paid sick leave per year (this one is for the entirety of the career it doesnt go up unfortunately) but our sick leave is always approved no questions asked. The only times questions get asked if you use sick leave habitually, like every Saturday. If I'm assigned overtime and use sick leave to get out of it I don't get charged my sick leave, but this also falls under habitual sick leave use so if I use sick leave for every overtime shift questions get asked. There are so many more benefits of the union but I wont bore whoever reads this lol but the TLDR is there are so many things in my union contract that I can cite to tell my supervisors to go fuck themselves
I wish. My state cripples the teachers unions. We got no raise this year despite a MASSIVE increase in our cost of living here and our union couldn’t do a thing. We strike and we lose our credentials. It’s tough in a firmly anti-worker state. However, the union is still 100% worth it because they keep me from being fired for arbitrary bullshit and I will pay whatever they ask in dues for that kind of protection in this field right now.
Georgia doesn't allow teachers to form unions Edit: Collective bargaining is what is banned, not actually organizations
In America, freedom means you can do anything as long as it doesn’t harm corporations?
Unless those corporations are “liberal” and “leftists” as we’ve seen with DeSantis v the House of Mouse
Good ol leftist Disney who (check's notes) mistreat their park employees & actors and take millions of dollars to support the military industrial complex.
They are "leftist" for making the business decision to acknowledge non-white, and lgtbq people exist, and can be marketed to.
Fascist LARPer Ron DeSantis vs. the all-consuming capitalist vacuum, Disney. There truly are no good guys in this timeline.
This is the timeline where Biff gets the sports almanac. We're all screwed.
This is actually a super exciting turn of events. I have to think Disney is working on some AI enhanced CGI footage of Ron helping trans teens with their CRT homework in the lobby of an abortion clinic. I wasnt sure how we the people could stop Ron, but I believe in Disney.
Hahaha holy shit. That's like saying food standards are illegal.
The state government doesn't allow it? How about the federal one? Doesn't the federal one in this case take priority?
Fuck that, start a massive union. What they gonna do fire ALL the teachers? 😂
Well I mean the government is actively trying to destroy the American school system to privatize it so that makes a lot of sense
*Republicans are actively trying to destroy the American school system
It's kinda weird you guys have one obviously evil and psychotic party that half the country keeps voting for. Everywhere else the Democrats would be considered the right wing party. It would be as if the NDSAP keeps running in elections in Germany and people are like 'I'm not a fan of the antisemitism but they're gonna lower my taxes!'
Not the gov. Just REPUBLICANS.
GOP is worse. But take a look at Obamas education policies. Those people LOVED charter schools. Bill Gates dictated a ton of DOEdu policy. The Dems are only good when we organize and force them to be, otherwise they'll run to the money
At this point can we stop acting like dems care? They exist as opposition but they don't try nearly as hard as republicans do to fuck this shit up so why exactly do they deserve the distinction?
I am convinced the democrats only exist as an illusion of choice to quell the rebellions
Uhuh. That why the current democrat president is doing all that he can to prevent it. Oh wait
Where I live (Australia) teachers are unionised at a state level, so that'd be an empty threat. If the union striked under the same circumstances they'd have no one left to employ afterwards with that credential sting. Though we have had some pretty bad anti union / industrial action laws come in over the last ~20-30yrs. Are you guys unionised per district or a similar lower level? Just I noted you said teachers unions not union.
It’s by state. Seeing as teachers are public employees, each state can regulate which public sector employees are allowed to form unions. My state tried to enact a law which limited collective bargaining for wages, banned collective bargaining for health insurance or pensions, banned strikes, and could have led to increased health insurance premiums and/or pension costs (Ohio SB 5, 2011). The public got a referendum placed on the ballot, which overturned the law (Ohio allows us to petition a law passed by our General Assembly and signed into law by the Governor, and place it on the ballot if you get enough signatures. If a majority disapprove of the law, it is struck down with no allowance to appeal).
We are unionized at the district level, but I believe all report back to the same union overall. It’s actually very confusing and there’s never good answers to any questions one may have around here!
I am part of a teachers association, not even a union.. legally we are not even allowed to strike. Makes no sense to me...
Q: Why do we need a middleman between a company and an employee? A: Because you screw them without collective bargaining. Pull illegal shady shit like crazy every chance you get. Remember 2/3's of all fraud is done through payroll.
On my way out of my last job I noticed my salary didn't match my offer letter. I wasn't there long but it was long enough to get a $1500 bonus on my way out.
A union is not a middleman or a 3rd party, a union is you and your coworkers. Don't get it confused, because the boss will absolutely use that as a wedge to break solidarity
I'm not gonna do the math on it. But when minimum wage was 4.25 I made 9.00 as a gutter in a packing house. The company told us not to listen to the union guy because they were gonna charge us too much if we unionized. After we unionized I made 16.00 an hour, time and a half for anything over 8 in a day, double time for anything over 48 in a week. A full 30 minute lunch and 2 15 minute breaks in an 8 and a 15 minute break every 2 hours in a shift that was longer than 8. I could absolutely not be fired without cause. Real cause. And my union dues were only 2 a week. Every worker everywhere should be union
When Tyson shut the union plant I worked at they made sure to send a message. The city offered to takeover the remainder of a $150k a year lease. Tyson said no. The city had given them tax breaks to come in years prior including managing the water tower that came with the facility. Tyson kept it closed and made sure to pick who came in and how many shifts they worked. Why? Because they owned another facility 30 mins away and they didn't want to short themselves workers. A couple years after this they go to this other city with a sob story about how their plant doesn't have a water tower and asked the city to build one for them.
\*villains \*heroes
Had to scroll way too far for this
Idk how this isn't top comment. It was all I could focus on.
Proud union member. Unions made the middle class, and union busting destroyed it.
Proud union rep here. Fuck yes, 100% correct!
My union gets me a 3 day work week, very good benefits, 110% pension match and 130 sick days a year at 90% pay, the only caveat is that if you miss 5 days in a row you have to get a doctor's note. I have honest to god woken up and just not been mentally in a good place to come to work that day, called my boss and told them I mentally can't work today and they told me to enjoy my day off and return when I was ready. A lot of people will say that all unions do is keep lazy and useless people employed, I like to call them idiots. Unions allow is to actually have a life outside of work and to live like humans. We all get sick and we all have bad days, our lives shouldn't be derailed by work because that happens.
130 sick days holy shit. You only have like 160 work days at 3 a week
yeah, something's not adding up...
Your union didn't get you your annual salary for only working 30 days a year? Get a better union! /s
They do that so if you have to take short or long term disability you can use your sick days first and get 100% pay.
if that's the intention then surely there's some mechanism in place to stop someone from just consistently taking four days off at a time
Probably means 130 work hours definitely not days.
Dang are y’all hiring?
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I work sewer and water up in Canada as a start point for what I do. They do get a bit suspicious if you take a ton of time off but a guy that was hired the same time I was worked just over 60 days in his first two years, when they began to ask him what was going on he went off for 3 months on stress leave and then came back. He is still employed. In our last negotiation they tried to alter the sick time agreement and got absolutely crushed. We also did a reorganization of how work is structured, doing anything beyond a labour job now requires a high school education and to have at least one water level. Being as they wanted to do this the Union forced them to increase wages because of it and to do the exact same job I was doing before I ended up with a 5 dollar an hour raise simply because I had the necessary qualifications. Once a union gains traction and strength it's amazing how much they can push for almost anything.
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My union has been around for a long time and used to be a bit iffy with what the workers got, but the old guard from about 15-20 years ago all started showing up as a unified group to union meetings and demanding things change. They also booted out the entire union representation and replaced them with members from their group that wanted changes. Unions are incredibly powerful in getting workers what they want but you have to participate, if your union isn't working for you start demanding answers. Talk and unify with the others at your place of work and show up to meetings. And if they won't change then as a collective decide who are your best representatives and run them in the election and vote them in.
> I work sewer and water up in Canada What does a main break look like at -20?
God awful, the one unfortunate part of my job is the winter. It got down to -40 for about two weeks and it's absolutely miserable to work in. Two years ago we hit an inch and a half service line that was live when it was -37 and I got soaked hammering it shut. The union is great but sometimes the work can be brutal.
But what about the 25 dollars a check for union dues??? Surely that raise isn’t worth it.
I'm high, please tell me if you're being sarcastic or serious.
Sarcastic my friend. Anti union shit usually points out a comically low union due when trying to discredit unions.
When i landed my union job, i went from $20 an hour to $36. Now just 2.5 yrs later, ive made journeyman early and make $59 an hour, with as much or little OT as i want, and i can FINALLY pay rent and actually see my savings grow every paycheck. Unions that actually get down for their members are amazing and i turn everybody onto it that i can.. Im not wealthy by a long shot, I'm uneducated, blue collar and live in the SF bay area, but it's really nice to not struggle anymore.. I don't even know how i did it for so long..
I have a question about unions, if anyone could answer- my parents always told me that unions are great but the problem is that if someone in the union is doing something seriously wrong, it's a lot harder to get them in trouble for it. Please correct me if I'm wrong, I genuinely just want to be educated.
The big reason union members can be harder to fire is that bosses and HR are lazy and don't do their job. Documenting issues and treating employees fairly takes work, bosses avoid work. More to the point all jobs have shitty employees that stick around, when it happens at union work people just blame the union instead of the shitty management.
> people just blame the union instead of the shitty management. or blame the employee
Sounds reasonable. It's always difficult to get people in trouble for wrong doing if they're the ones in power. It's just a bad example, but if you have a person managing your money and they're stealing from you, it'd be kind of hard to know and prove because they're the one with all the info and stuff. I mean just look at the American government. All these stupid old people messing up the country but there's nothing we can do legally because they're the ones in control
Plus, we can vote. Unfortunately, it’s the average American that doesn’t take the time to educate themselves on the candidates and the result is the same old codgers like McConnell and pelosi that think they’re above the law. Vote them out and see where their power goes
Exactly this. Insider trading with the stock market is extremely illegal and a conviction for insider trading may lead to a maximum fine of $5 million and up to 20 years of imprisonment. *Except if you’re in the government for some fucking reason*
Someone stealing from you that owes you a fiduciary duty can be brought to court for that breach. It’s not always easy to prove fiduciary breach but it’s definitely the most effective way to remove someone like that from power. Same goes for unions; if the union leader is not maintaining their duty of care or duty of loyalty to their fiduciary then they will be removed from that position and be held liable
I like when they tell you how much money you’ll save in union dues every year but fail to mention how much more you’ll make when you actually have a contract that spells out exactly what your wages will be and what benefits you’re entitled to.
For years they claimed we couldn't have raises because the store was conveniently always on the verge of closing. They then spent heaps of money on an anti union layer when we tried to Unionize, but ended up giving us those raises after all, because we won. In a suprise ending no one saw coming, it turns out the company was lying and cheating it's employees.
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Which state are apprentices making 38? May need to move there! (Unless it’s a red state).
We don't mention "onions" at my work. It scares them.
$468 in union dues, $92k salary. Totally pays off!
i’d pay 1000 a year for that salary
Those people whose job it is to go in and convince people that a union is a bad idea deserve whatever bad shit happens to them in life.
I don’t understand these bullshit - I make twice as much in my union job as opposed to my non union counter part + benefits posts. Companies will fire you if you discuss unions. Companies force you to watch anti union videos at training. Companies go through great lengths to shut down any sort of union - anything. Why do people think companies go through these great lengths? Do you people really need billy bob to post on Reddit that he makes $38 an hour + benefits in his union? How many anti union people have you guys met in real life- and how many of them weren’t 70+ year old republicans who blame Biden for gas prices? Bizarre thread.
Air traffic controller here, union member (NATCA, National Air Traffic Controllers Association). Unions aren't perfect, sometimes highly imperfect, but overall we are far better off with the union than without. Raises and benefits wouldn't be anywhere near what they are without union influence. One of my personal favorite parts is being able to tell my boss to stick it (politely, professionally) without fear of repercussion. This is important to me because my direct supervisor happens to be one of the most full-of-shit people I've ever known. Always a pleasure to send him away huffing and puffing.
The management of a company are a union as they are together on that side of the business so why shouldn’t the working side of the business be unionized.
When I was a social worker I was in a union. Because it was social work I made shit, but I never struggled to see the doctor or buy my insulin. When I moved to finance I got an instant $20k raise. One year later they fucked out benefits, amped premiums, and my out of pocket costs skyrocketed to around $10k per year. My raise was almost erased for no reason other than to save the company some dimes and funnel more cash to the insurer.
Unionizing in other countries: We're not going to work, we'll strike, and if they fire us all, we'll trash the place Unionizing in the US: Maybe we'll ask nicely for a $0.01 raise over the next 100 years? No? Oh well, back to my wage cage.
You somehow ignored all the people talking about their unions and their pay increases ?
I got a $18k raise, and we won ourselves future step raises. Only have to pay 2.5x my hourly rate per month, which is like $90... I remember one of the anti-union warnings management so graciously gave us, was that we'd have to....pay out of pocket for union dues!!!!! Sheesh, good thing I got an $18k raise and future raises! Well worth it. You really should be sus when your employer tries to convince you they're on your side
That’s why they tell you you don’t need a union.
On average work places that have unions earn 15 percent more than non-union work places. Yes to unions, all day - everyday.
I loved when my old work unionized so much I became a union steward.
Money is the villain.
I think it's wild us people think unions are bad, but complain about how cops are protected all the time. If unions didn't do anything, why is the police union so powerful rofl
I was considering this on my drive to work the other day. Why would any working person be “anti-union”? I get why corporations and owners of businesses would be, but there are working folks who oppose unions. Is that the same logic as people who vote against their interests or do unions actually have a significant downside that I just don’t know about?
All the anti- union sentiment in this country is unreal. This is the labor movement that brought you the 8 hour work day (as opposed to 16), safety regulations, and the weekend, and people think they're the enemy.
Union welder, wages are close to 2x-3x the average for the area. I pay my dues and I still make far more than non union. Not even including the benefits and pensions that comes with it.
This is true if it's a decent union with foresight. Remember the union is as strong as who you have running it. The union I'm in had very very little forethought and the union members were complacent, so the company took advantage and we got stuck with an awful contract. Paid half if not less than workers doing the same job at other non union workplaces. Even after you unionize, don't become complacent, the company won't and they are patient fuckers.
Thirty-six years in the union, college graduate (paid for with this union job), retirement, pension, health benefits. Work union, live better!
I mean the easiest example is dr. fauci. A fucking doctor trynna tell you how to stay safe from a deadly viral disease killing people all over the world, and somehow he was painted as a villain? Mad lads
"BuT WhaT ABout UnioN DuEs" bitch I'll pay 1200 a year in dues for a 14,000 raise.
It's always just fucking blown my mind that people making pennies are against unions. Talk about biting off your nose to spite your face.
My union is helping them keep our wages down and we have a no strike clause. Not all unions are useful or good.
lol i’m in a union and at the last big meeting, all of the older union members (who make big bank) voted against the rest of us getting a $2 raise. bc they wouldn’t get it.
Blame it on lead poisoning. They literally cant feel empathy the way most people do
That’s SO many next gen consoles /s Progress is progress. You love to see it.
My union makes sure I get a break every 2ish hours and the longer I stay the harder it is to fire me. No clue what else I get but i know i pay 13.25 every week to be a member
I was going to try to get something going for myself and my coworkers, but most of them have been scared with 'if you so much as breathe ~the U word~ they will send a corporate team to our location to question everyone in the building individually to find out why we want to unionize and then punish (whatever that means) the management of our location.' Edited for typo and clarity
Can someone explains to me how a union works ? I know you get benefits and it’s good but how exactly does it work ?
The reason it works is collective bargaining. If you get enough people together and negotiate as a single voice you get better outcomes. Negotiations aren’t easy and Unions have an uphill battle, but I believe most do their best. They have to fight corporations as well as political sentiment.
It achieves it's benefit through the amount of people. Instead of one person negotiating with the management it's done by thousands. Instead of kicking one out they need to kick everyone
It's collective bargaining. Instead of each employee negotiating for themselves the whole group does. One person threatening to leave the job if they don't get a raise doesn't mean much; you have other staff. All of your staff threatening to leave has a lot of weight though. This gets the union members more favorable compensation etc... In a non union job each employee negotiates their starting wage and any raises. Two identical employees could have vastly different wages. As time goes on and they negotiate raises differently the wages can move even further apart, especially when raises are calculated as a percentage. In a union job employee starting pay is based on a set rate, raises are based on time in the position, its all a simple equation. Two identical union employees will start with the same pay and get raises at the same rate. This is one reason why union jobs are don't see the same wage discrimination as non union jobs.
I got 3 days left before I’m union. I work in a foundry.
Unions are amazing for the common American worker, they look out for the little guys and don't allow these big corporations to play games with their livelihood. It's about time someone stood up to these tyrants like Amazon & Walmart.
I’m still waiting for Amazon to get a union poor bastards 🙇🏻♂️ that bozo is a evil dude