this is on their intranet as part of a 23-page propaganda piece about unions. š¤Submitted by ycleptKyara t3_10vf5cs in Maine
PGids t1_j7iap4g wrote
> Unions have become huge bureaucracies, often totally out of touch with the needs and desires of their membership.
If youāre in a local with more than a hundred people, I canāt sit here with a straight face and say itās incorrect. Iāve been in two IAM locals and currently in a USW local, there is more fuckery in this local Iām currently in than both of the IAM locals combined. Being unionized is almost always a good thing, but I can definitely tell in here who has and has not worked in a Union environment; itās absolutely not all sunshine and rainbows like some people paint it as.
One day last spring one maintenance department got an unplanned, non negotiated, outside of contract $6 raise. This pushed their pay gap from the industry standard of $3-5 to almost $10. This was for all pay grades in that department. Roughly 290 days later the rest of maintenance got $2.65. Iām absolutely topped out as far as pay goes in my current position and someone can take a bottom rung trainee bid with the other department and be making within few cents of me. A level 1 trainee making virtually the same as a journeyman; while both are paying the same dues to the same local. Thatās fucked up.
Iām rambling but point being: being organized does not make a workplace immune from stupid shit and nepotism
flat_broke t1_j7iprqr wrote
This ^ for all of you out there who default to unions are the best because the political party I like says so. Some pros and cons from my own experience as a due paying member for 8 years at a shipping company.
Some Pros: Guaranteed raises albeit very small each year with a larger cost of living adjustment every 5 years or so. Better medical and dental benefits than what you would otherwise have. Your seniority means something, everything actually.
Some cons: That lazy sob gets paid just as much or maybe more than you if they are more senior. Many people will take the āIām paid by the hourā approach and the culture where you work will suffer. They will even get mad at you for working too fast. This will impact your mood regularly and youāll have confrontations about this with some regularity. These people are very difficult to fire.
FightTomorrow t1_j7j2ma9 wrote
Where do I sign up
flat_broke t1_j7kgm9w wrote
It can absolutely be worth it for you depending on your situation. Everyone should always do what is best for them and their family. Note those guaranteed raises are like .04 cents an hour usually graduating on a scale over 8 years or whatever the length of the collective bargaining agreement is up to something like $1 an hour. Maybe like .04, .06, .09, .13, .24, .37, .65, .97. So over 8 years your pay increases by $2.55 dollars an hour in total plus some cost of living bump at some point in there. The cola adjustment is not typically matched to inflation but it is typically your most significant raise.
Keep in mind you donāt get this for free you lose some percentage of your pay to the union in dues for this service, it was 7% in my case. I cant recall if it was a percentage fee or just a flat fee but i made like $180 a paycheck and $14 went to the teamsters.
FightTomorrow t1_j7khq1u wrote
Ill be honest. I was being a bit facetious. Iām actually already union and we see way larger performance-driven raises than what you lay out. This year it was 9%. In my experience the union is a matter of protection against stagnant wages, with the types of raises youāve shown to be for the lowest performing members.
It could also be that your union blows goats. They are not all equal. Maybe run for the next election?
flat_broke t1_j7kj879 wrote
There was no consideration of performance at all. The raises you get are laid out in the collective bargaining agreement contract for every non-management person in the company and completely transparent. I suspect a grocery store union would be extremely similar. Mine was Teamsters so not small also mine was from 2004-2012. There were other jobs in the company with higher rises and higher pay like driving and delivering packages or driving a semi truck. These kinds of higher paying positions are going to be limited in number at a grocery store.
FightTomorrow t1_j7kjr4g wrote
Iām sorry to hear that brother.
Comprehensive-Act-74 t1_j7m4uge wrote
This is a false equivalence. A union might be out of touch with the needs and desires of the membership, but all but the smallest companies do not care about the needs or desires of the employees.
tobascodagama t1_j7m8oij wrote
And by "the smallest companies", what that means is "companies where there are no employees other than the owners".
enoutnos t1_j7nf6df wrote
Why did they get that raise? Did the company you work for have a hard time filling the position or retaining retiring workers?
I donāt believe any company would just hand out a $6/hr across the board raise to one department just for shits and giggles.
I think Iād be happy for them and maybe start trying to organize within my own department to get the company to realize we deserve more.
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