Quote:
Originally Posted by kknudson
A very wise man once taught what a Union is.
A union is a business, the purpose of that business is to keep the union EMPLOYEEs, NOT the union Members Employed.
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That is partly true, and partly anti union propaganda.
At the very least, uninformed painting with a broad brush.
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Unions are closed shop and open shop. Open shops allow workers to join or not.
For many years in the 1980's and 1990's I was a shop steward (unpaid) for the SEIU local #290 that represented city workers employed in the City and County of San Francisco's Municipal and Superior courts.
It was a closed shop, meaning that whether or not you chose to be a MEMBER of the union, your union dues WERE deducted from your paycheck.
What infuriated me most, about Union duties that devolved to me, was that I had to advocate for ALL members of the Union with grievances, even for members CLEARLY lazy, or that had NO valid grievance, along for good workers that had very valid grievances, that I saw.
And believe me, clueless, and abusive managers and supervisors committed managerial sins on a daily basis, and for this, the Union really had a purpose and raison d' etre.
Likewise, working hours, vacation, sick pay, benefits, comparable salary surveys, and pay step increases and overtime/compensatory time, layoff and discipline and non discriminatory practices, policies and retirement benefits, were *ALL* on the table in Contract negotiations, which occurred every two years in San Francisco, and I personally attended several, as a Union bargaining agent (also for no pay - I never received a cent for anything I did for the Union). Sometimes they went on for weeks and weeks, all day every day, in search of a fair collective bargaining outcome fair in light of all extrinsic and intrinsic circumstances.
Contract negotiations with the City of SF (representives for the City of SF, and management were from the mayor's office) were supposed to be fair, and based on economic conditions, but usually were contentious.
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Based on my experiences firsthand in about 20 years,....
I think some of the remarks made above border on ignorance of union activity and frankly sound defamatory and ignorant, and ONLY focus on Union abuse and instances of fraud and criminal activity, but generally this is a miniscule fraction of Union activity in general.