Unions are Awesome

[DogDoo 7]

So, I just received my full salary for last month, despite missing 18 days of work for an accident that happened off the job and because I was being stupid (I fell while picking oranges from trees that didn't belong to me). I still have all my vacation days too. This is by virtue of the strong union at my workplace. My roommate who works for a tech company gets like half the benefits I do.

So, how have unions helped you? How has the lack of a union hurt you?

Conversely, how have unions made your life harder (give specific examples, no Austrian anti-empiricism bullshit here)?

EDIT: And, I just found out, that as a result of our company being unprofitable for the last 2 years, senior management is taking a 10% pay cut and leaving everyone else's salary untouched. In your face America!

[Vashtanaraada]

I got 10 weeks exam leave at the end of high-school because we formed a students' union!

[Astralsideria]

Only last term, my student union allowed (well, forced, really) me to pay not only for a share in some Sky TV I didn't know I had access to, but also my share of the costs of a protest that I didn't attend and didn't agree with. I'd leave it, but membership was automatic, and to leave would incur a charge. I feel well served.

[Obamacult]

So, I just received my full salary for last month, despite missing 18 days of work for an accident that happened off the job and because I was being stupid (I fell while picking oranges from trees that didn't belong to me). I still have all my vacation days too. This is by virtue of the strong union at my workplace. My roommate who works for a tech company gets like half the benefits I do.

So, how have unions helped you? How has the lack of a union hurt you?

Conversely, how have unions made your life harder (give specific examples, no Austrian anti-empiricism bullshit here)?

Unions suck. They are the reason why I moved from Detroit to Virginia.

The unions ran up costs, that increased costs of cars being sold from Detroit, that inspired competition from Japan, that ultimately led to lost market share to foreign competition.

So yeah, the union will appear to be helpful for a time, until management finds another alternative or automates on a much faster pace.

In sum, union coercion makes it impossible for a firm to compete against non-union firms so eventually the union firm goes belly-up.

[Heisan]

I used to work as a teacher for a school district and were mandated to join its Teacher's Union. Although I don't really have a strong negativity towards unions, the forced participation I had to go through in order to become a teacher upset me. I wasn't given the choice to either join or abstain from the union. The benefits were nice, to say the least.

Unions are good, but right-to-work is more preferable in my view.

[OMGeverynameistaken]

Unions burned my parents, kidnapped my dog, kicked my sister and raped my house.

[Occupied Deutschland]

I once was forced to sit and twiddle my thumbs for ten minutes after a light burnt out over my welding station at a company I worked for so that they could have a specific guy come and do his job of changing the bulb out with a new one (which was about fifteen feet from me in a supply closet).

I quit. Started my own company. Currently building yp the cash reserves so I can hire a Pinkerton agency if anybody who works for ME ever has any cockamamie ideas about forming a union

[Risottia]

So, how have unions helped you?

Never did. Unions here don't give a fuck about workers who have temporary jobs.

[DogDoo 7]

So, I just received my full salary for last month, despite missing 18 days of work for an accident that happened off the job and because I was being stupid (I fell while picking oranges from trees that didn't belong to me). I still have all my vacation days too. This is by virtue of the strong union at my workplace. My roommate who works for a tech company gets like half the benefits I do.

So, how have unions helped you? How has the lack of a union hurt you?

Conversely, how have unions made your life harder (give specific examples, no Austrian anti-empiricism bullshit here)?

Unions suck. They are the reason why I moved from Detroit to Virginia.

The unions ran up costs, that increased costs of cars being sold from Detroit, that inspired competition from Japan, that ultimately led to lost market share to foreign competition.

So yeah, the union will appear to be helpful for a time, until management finds another alternative or automates on a much faster pace.

In sum, union coercion makes it impossible for a firm to compete against non-union firms so eventually the union firm goes belly-up.

Of course, one solution to that problem is to unionize an entire industry. And assuming the same amount of revenue, isn't it better to distribute a greater percentage of the profit to labor than to management?

[DogDoo 7]

So, how have unions helped you?

Never did. Unions here don't give a fuck about workers who have temporary jobs.

That's a problem everywhere. Even at my workplace there's been an increased shift to contract workers. But that would be a problem regardless of the existance of unions.

[Forster Keys]

I wouldn't say unions are awesome, as a broad blanket statement. They're collectives of people who are all employed in a similar sector, and work for the good of their members. Sometimes this doesn't exactly benefit others. Sometimes like any other bureaucracy or hierarchical collective, they can become corrupt.

That said they helped my parents out a lot. And I'm quite glad they exist.

[Forster Keys]

I once was forced to sit and twiddle my thumbs for ten minutes after a light burnt out over my welding station at a company I worked for so that they could have a specific guy come and do his job of changing the bulb out with a new one (which was about fifteen feet from me in a supply closet).

I quit. Started my own company. Currently building yp the cash reserves so I can hire a Pinkerton agency if anybody who works for ME ever has any cockamamie ideas about forming a union

I do hope you aren't serious.

[Occupied Deutschland]

I once was forced to sit and twiddle my thumbs for ten minutes after a light burnt out over my welding station at a company I worked for so that they could have a specific guy come and do his job of changing the bulb out with a new one (which was about fifteen feet from me in a supply closet).

I quit. Started my own company. Currently building yp the cash reserves so I can hire a Pinkerton agency if anybody who works for ME ever has any cockamamie ideas about forming a union

I do hope you aren't serious.

I'm not.

I screen all my workers for union affiliation or sympathy before I hire them.

[Cameroi]

unions are at least half of what made a middle class a majority at the time when it was, that in turn made it possible for capitalism to almost work for almost everyone, which it hasn't and doesn't since the sharp pencils in 1980 came up with greed supposing to be good. maybe if we allowed trade unions to be international, to equal international corporations, so that they had to pay people are real living wage wherever in the world they hired them, then there would be the reason and incentive for robbing jobs from one place and shipping them to where they can get away with virtual, and in some instances actual, slave labor and indifference to environmental devistation. unions aren't just awesome, they are basic and essential. at least to capitalism, if anyone really wants it to work.

[Empire of Narnia]

Unions are good cause they let you cheat the system and get money for nothing.

[Nationalist State of Knox]

Is it bad that I initially read this as "Onions are Awesome"?

[Rubiconic Crossings V2 rev 1f]

So, I just received my full salary for last month, despite missing 18 days of work for an accident that happened off the job and because I was being stupid (I fell while picking oranges from trees that didn't belong to me). I still have all my vacation days too. This is by virtue of the strong union at my workplace. My roommate who works for a tech company gets like half the benefits I do.

So, how have unions helped you? How has the lack of a union hurt you?

Conversely, how have unions made your life harder (give specific examples, no Austrian anti-empiricism bullshit here)?

Unions suck. They are the reason why I moved from Detroit to Virginia.

The unions ran up costs, that increased costs of cars being sold from Detroit, that inspired competition from Japan, that ultimately led to lost market share to foreign competition.

So yeah, the union will appear to be helpful for a time, until management finds another alternative or automates on a much faster pace.

In sum, union coercion makes it impossible for a firm to compete against non-union firms so eventually the union firm goes belly-up.

The reason the car industry in Detroit failed was due far more to really bad management than unions.

You might also be surprised to hear that the Japanese car manufacturers also have unions.

Your blaming unions for failure of management is a really infantile argument which shows that you have little grasp of the subject. But hey....why get in the way of a decent "oh woe is me" rightist rant hmmmm?

[Lowell Leber]

I once was forced to sit and twiddle my thumbs for ten minutes after a light burnt out over my welding station at a company I worked for so that they could have a specific guy come and do his job of changing the bulb out with a new one (which was about fifteen feet from me in a supply closet).

I quit. Started my own company. Currently building yp the cash reserves so I can hire a Pinkerton agency if anybody who works for ME ever has any cockamamie ideas about forming a union

I do hope you aren't serious.

Unions here in the US have a bad reputation for the reason Occupied Deutschland just examplified...

[Georgeria]

Not very much, directly, as I work for a small business without a unionised workforce.

I'm not sure how much unions were a part of movements that introduced mandatory minimum holidays, sick pay, etc so I don't know how much they've benefited me indirectly.

[Forster Keys]

I do hope you aren't serious.

I'm not.

I screen all my workers for union affiliation or sympathy before I hire them.

You individualist ruffian!

[DogDoo 7]

Is it bad that I initially read this as "Onions are Awesome"?

Nope. I use them in pretty much everything I cook

[Forster Keys]

I do hope you aren't serious.

Unions here in the US have a bad reputation for the reason Occupied Deutschland just examplified...

Pinkertons and union busters are still cunts though.

[Forster Keys]

Is it bad that I initially read this as "Onions are Awesome"?

Nope. I use them in pretty much everything I cook

Agreed.

[Rubiconic Crossings V2 rev 1f]

I do hope you aren't serious.

Unions here in the US have a bad reputation for the reason Occupied Deutschland just examplified...

Could be that that is due to health and safety legislation rather than unions...

[Heisan]

Of course, one solution to that problem is to unionize an entire industry. And assuming the same amount of revenue, isn't it better to distribute a greater percentage of the profit to labor than to management?

Increased wages do not promote or change productivity rates made by workers and laborers, therefore it useless to even consider it. And labor positions require less academic training and background than management positions do, which justifies why management positions tend to keep most of the profit and leave the rest to workers.