Have you ever been laid off with no notice?
One day I walked into my local A&P to pick up a few things, and the woman at the checkout counter told me she’d been informed that day the store was closing the next. “What am I going to do, she asked? I have children.”
I was laid off on Christmas eve many years ago. The boss didn’t tell me that. The janitor did. That kindly man opened up our boss’s closet full of imported cheeses and wines and handed me a couple of each. It’s what I ate until I found another job.
Unions negotiate reasonable layoff terms for employees.
Have you ever seen the boss hire a lot of his/her relatives, people who weren’t really qualified for the job?
Have you ever noticed how many dictators run their countries with the aid of lots of their relatives? That’s called “nepotism”. Nepotism goes on all over the world.
Unions keep nepotism out of the workplace.
Has your boss ever brought in his four year old child and told you to babysit for a couple of hours?
Has your boss given you his laundry to take to the cleaners on your way home? Asked you to make coffee for everyone in the office? Demanded you paint the place in your “spare time”. Required that you take the staff’s dirty dishes home and wash them?
No, I’m not making any of these things up. And no, the employee could not say “no” to doing them. I’ve been through or witnessed all of these situations in person.
Unions help define what employees can and can’t be asked to do as part of their jobs.
Have you ever been told you have one minute to get to the bathroom and back (it’s a block away…) or 20 minutes for “lunch” in the middle of the night when the only takeout place open is 10 minutes away?
Unions get rid of bad working conditions – especially humiliating working conditions or ones that are impossible to carry out in the time allowed.
Have you ever been denied sick leave you’ve earned?
During good times, employers offer employees all kinds of benefits. During the bad times they often try to take those things away. Unions are the only leverage working people have to preserving the contractual promises management made to them.
Labor unions keep benefits from being taken away in the bad times.
You didn’t cause the bad times. Why should you let go of your benefits – without even being asked to do so for a good reason?
Have you ever had a disappointing experience with a labor union?
Chances are if you have, you are not alone. IMHO many unions are not functional.
Ask yourself if what happened to you was because of that union – or because of the bosses’ reaction to the union?
Was it because of the union – or the lawyers advising the boss?
What it because of the union – or all the federal and state legislators who have passed laws to curtail the rights of unions.
Unions are bound by more regulations than some companies are.
If you don’t like labor unions, what is your alternative?
Unions were established to give us fair pay, safe working conditions, 40-hour work week, sick and vacation time, no child labor, guaranteed lunch and breaks, overtime… are they things we take so much for granted today that we don’t even think about losing them? Do you trust the government to provide these rights? Or do you think these rights should be taken away from all?
Do you have enough savings you can be laid off, fired or quit your job whenever you like? Is there someone else who can help you when you have a problem with what your boss does or says? Do you think an ombudsman can replace a union? Or an affirmative action officer?
If you have an opinion about any of this, I’d love to hear your comments!
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NOTE: Tune in for my new new series, “The Word” for the day! Look for it beginning on the Ides of March – right here on Brucenomics!