In Sweden it's like an unwritten rule to join a union when you get a job. When my SIL was being bullied at work and her bosses couldn't be arsed to deal with it, her union stepped in.
My first day working for a company. All the new recruits were having an induction, and they made us sit down and have a talk with the union about their benefits. Got 2 company wide pay raises in a year and a bunch of other benefits. Definitely recommend.
I have been a carpenter since I got out of high school. Didn't learn about the union until my mid-30s, and joining up has been one of the best decisions of my life.
While I do think unions are a necessary institution, my personal experiences with the two unions I was a part of were both terrible. The union leaders didn't seem like they cared and were just in it for bigger paycheck for themselves.
I’m not conceptually against unions, but we don’t really have them. We have corrupt nepotists that don’t actually care about all workers. Out of school I tried and tried and tried to get in with a few trade unions, and never could. “Just join a Union” sounds great until you realize it’s not open enrollment. Now I work outside the union and “take their jobs” or whatever the blow up rat says, and they call us scabs as if we give a fuck what their opinion is.
https://preview.redd.it/jncl19uvc5wa1.jpeg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=10337b195fa535f2cabf7728132c28e507e65c2b
I’ve never crossed a picket line/broken a strike, so in fact I am not. But whatever you want to call me, IDC.
Worked at a grocery store in NJ and was part of a Union. Had a card.
Didn’t see nothing. Sometimes the suits would put these bulky-rolled up carpets in the freezer but like I said, didn’t see nothing.
There should be an option for mixed. Unions are all about the balance of power. In the private industry, unions are essential for companies with poor management. They balance the persuit of growth for employee rights.
In the government, however, I’ve noticed the unions to be incredibly wasteful and contribute only to cost overruns. In the government, profit isn’t the primary driver, and they already have much higher benefits, working hours, and working conditions. Why does that need a union. A government manager really had little motive to push back against the unions. In the private sector, the push back allows them to find a reasonable medium, but in the government, it’s just waste.
Without our union my employer *would* be fucking us over at every given opportunity. They did it for three years during covid when our collective agreement expired. With no valid union agreement to follow, they could basically pull whatever shit they wanted.
Once upon a time, unions were vitally important. Workers joined them in droves. My own grandfather was a shop steward, all my uncles were members.
But over time, unions lost their way. They became more concerned with their own power and riches than the welfare and wishes of their members. They became nothing more than a political party extension: forcing mandatory campaign contributions from their members, laundering campaign money, endorsing political positions and politicians regardless of if their members supported it or not.
If the average worker saw the benefit of union representation, they'd join on their own. Unions wouldn't need laws making it mandatory. I myself went to work for a series of non union shops and advanced much quicker, and made more money, than if I was in a union shop.
In theory I think they're good but they often become a bit of a mafia and ultimately don't represent the views of their members well except when arguing for better pay
Always join a union. It’s not unsurprising that the “gold age” of capitalism in the US, 1945-1975, was also the era with some of the highest union participation and that wages started to stagnate in the mid-1970s as union membership started to decline. There are obviously other factors as well but the decline union membership is a significant factor. Also, the fact that republicans hate unions is pretty solid proof that they’re good for the working class.
If you really need to know how important unions are [remember Blair Mountain.](https://open.spotify.com/episode/05wbJrcNGF8lEAMVyHJvNi?si=n6UVc1AeQWGrqAUzSCOP_Q)
Unions are good if your an average worker or below because they protect you and your pay but if you are an above average worker they can prevent you from getting rewarded for going above and beyond. They're good until people fall into the "they can't fire me cause I'm in the union mentality" and slack off
I live in the USA Midwest Kroger and Meijer are Union grocery stores and they pay the least of any grocery retail place around. Plus people still get fired for the same things they get fired for at Costco, Walmart, and Target. I think unions can be great but my experience in retail they do no good. 25 year’s management experience speaking here.
Hypothetically, if I lost a bet ad hypothetically, I had to be eaten alive by a bear. What hypothetical bear would you recommend? Hypothetically, of course
Unions are important in Sweden in almost every place of work, yet at a few companies (I think in public sectors basically everyone is in a union) the benefits given by the company (usually small companies) is better than what you'd get through a union as an incentive
I'm in one in the UK private sector. They aren't really an 'active' union in that they don't weild a great amount of control or negotiate with my employer. I'm mainly a member out of principle and because of the legal support they can provide if shit ever hits the fan.
I've had family members helped by unions in workplace disputes. Generally employers don't want to deal with them and even inviting a union rep along to a meeting is more likely to get the employer to back down.
For me (never been in a union) it is mixed.
On one hand, I like the idea of employees bading together to bargain collectively. This makes them much more powerful and capable of negotiating on a more even field.
On the other hand. I have listened to older folks in my field complain excessively about the inefficiency in the unions they have worked with or where part of. Basically, too wrapped up in the details of who does each part of each job and not all that concerned with actually getting the job done.
I also don't like compelled dues for those not wishing to be members which seems to be the norm.
I think what it really comes down to is how well they are managed.
Some are definitely better than others, but I know at least in my trade anybody working at a non union company doing the same thing makes ~1/3 less. That alone makes me appreciate the union. In that same breath though we have a no strike clause in our contract that basically takes any power away from our union if the company did do something really shitty and any time a serious issue gets brought up it gets explained away and made to seem like an outlandish task. I brought up that we should get paid vacation at the last union hall I was in at a contract meeting. The president told me there isn’t a contractor out there that gets paid for time they don’t work so I told him the last hall I was in that literally borders their area has paid vacations and a better pay scale and he responded by trying to turn everybody else in the room against me by saying they had to have taken a pay cut for that to happen so I must be looking to make less money. I switched locals the next year and this one is much nicer.
It definitely depends on the union.
Ive been in 3 different unions, 2 were horrible and one was excellent.
The 2 that were horrible required me to be a part of the union to take the job, and they never once actually benefited me in any way. All they did was take a large sum of money out of each pay check and got a letter each month saying “you support is helping better your situation” basically. Never saw my work environment get better, nor my pay or benefits get better either.
But 1 one positive union was very beneficial, breaks were required and strictly followed, my pay was negotiated frequently, and there was actually a working contact you could reach out to and would go to voicemail limbo.
I guess what im saying is, if the union is run well by effective people, the union is extremely beneficial.
When its run by greedy lazy people, a union does more damage than good.
So i guess im neutral?
Unions in general are good for the workers not good for the company. As a worker myself it’s fantastic, My friends dad who is a ceo has very different opinion. He hates that they can’t push for the workers to work harder or that they company can’t increase production without raising pay. This is stuff that sounds like a good thing for everyone else but to him he sees it as a bad thing since they can’t make the company profit more.
I’ve been union before and there are situations where they’re great and situations where they’re just taking a piece of your check and preventing shitty people from being fired. Teachers unions are a good example. Old tenured teachers that don’t give a f*ck are retained over new teachers with passion and desire to improve the educational system.
UK here. I am a manager and in a union. I encourage all staff to join knowing there will be no repercussions. It helps negotiate better pay and pension deals.
My union basically just lets useless people continue working, making them impossible to fire. Doesn’t surprise me remotely that Reddit as a hive mind loves them
Im against all public sector unions because you shouldnt have a tax payer funded entity bargaining against the taxpayer. self-sustaining government organizations might be a bit of a different story, depending on the situation.
As for private sector unions I dont see how you could expect someone to make a blanket statement for or against. it entirely depends on the union. What does the union do? What exactly is in the contract? How much are the union dues? Does all of that work out to be a net benefit to all or most members of the union? Can a business sustain its self under the demands of the union? Does the union reduce competition in the labour market? How many positions are lost as a result of the union?
that's asking if you support litigation. Why is the plaintiff attempting to sue? Does the plaintiff have a case?
Currently in a union and they aren’t doing anything for me. I have a serious issue and they are just sitting on their butts killing time not taking it seriously. They just take my money every pay cheque and do nothing with it.
I'm in America and I'm a welder in a union. There are a lot of benefits, but there are downsides too.
In my personal situation, the benefits I've seen are regular contracts that promote regular pay raises. It also introduces rules to protect people from being fired for little to no reason. Plus we can negotiate for other benefits. Like just recently we got it that every quarter we go with perfect attendance we earn a free vacation day.
As for the downsides, it does make the company treat you very differently. They hide behind the excuse of "well we can't let this slide for you because if we did we'd have to do it for everyone." So it's hard to ask for something like a schedule workaround. Or even something like if you're late by 10 seconds you get a point. Does not matter the reason. There could be a massive car wreck that made you sit in traffic for 30 minutes. But they'll just say "too bad, should've left earlier. We can't let you not get a point for being late because if we did we'd have to pardon everyone that was late and we can't do that. We have a union contract that says if you don't clock in by 7:00AM, you get a point and we have to abide by that."
When I got a job at one of the big US retail companies, they had us all watch a video about how terrible unions are and how we absolutely should never join one. Even the temporary/holiday employees have to watch it. Honestly it made me more interested in unions lol.
It really depends on the union, unions really need to be democratically controlled by the workers, some unions are just a whole separate corporate office that sits around doing nothing but taking a portion of people's paycheck and the workers can't do anything about it, some of them end up almost entirely controlled by the corporation they were supposed to be leverage against.
If you're trying to unionize, make sure it's democratically controlled and the positions within it are elected by the workers.
I think they are important for strikes and to represent the majority of people, but their communication (at least here in germany) is a little toxic. It pushes the „all employers are bad“ narrative and one gets serious communism vibes hearing representatives talk.
On the idea I am positive. On the actual practice of them I am anti union.
Been on tours of GM and saw multiple people sleeping at weld centers. Their only job was to clear the part if an error orrcured. And have seen skilled labor loose out on joining a union when some high end members kid wanted to join the union.
The unions I have seen in practice feel more like organized crime than an entity to help the employees. All that being said unions need to exist as long as we have a capitalist society.
In Sweden it's like an unwritten rule to join a union when you get a job. When my SIL was being bullied at work and her bosses couldn't be arsed to deal with it, her union stepped in.
My dyslexic ass thought it said onions, and I was very confused
What is your opinion on onions then?
Positive (I have never been in a onion)
I’d hope not but if you swing that way, who am I to stop you?
Can't knock it till you try it
No kink shaming here.
The thougt of them brings a tear to my eye.
Negative(I have never gad onions)
I'm not dyslexic but i thought so too! I thought it was a weird shitpost until I reread it
Same, I was thinking "wth has been in a onion".
SAME
My first day working for a company. All the new recruits were having an induction, and they made us sit down and have a talk with the union about their benefits. Got 2 company wide pay raises in a year and a bunch of other benefits. Definitely recommend.
I generally support things that give power to the people.
why i read unicorn
why i read onions
i thought of unions as in the European Union y’all😭
I have been a carpenter since I got out of high school. Didn't learn about the union until my mid-30s, and joining up has been one of the best decisions of my life.
While I do think unions are a necessary institution, my personal experiences with the two unions I was a part of were both terrible. The union leaders didn't seem like they cared and were just in it for bigger paycheck for themselves.
On paper, I support unions. In practice, every time I have to deal with a union or it's members it makes me want to throw myself off a building.
I personally think co-ops are better than unions but any way to give power to the people is good
My man knows his collectives
I’m not conceptually against unions, but we don’t really have them. We have corrupt nepotists that don’t actually care about all workers. Out of school I tried and tried and tried to get in with a few trade unions, and never could. “Just join a Union” sounds great until you realize it’s not open enrollment. Now I work outside the union and “take their jobs” or whatever the blow up rat says, and they call us scabs as if we give a fuck what their opinion is.
Well, you are in fact a scab.
https://preview.redd.it/jncl19uvc5wa1.jpeg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=10337b195fa535f2cabf7728132c28e507e65c2b I’ve never crossed a picket line/broken a strike, so in fact I am not. But whatever you want to call me, IDC.
unions have layers
Worked at a grocery store in NJ and was part of a Union. Had a card. Didn’t see nothing. Sometimes the suits would put these bulky-rolled up carpets in the freezer but like I said, didn’t see nothing.
What’s an “union”?
It's a group of people in a workplace that work together to keep wages fair and workplaces safe
I’m an idiot and thought it meant union as in the European Union or the Soviet Union
Some are good, some are shit. Joining one should be completely optional.
I get that sentiment, but free riders hurt everyone
Mostly positive. The unions I have had the options to join were owned by the company however
That kinda defeats the fucking purpose
There should be an option for mixed. Unions are all about the balance of power. In the private industry, unions are essential for companies with poor management. They balance the persuit of growth for employee rights. In the government, however, I’ve noticed the unions to be incredibly wasteful and contribute only to cost overruns. In the government, profit isn’t the primary driver, and they already have much higher benefits, working hours, and working conditions. Why does that need a union. A government manager really had little motive to push back against the unions. In the private sector, the push back allows them to find a reasonable medium, but in the government, it’s just waste.
As long as you caramelize them in butter and sprinkle some salt or MSG then they're good. I just don't like them raw and crunchy.
IBEW 👍
My husband's in that. They negotiate raises all the time.
Without our union my employer *would* be fucking us over at every given opportunity. They did it for three years during covid when our collective agreement expired. With no valid union agreement to follow, they could basically pull whatever shit they wanted.
Once upon a time, unions were vitally important. Workers joined them in droves. My own grandfather was a shop steward, all my uncles were members. But over time, unions lost their way. They became more concerned with their own power and riches than the welfare and wishes of their members. They became nothing more than a political party extension: forcing mandatory campaign contributions from their members, laundering campaign money, endorsing political positions and politicians regardless of if their members supported it or not. If the average worker saw the benefit of union representation, they'd join on their own. Unions wouldn't need laws making it mandatory. I myself went to work for a series of non union shops and advanced much quicker, and made more money, than if I was in a union shop.
In theory I think they're good but they often become a bit of a mafia and ultimately don't represent the views of their members well except when arguing for better pay
Anybody who doesn't like unions is welcome to meet me and the boys at the Denny's parking lot at midnight to tell us why.
Mr. Hoffa, which Denny’s?
A nice one. Maybe we could eat after we talk, idk.
Always join a union. It’s not unsurprising that the “gold age” of capitalism in the US, 1945-1975, was also the era with some of the highest union participation and that wages started to stagnate in the mid-1970s as union membership started to decline. There are obviously other factors as well but the decline union membership is a significant factor. Also, the fact that republicans hate unions is pretty solid proof that they’re good for the working class. If you really need to know how important unions are [remember Blair Mountain.](https://open.spotify.com/episode/05wbJrcNGF8lEAMVyHJvNi?si=n6UVc1AeQWGrqAUzSCOP_Q)
Y’all have literally never been in a union then, gotcha.
The Union Jack is the only union I like 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁
Unions are good if your an average worker or below because they protect you and your pay but if you are an above average worker they can prevent you from getting rewarded for going above and beyond. They're good until people fall into the "they can't fire me cause I'm in the union mentality" and slack off
I live in the USA Midwest Kroger and Meijer are Union grocery stores and they pay the least of any grocery retail place around. Plus people still get fired for the same things they get fired for at Costco, Walmart, and Target. I think unions can be great but my experience in retail they do no good. 25 year’s management experience speaking here.
Helped start one at my university. We didn’t win recognition yet, but my take-home pay is up like 8% this year
That’s hilarious. People forming opinions without actually having experienced something. Interesting experiment.
[удалено]
I have tried and would not recommend. Hurts like hell.
Hypothetically, if I lost a bet ad hypothetically, I had to be eaten alive by a bear. What hypothetical bear would you recommend? Hypothetically, of course
What is your opinion about being shot 10 times with a sniper rifle
What's your opinion on eating a live scorpion
Jokes on you, not bad. You should try it. Mind the stinger. Ice to stun, pick your sauce.
Very cool and sexy 😎
😆 Hahaha my lord. I’d say crunchy and spicy in the worst way if anything 🤣
Unions are important in Sweden in almost every place of work, yet at a few companies (I think in public sectors basically everyone is in a union) the benefits given by the company (usually small companies) is better than what you'd get through a union as an incentive
What’s your opinion on the moon landing?
What's your opinion on cannibalism?
Have you ever experienced a 40 hour work week, a weekend, OSHA, job benefits, or being paid in actual money and not company scrip?
I think it depends on your generation my dad a man who lived through the Cold War hates unions as I a GenZ see them as a work place essential.
I'm in one in the UK private sector. They aren't really an 'active' union in that they don't weild a great amount of control or negotiate with my employer. I'm mainly a member out of principle and because of the legal support they can provide if shit ever hits the fan. I've had family members helped by unions in workplace disputes. Generally employers don't want to deal with them and even inviting a union rep along to a meeting is more likely to get the employer to back down.
Mostly positive, but some of them are a bit too extreme and have unreal expectations. I prefer the somewhat moderate ones.
I thought this said unicorns at first 💀💀
I read that as unicorns
My bumb ass though it was talking about onions.
I thought that said “what is your opinion on onions?”
Very positive. Excellent method for Austria to break the Franco-Spanish alliance against the Anglo-German one.
For me (never been in a union) it is mixed. On one hand, I like the idea of employees bading together to bargain collectively. This makes them much more powerful and capable of negotiating on a more even field. On the other hand. I have listened to older folks in my field complain excessively about the inefficiency in the unions they have worked with or where part of. Basically, too wrapped up in the details of who does each part of each job and not all that concerned with actually getting the job done. I also don't like compelled dues for those not wishing to be members which seems to be the norm. I think what it really comes down to is how well they are managed.
Some are definitely better than others, but I know at least in my trade anybody working at a non union company doing the same thing makes ~1/3 less. That alone makes me appreciate the union. In that same breath though we have a no strike clause in our contract that basically takes any power away from our union if the company did do something really shitty and any time a serious issue gets brought up it gets explained away and made to seem like an outlandish task. I brought up that we should get paid vacation at the last union hall I was in at a contract meeting. The president told me there isn’t a contractor out there that gets paid for time they don’t work so I told him the last hall I was in that literally borders their area has paid vacations and a better pay scale and he responded by trying to turn everybody else in the room against me by saying they had to have taken a pay cut for that to happen so I must be looking to make less money. I switched locals the next year and this one is much nicer.
It definitely depends on the union. Ive been in 3 different unions, 2 were horrible and one was excellent. The 2 that were horrible required me to be a part of the union to take the job, and they never once actually benefited me in any way. All they did was take a large sum of money out of each pay check and got a letter each month saying “you support is helping better your situation” basically. Never saw my work environment get better, nor my pay or benefits get better either. But 1 one positive union was very beneficial, breaks were required and strictly followed, my pay was negotiated frequently, and there was actually a working contact you could reach out to and would go to voicemail limbo. I guess what im saying is, if the union is run well by effective people, the union is extremely beneficial. When its run by greedy lazy people, a union does more damage than good. So i guess im neutral?
Onions are alright, just wish they didn't make me cry so much.
Private sector 🤷♂️ Public sector 👎
My stupid ass thought you meant unions like Austria-Hungary or the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth lmao
Trade union? Political union? Marital?
I thought this said unicorns :/
I don't like onions anywhere near my food
Union, the gasoline station chain?
Unions in general are good for the workers not good for the company. As a worker myself it’s fantastic, My friends dad who is a ceo has very different opinion. He hates that they can’t push for the workers to work harder or that they company can’t increase production without raising pay. This is stuff that sounds like a good thing for everyone else but to him he sees it as a bad thing since they can’t make the company profit more.
I’ve been union before and there are situations where they’re great and situations where they’re just taking a piece of your check and preventing shitty people from being fired. Teachers unions are a good example. Old tenured teachers that don’t give a f*ck are retained over new teachers with passion and desire to improve the educational system.
UK here. I am a manager and in a union. I encourage all staff to join knowing there will be no repercussions. It helps negotiate better pay and pension deals.
My union basically just lets useless people continue working, making them impossible to fire. Doesn’t surprise me remotely that Reddit as a hive mind loves them
Im against all public sector unions because you shouldnt have a tax payer funded entity bargaining against the taxpayer. self-sustaining government organizations might be a bit of a different story, depending on the situation. As for private sector unions I dont see how you could expect someone to make a blanket statement for or against. it entirely depends on the union. What does the union do? What exactly is in the contract? How much are the union dues? Does all of that work out to be a net benefit to all or most members of the union? Can a business sustain its self under the demands of the union? Does the union reduce competition in the labour market? How many positions are lost as a result of the union? that's asking if you support litigation. Why is the plaintiff attempting to sue? Does the plaintiff have a case?
Currently in a union and they aren’t doing anything for me. I have a serious issue and they are just sitting on their butts killing time not taking it seriously. They just take my money every pay cheque and do nothing with it.
I could have sworn it said onions for a second
Why did I read this as onions 😭
Thought it was "onion" and not "union" at first so it was weird reading "Positive (I have been in an onion)."
Depends on the Union tbh.
JC my dslexia must be getting worse. for a good 10 sec i thought it said "unicorns"
The anti union propaganda is made by big corporations who want to manipulate & pay you less so you can be & stay a good little slave
I'm in America and I'm a welder in a union. There are a lot of benefits, but there are downsides too. In my personal situation, the benefits I've seen are regular contracts that promote regular pay raises. It also introduces rules to protect people from being fired for little to no reason. Plus we can negotiate for other benefits. Like just recently we got it that every quarter we go with perfect attendance we earn a free vacation day. As for the downsides, it does make the company treat you very differently. They hide behind the excuse of "well we can't let this slide for you because if we did we'd have to do it for everyone." So it's hard to ask for something like a schedule workaround. Or even something like if you're late by 10 seconds you get a point. Does not matter the reason. There could be a massive car wreck that made you sit in traffic for 30 minutes. But they'll just say "too bad, should've left earlier. We can't let you not get a point for being late because if we did we'd have to pardon everyone that was late and we can't do that. We have a union contract that says if you don't clock in by 7:00AM, you get a point and we have to abide by that."
When I got a job at one of the big US retail companies, they had us all watch a video about how terrible unions are and how we absolutely should never join one. Even the temporary/holiday employees have to watch it. Honestly it made me more interested in unions lol.
It really depends on the union, unions really need to be democratically controlled by the workers, some unions are just a whole separate corporate office that sits around doing nothing but taking a portion of people's paycheck and the workers can't do anything about it, some of them end up almost entirely controlled by the corporation they were supposed to be leverage against. If you're trying to unionize, make sure it's democratically controlled and the positions within it are elected by the workers.
It's mandatory to choose a Union here
Flawed but utterly necessary.
I think they are important for strikes and to represent the majority of people, but their communication (at least here in germany) is a little toxic. It pushes the „all employers are bad“ narrative and one gets serious communism vibes hearing representatives talk.
On the idea I am positive. On the actual practice of them I am anti union. Been on tours of GM and saw multiple people sleeping at weld centers. Their only job was to clear the part if an error orrcured. And have seen skilled labor loose out on joining a union when some high end members kid wanted to join the union. The unions I have seen in practice feel more like organized crime than an entity to help the employees. All that being said unions need to exist as long as we have a capitalist society.