I've seen out rights lies about what unions can and can't do at work. You're being lied to, as well. The company is spreading propaganda to you. Unions rarely work the way companies pretend they do.
Union truckers circle Iowa Capitol in protest of proposed labor legislation
- Thread starter cigaretteman
- Start date
The unionized companies are all going to hell. Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep is teetering on bankruptcy. Again. GM is a complete shitshow. Ford is hanging in there, but F-150s still sell.
Meanwhile the car companies that are actually doing well are largely non-unionized.
Toyota, Honda, Subaru, Mazda, AND Tesla.... they're selling cars because consumers know that union-made cars are crap.
Tell me about this "evidence" again?
Iowa is a right to work state. Legally you can't be forced to be part of a union. So why do they make this claim at work?
Even if you don't join the union in a unionized shop because of right to work laws, you're still stuck with the union contract.
The employer can't pay you more because you're a good worker. You get the same union wage as the biggest slacker on the shop floor.
And that's the truth.
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YES, for 37 years and i would never work in a NON UNION shop. You see, everything that was promised to me when i started has been fulfilled.
Why did you feel the need to have a middleman negotiating on your behalf?
Did you ever ask for a raise and be told, "We can't give you a raise because of the union wage scale. You'll get a raise when the contract is renegotiated."
???
I have done quite well for myself without anyone "representing" me. Maybe your work performance requires a third party to get you a raise?
Trad, the NBA has a union, the NFL, actors have a union, musicians, writers. They all get paid different amounts. Your claim is not based in reality. If they can't make more then why is Lebron making more than some scrub on the bench?
LOL @ "millionaire unions"....
That's a whole different ballgame.
We're talking about truck drivers, here.
i know ive been told, after crosstraining in multiple areas, completely switching to a new position on less than a days training when both people in that position got injured in the same week (and they ended up moving one of those people to a new position when he got bsck because i was that good in that position), took on another duty that had me out of the building travelling out of state once a week to a customer, that they could just not do any better than a .25 raise because they just dont have it (after bragging in their yearly meeting about the increased profits)
All the while they are buying new furniture for the breakroom, spending money on shiny things while neglecting things that would make our jobs easier if fixed.
They ponied up a little more money the following year after a lot of people quit because of those poor raises the previous year. That was the year i decided to go back to school.
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Trad, a union contract can be anything the members and company agree on. Any work force can do the same as the NBA. Your claim that contracts prevent performance bonuses is not based in reality.
And?
Obviously none of that would have happened under a union contract.
But you wouldn't have even been allowed to be crosstrained. Even if you wanted to do that.
Oh, the raise you eventually got wouldn't have happened, either. Because employers can't just give raises under the constraints of a union contract.
Look, I will admit that unions are a good deal for poor performers and slackers. But they're a really bad deal for anyone who wants to do more than they're currently doing.
Back when i started working as a machinist, the union shops received better pay, better benefits and received the bigger jobs, more money, You couldn't get a job in any large company unless you joined the union .GE, Westinghouse, GM, Ford, Nasa, ect We also received more schooling as the newer machines came on board, and i knew that we would have paid vacations. I have been retired since 2005 and have been enjoying a nice pension every month since then.
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I would have been making more than $13/hr in a union position.
The next time they wanted to cross train me in something else, i laughed at my manager.
only reason i got a raise i did the following is because one of the leads gave management a list of 3 people and told them they better take care of us if they didnt want us to leave.
There are lots of work situations like the NBA. Most artists in unions are covered like this. Musicians, actors, writers, performers, the guy playing piano at your favorite bar, the band playing at a club, your local fiction writer, the performers at your kids school assembly. These are largely all working class people.
So, you got more because you performed.
That doesn't happen under a union contract (NBA excluded).
We're talking about truck drivers. There's nothing artistic about that. Get the shit there on time and don't have any accidents. That's the job.
This is simply not true. Many union contracts have performance bonuses.
Trad, you're the one making blanket statements about what unions can and can't do. I'm simply pointing out that there are many times that this isn't true.
In most situations, unions want wage scale variations based on seniority, not performance.
Because management will decide that the best performers are the anti-union workers.
Duh.
If it was because i performed, i wouldve recieved more the previous year. After that .25 raise, i didnt take on any more special projects or new tasks. I laughed in my managers face when he said he wanted to cross train me in something else, and said “yeah, not after the raise they just handed out with all of the extra stuff i took on” There was no incentive for me to do more than the bare minimum.
I got more because the lead knew if they cheaped out on us again, he would lose people he didnt want to lose.
I still would have made more if I had been in a union:
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Unions absolutely want performance. If you're not doing your job, showing up late, not fulfilling the requirements of the job, causing accidents, the union won't back you. You're just making up more stuff that doesn't happen in reality.
OH BULLSHIT!
Unions make it impossible to fire anybody! Because they'd lose a dues-paying member!
Hmm. I would think if there were tangible benchmarks for certain types of production a company wanted out of its employees and then the employer would want to decide to pay the people who do that more because they're good workers... I wonder if they would be willing to sit down with all the workers and put that down in writing in some type of incentive plan that they all can agree to. And then the workers and employer have like a contract where the expectations are clear for everyone.
That's called a "Job Description" and a "Performance Evaluation" and virtually all but the smallest employers have some version of that.
No a contract is different than a job description and a performance evaluation. I have a job description and a performance evaluation. They figured out the criteria for my performance evaluation for 2023 in late December 2023 because they had to figure out some type of curve to apply retroactively to figure out how to divvy up the meh bonus pool my accounting unit was allotted for the year. That's a pretty normal year at my employer. Type of place that's not really great always at communicating expectations ahead of time in part because they're frequently subject to change. I mean the company does pretty great every year but most of the people who work there get very modest recognition for it.
Trad also going on about getting more becuase you perform is BS
Another place i worked at (non union)gave productivity bonuses. During my 3 years at that job, when too many people would start hitting their bonus, they would roll out “time studies”. Amazingly after each time study, they changed the metrics to make it harder to hit minimum productivity levels and bonus.
They did that 4 different times in my time there. You were essentially being f**ked for getting better at your job. There were also people who weren’t at bonus levels, but above the required levels that were now put on performance plans because the changed metrics pushed them under that line.
Of course, people were too dumb to not slow down during these time studies, but i dont think it wouldve mattered in the long run.
Also, they would send me to ither areas of the facility and new tasks in the department, but because of their pay scale (based on years), i did not recieve more from it
Trad is a corporate boot licker. Being in HR, he only has the best interest in the company in mind. I dont blame him, its how his bread is buttured.
Another place i worked at (non union)gave productivity bonuses. During my 3 years at that job, when too many people would start hitting their bonus, they would roll out “time studies”. Amazingly after each time study, they changed the metrics to make it harder to hit minimum productivity levels and bonus.
They did that 4 different times in my time there. You were essentially being f**ked for getting better at your job. There were also people who weren’t at bonus levels, but above the required levels that were now put on performance plans because the changed metrics pushed them under that line.
Of course, people were too dumb to not slow down during these time studies, but i dont think it wouldve mattered in the long run.
Also, they would send me to ither areas of the facility and new tasks in the department, but because of their pay scale (based on years), i did not recieve more from it
Trad is a corporate boot licker. Being in HR, he only has the best interest in the company in mind. I dont blame him, its how his bread is buttured.
Maybe you have never actually worked with a union, because if you had, you wouldn't feel the same way.
