Quote:
Originally Posted by Hammer  Yes, the union does whatever the company wants, then turns around and tells you how hard they're working for you. Whenever an employee goes to the union for anything, their most used comment is, "Our hands are tied". Even if you research the union contract about a particular issue and show it to the union, the contract might indicate that you are right, but the union always comes back with, "Oh, we have a side agreement with the company on that issue." The side agreement always favors the company, not the employee. Plus, no one can ever produce a copy of this side agreement. |
I've been involved with unions, and there's a few possible reasons for these responses: 1) labor law sucks in many ways (esp under the current US govmt, which has appointed a National Labor Relations Bd that has set us back about 30 years); 2) the union was set up by the company to do exactly what it's doing to the two of you; 3) it's a really crappy union.
The *idea*--and in some cases the reality--of unions is great: the employer has more power than the individual employee, so the employees get together to change that power imbalance. Making it work is the challenge.
The response to (2) above is, decertify the sweetheart union and get a real one, and to (3) is: get more involved and get new officers. If people you work with have similar problems, you've got an organizing committee. If one's gonna be working at the same place for a long time, the question is, which is worse: Submitting to the **** management hands out (and those group physicals come to mind) or submitting to what the crappy union hands out.
At least in the latter there's some semblance of recourse.
