Quote:To answer the part in bold, it's all about money.  It's actually "easy money" for them and has been going on for decades.  They pay politicians, then politicians "pay" them back with favorable legislation.  They masquerade as "fighting for workers", yet much of what they claim to "fight for" has been either legislated or is common practice.  As an example.  Overtime?  There is a law for that.

 

And where did all this legislation come from?  You think corporations and businesses, on their own, thought it would be nice to implement these things?  The impetus for all these workplace benefits were from workers organizing, even before they were officially called "unions"


 

I'll give you guys a hint here.  Pay scale isn't determined by unions, it's determined by the private sector.  You want a higher salary?  You'll get it, but at the expense of losing something else.  Perhaps your 401k option(s) aren't very good and the company won't match your contribution, or your healthcare "benefit" might cost a bit more.

 

Wrong again.  Our pay scale is determined by our union and our employer when they meet every 4-6 years to come up with a new CBA.  You want to believe there is this magic, equalizing parameter that completely offsets the benefits from negotiated pay, but there just isn't.   We have a good match on our 401k with a good choice of investment options for it.  Sure, our health care benefits cost a little more than they did 5 years ago, but if your healthcare costs have gone down during the same time I'd like the number of your insurer.  I get 5 weeks of paid vacation a year.  I get 10 paid holiday days each year.  I earn a decent amount of sick leave every year.


 

The bottom line is, your job is worth "X" number of dollars to a company.  The company will pay it out in salary and/or "benefits", it's just a matter of how it's all distributed.  A union NEVER gets "more" of anything it just gets a "bigger slice of the pie" directed somewhere else.

 

This statement is so wrong, it's hard to know where to begin.  For starters, you just described a non-union job.


Key point #1:  In a union job, the employer doesn't get to decide what your job is worth.  That decision is made together with the employer and the representing union.


Key point #2:  A union ALWAYS gets more, because it has the authority to bargain for more.  It's a "strength in numbers" concept, you know.


 

The company might agree that you get "more" of something, but it's just because they can have that much "more" to write off on their taxes.

 

Wait, you just said unions don't get more of anything!  As a union employee, I couldn't care less how my employer handles their accounting.  More money, more benefits, more job security, and safer working conditions is all I care about.


 

Meanwhile, your "union" isn't really doing anything for you and is extracting money from your paycheck in order to fund itself and it's political interests.

 

It's kind of like a broken record at this point.  I give up.