are unions still relevant?

Question

are unions still releavant and why

Answer 1

They're an absolute necessity to *try* and balance out the power of the employer over the employees. Checks & Balances.

Just because we have laws to protect workers doesn't mean companies won't bend or break them as soon as it becomes a financially good idea. OSHA isn't so specific that it covers every circumstance. Employers have leeway to use their own judgment; about 99% of they will choose the cheapest option even if it's not the safest.

Craft Union Perspective:

For many Blue Collar workers, the only reason they have Health Insurance or a Pension is their Craft Union. My husband usually works for 7-10 different contractors in one year; it's the nature of the trade. Because of the way the industry works, the Union holds and administers those funds. The contractor just pays into the funds during the term of employment. It works out good for everybody; we have the insurance & pension and the employer doesn't have all those Labor associated costs on the books for the whole year.

Unions offer the opportunity to learn a trade and get paid to do it. My husband did a 4 year apprenticeship got paid; I paid to go to University for 4 years. I have student loans that will take me decades to pay off; and he has a better income than I do. I think he made a better decision than I did.

Answer 2

I remember the good ole days when the Unions had their own medical centers, provided the health insurance and managed the workers pensions. They also made the company live up to it's promises and protected the company from unfair competition.

Now they do none of those things. The company manages the pensions and 401K's. The DOL handles the protections and the Unions have abandoned any effort to protect the industries their members work in.

Today, a union only represents the most expensive 'newsletter' you can get.

They write collective bargaining agreements with the performance of their worst member in mind. What you end up with it the best worker making the same money as the worst and no desire to stay in a competitive labor market.

Not only are unions irrelevant, they can be destructive.
While the Unions are collecting dues, their members are standing on the dock waving goodbye to their jobs.

Answer 3

Unions are relevant as long as there is capitalism. Unions are the only protection workers have to defend their rights. They're as relevant today as they were in the bad old days of industrial exploitation.
Those neo-cons that want to eradicate unions do so with a reactionary agenda. To remove the rights of workers is the first step in their plan to return to the bad old days.

Answer 4

More so than ever in Australia. That little sh1t Howard has long term plans to shaft the workers and the only way to stop him is collectively

Answer 5

No, but they should be. That is why 1/2 of American taxpaying families earn $25,000 or less. Big business took the "free" out of free enterprise. It doesn't exist but in myth!