Are Unions needed today? Or is paying "union dues" a clever word for a shakedown?

Answer 1

For starters, there are two types of Unions - Industry (Teachers, Airline Pilots, Autoworkers, etc) and Craft (Carpenters, Ironworkers, Boilermakers, etc) - PLEASE don't think they're the same.

Industry Unions represent you AFTER you already have the job. Craft Unions train and dispatch you to a job. Getting paid while learning a trade is a very good option for people who want a good job without thousands in student loans.

For many Craft Union members, their dues go toward their Health Insurance, Pension, Annuity, as well as administrative costs. Dues are also a tax deduction.

***lovelymrsm - There is no such thing as a "closed shop" anymore (not since the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act). Closed Shops required Union membership as a condition of employment. "Union shops" do NOT require membership, just that you contribute the % of dues that covers collective bargaining, etc that YOU benefit from by working under a Union contract.

*** You are not being forced to join a union and not paying full dues. By working in a union shop you benefit from the CBA; it is only right that you contribute to the cost of negotiating that contract. If you don't like it, you have the option to find a different job. Pay scale is part of the CBA, so don't be surprised if the wage is lower somewhere else for the same job.

I'm not all that fond of a lot of the Industry Unions; but there are definite advantages to being a member of a Craft Union. Please realize that they are very different and serve different needs. For all you white collar workers, the laws and regulations are more than enough for your protection. BUT, there are thousands of men and women who are in jobs where their health and lives are dependent on extra safety precautions that are in CBAs because OSHA doesn't cover the situation well enough.

Answer 2

That's a hard question to answer really. Unions are there to protect workers and their benefits but the workers are now on the losing end and the unions are really weakened because competition between companies and their products has been replaced by competition for the cheapest labor.

Unions have saved some workers their pensions and health insurance so in that regard, I would have to say most union members are unlikely to stop paying their dues. In some cases, companies can't afford to stay in business and provide these benefits. Sometimes the union is the cause of a company to close their doors.

Our quality of life is on the way down and I don't think unions are going to be able to stop that eventually unless some of our free trade agreements are changed and outsourcing is made less attractive to corporations.

Answer 3

The unions were born when the working class no longer would accept the long hours for little pay, poor working conditions, seeing their children working for very small wages in the sweat shops in the larger cities of America. With the birth & growth of unions the standard of living rose as the unions gained members. With the growing ability of corporate America to influence( actually buy) our congress, the unions were stripped of their might. With the Globalization of trade, corporate America found another source of labor(cheaper labor). The manufacturing base of America was leaving the US. Along with the loss of good paying jobs, the union membership started to decline. With the loss of the union jobs, the union officials turned into a self serving enitity, much as our congress has become. Unions today do not serve the people they are suppose to be representing. Our actual wages are slowly declining. When the working people get to the bottom, the union membership will start to increase & the workers will reclaim the unions as people realize that "united you stand, divided you fall"!!

Answer 4

I think that joining a union should be everyone's right....but that it should also be everyone's *CHOICE*. States that are not Right to Work states allow unions to create "closed shops" where in order to work in that company you *MUST* pay union dues....*THAT* is a shakedown.

I have no problem with people that want to joining unions, but I think that *forcing* people through closed shops is a sneaky, backhanded way to rob the people that work for your company.

**You're right Beth, they don't CALL it a closed shop anymore. But whatever cutsey little moniker you put on it, unions still FORCE workers to pay them in states that are not Right to Work States, and do not allow them the right to decline ALL services and keep their money. That is-at it's core-legalized STEALING.

I don't have a problem if people WANT to join unions-by all means, pay someone your money if you feel they are doing you a service. However, I believe that EVERYONE should have the right to decide as individuals whether they feel joining a union is their best option. Forcing people to do things is the same as taking rights away.**

Answer 5

They way unions have behaved in have earned them public ire
In india they they collectively represent 4 % of the workers but cause 94 % of the work stoppages, traffic stoppages , shutting down cities, states and nation activity including essential services. and protection to errant employees.

Over the years some of them have become front for Mafia organization.
theoreticall it is a good idea. Only way capitalist powers and exploitation can be balanced is by political power , but it has become another power centre for exploitation of common man.

WIth the extensive labor laws having been formed the rights of TUs should be curbed drastically from present power and rights
'Union dues' is dubious shake down

Answer 6

Unions are badly needed--but they are also in need of reform.

Most unions today don't serve the intests of the members--and are run by professional managers who have more in common with corporate management than the rank-and-file. Reforms are needed first of all to return the control of the unions to their members.

Today, workers are losing rights at a frightening pace. Employers are allowed to renege on contract obligations, treat workers unfairly, operate many work places in an unsafe manner, ad so on.

There is a myth--carefully created and promoted by unethical businessmen--that unions are unAmerican and that they are somehow a "violation" of the rights of corporations and even, most ridiculous of all, that they don't really serve workers' interests.

Here's the reality: Bsinessmen--management--is free to organize as they wish, to plan in secret, and do so without any accountability or oversight. In addition, because they ARE management, they have a great deal more poer than individual workers.

But workers, when they choose to organize to protect or advance THEIR interests, are supposedly "unAmerican" or "socialist," etc. Tisis nonsense. If their organizing is "socilist" then so is the organizing of management for it's purposes.

Unions are needed--so that individual workers are not crushed by the power of management when it becomes abusive--and to balance the organized power of one group by the collective bargaining power of the other.

Answer 7

Yes but the way individual complaints against unions needs to be changed. Right now, if you are unfairly targeted by a union, you have very little recourse and believe me, unions can be very unfair.

Answer 8

Yes they are needed today. Although they aren't as strong as they were at on time. You can thank the unions for minimum wage, without it you may still be working at 1.50 an hour at 70 hours a week with out overtime.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

Unions are definitely needed...and needed badly! That Right to work (for much less), laws should be overturned in every state. *sm*