If not for labor unions, how many hours would a US standard work week be comprised of?

Question

Also, would such things as paid vacations, sick leave, overtime, and holiday pay exist for anyone other than exects and above?

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Even none unionized work places have benefitted from the Unions which demanded standards be put in the work place. These standards were later adopted by the nation and then wrote into our current labor laws.
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Answer 1

People would be working 6 days a week in horrible working conditions. They'd be working for almost nothing and have no benefits.

The labor unions gave average American workers dignity, a voice at the table and a life worth living. Unfortunately... many of those oppressed workers... have now decided to become the oppressors.

Answer 2

Since only a small percentage of the work force is unionized I'd have to say that yes they would get those benefits. I do believe that unions did and do have a place in the work force but not all jobs need to be unionized. I also believe that it is true that unions established the 40 hour work week and are the starting point of those benefits. However, unions can also be a detriment to the workforce. Check out what is happening in California right now with the writer's strike. Because of this strike other, non-union, employees are getting canned. I have know union workers that because they had to get their 8 hours in a day sat around and watched movies or played cards for 2 to 4 hour at least once a week.

Answer 3

there would not be any limits on what or how many hours you would have to work. even with limits, people in industry work 60-80 hours a week. of course hey get paid overtime,but without unions it would be all straight time with no benefits. the unions helped get benefits by bargaining and strikes, some people even gave their lives for the good of the masses. think of the benefits in non union places as a residual effect of the once strong union struggles.

Answer 4

I am totally pro union already, but I am glad you asked this question, because many people don't really understand what benefits unions have brought to us, and I feel that the weakening of unions that has been going on these past twenty years or so, has been harming working people more than many of them realize. I think that those right to work laws that something like 22 states have adopted, are also harmful, because they have done a lot to weaken unions, and lower the wage base for all of us. *sm*

Answer 5

there isn't many unions and the work week is still 40 hrs. what unions are still left they are the lazy workers like the union auto workers that don't do nothing but watch a robot and make huge amounts of money. making our cars cost more. I've been in the work force for more than 20 years.. i don't need to pay someone to talk to my employers as long as i work and I'm productive i get my rewards by myself. unions do nothing but make union leaders richer . we have a labor board that states a employer shall not work a employee over 40 hrs overtime is volunteer work at time and a half. so who needs a union for that when we have laws . i live in virginia where we have the lowest paid union workers in the united states .

Answer 6

Unions have passed there true usefulness now. We as employees have the right to work or not to work. Employers offer benefits because they have to in order to retain quality employees. The free market is what actually gives us the benefits we need. Employers being held hostage by unions who won't allow the flexibility the employer needs in reallocating resources is the real reason we are seeing jobs moving overseas.
I have worked in several industries for non-union compaines competing with union busiessness and we always got better benifits and pay. Also we didn't have to give part of our paycheck to a union in order to support people who didn't really want to work, or union bosses who aren't even getting their members a great deal.

Answer 7

Unions in this country have been as inept as the UN for a long time. They have no teeth anymore since "Right to Work" laws.

Now, in the absence of any real unions, standard work weeks are 40 hours, most full time employees get vacations, sick leave, (federal law requires overtime) and holiday pay.

So, are unions necessary or helpful? Not really anymore.

Answer 8

even as unions may have finished some sturdy, having workers keep away from exploitation, they have helped workers take advantage of employers. over the years, unions have accummulated further and extra skill, in some industries to the point of being untouchable. Unions have the skill to abate a employer's means to compete and thrive. a company may be in determined worry, yet its unions may be unwilling to bend or compromise in order to help the employer live to tell the tale. Many employers discover themselves left very rigid even as they have union contracts to abide by ability of, this causes many to ought to easily terminate workers or declare for financial ruin or worse. some better problems with unions: -Anti-competitiveness. Unions raised their wages considerably above the wages paid to nonunion workers. hence, many union-made products are transforming into so expensive that revenues were lost to a lot less expensive overseas competition and nonunion manufacturers. -A decline contained in the fee of earnings. in a good number of union settings, workers can not improve a lot or in any respect on their advantages, yet ought to often progression interior the bounds defined by ability of union contracts. Employers may have worry eliminating ineffective workers in the adventure that they belong to unions. In idea, a minimum of, unionized workers may change into so gentle and probability-free that they lose the inducement to paintings flat out for his or her company. And staggering workers may lose their get-up-and-bypass if there is not any incentive to excel -- or worse, in the adventure that they are compelled by ability of the union to no longer bypass the better mile.

Answer 9

Probably the same hours I put in, "Til the work is done". That mentality works in the long run.

Don't get me wrong though, Unions are needed to control the greedy. But maybe not as much power as they currently have.

Answer 10

Chi Bro,
Labor unions are a joke, especially in Federal Service. Most of the fraud, waste and abuse that goes on in Federal Government is a result of labor unions.

Personally I witness people doing overtime because they didn't do their job during the regular work week. Then the ones who get the overtime, are the ones who don't ever do any work during the work week. So basically they are doing overtime and going through the motions and nothing can be done about it.

A federal employee has to kill someone or threaten to kill someone before he or she can actually be fired.