Why Corporate America Hates Unions
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ธ.ค. 2022
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Unions are having a bit of a moment right now - countless stores under brands like Amazon, Chipotle, REI, Starbucks, and many more are winning victories left and right, and corporate America is pulling out all the stops to crush them. Why is the US so antagonistic towards unions, and what can you expect to face when you try to unionize your workplace?
Why Corporate America Hates Unions - Second Thought
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Citations:
IWW resources
www.iww.org
www.iww.org/resources/pamphlets/
Union approval at a57-year high/10% union coverage today/20% union coverage in the 80s
www.npr.org/2022/08/31/112011...
Union workers make 13% more
www.epi.org/publication/unlaw...
Union workers make an extra $1.3M dollars
www.businessinsider.com/being...
doi.org/10.1177/0019793922112...
Other unionization benefits
www.epi.org/publication/unlaw...
Unionized workplaces are safer and have fewer fatalities
illinoisepi.files.wordpress.c... www.forumat.net.br/at/sites/d...
The union threat effect pulls wages up for everyone
www.epi.org/publication/brief...
Amazon puts workers in danger’s way
www.theguardian.com/commentis...
MorePerfectUS/sta...
www.nytimes.com/2022/10/04/bu...
www.nytimes.com/2021/12/12/te...
Union busting is on the rise
www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/ne...
Employers spend $340M/y on union avoidance advisors, paid $350/h or $2.5k/d
www.epi.org/publication/unlaw...
Starbucks fires workers for organizing
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...
sbworkersunited.org/press/sta...
• EXPOSED: Starbucks' Il...
Starbucks shuts down unionizing locations
edition.cnn.com/2022/11/22/bu... sbworkersunited.org/press/sta...
Violating the NLRA only costs employers backpay, no punitive damages or civil penalties
www.epi.org/publication/unlaw...
Employers break the law in 41.5% of all union election campaigns, illegally fire workers in ⅕
www.epi.org/publication/unlaw...
Starbucks withholds pay, benefits, perks from unionizing workers
www.axios.com/2022/08/26/star...
triblive.com/local/regional/n...
Employers spy on their workers, use heatmaps to stop unionizing
www.cbsnews.com/news/labor-bo...
www.newsweek.com/they-were-sp...
Captive audience meetings
cwad1.org/banning-captive-aud...
Constant anti-union propaganda at Boeing
inthesetimes.com/article/boei...
Common anti-union rhetoric
unionbustingplaybook.com/#com...
Union dues discouragement at Delta and Boeing (and amazon)
pbs.twimg.com/media/D6KE3PBW0...
chactivist/status...
Even more legal union busting strategies
www.epi.org/publication/unlaw...
Strikebreaking origins of the American police
jacobin.com/2020/06/police-un...
Companies stall signing union contracts to get them decertified
time.com/6221176/worker-strik...
Presidential strike-breaking
jacobin.com/2022/12/joe-biden...
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As a german, i am still slightly confused on how weak workers rights are in the US.
edit: stay strong comrades. You will make it. They cant fire all of you!
The laws and enforcement is so abysmal of the current right to organize. Sucks that most of them barely ever meet to a contract
Yup we have about the same amount of workers' rights as a Chinese factory worker (I only assume, but even they may be better off).
As also a non American from what I've seen it varies by state, one of the big differences is the "right to work" states where workers can be fired with no notice for any reason. Alongside the legislation there is also the factor of health insurance tied to jobs which can make it difficult to leave bad employers and make the prospect of being fired a threat to the life of the worker or their family.
As a American so am I. In most history classes we are thoroughly educated to the struggles workers went through. People fought and died and were murdered for their right to feed their families. But in this country we like to focus on idiot pop culture before well being unless it’s a welfare check.
They're treading water, waiting for automation technology to advance to the point where they can do exactly that. Then, when people start to starve, the people will fight back. They will use this as justification to start killing everyone who isn't already behind their guilded walls. How do I know? I grew up in a town where everyone is a millionaire: Pebble Beach, CA. THE RICH ARE GOING TO KILL EVERYBODY.
Ah yes.... a union will ruin the family vibe at work. Because my parents really treat their adult children like they need to track their every minute of work, or will kick someone out of the family once they become unprofitable. Do people really buy into the BS that companies think of their employees like one large family? Are people really that stupid?
yep. humans stupidity knows no bounds
In the USA? The fact that unionized work is only 10%, says to me that people really can be that stupid.... sadly.
@@annekekramer3835 most states passed laws starting in the 1940s that made it illegal for unions to attempt to collect union dues from their members, which really weakened the ability of unions to exist. Unionization definitely needs more help, but because of how the laws are written, lack on unions doesn't mean that people actually believe that their bosses think of them like family.
Technicallly. Big Brother is “part of the family”. I’m laughing but there’s nothing funny.
Well they didn't say if it's an extremely abusive family or not 🤷🏽♂️ ever wondered why all these billionaires have failed families?
“Family vibe at work.” Lmfao. I can tell you one thing 100%. You’ll feel more “family” when you’re a union member, than you’ll ever feel from management.
"Family vibe" in the sense of management being the parents where they get unquestionable authority and are allowed to force you to do anything "because they said so"
Ew
I will never understand why Americans empower a corporate system that does not serve their interest.
Constant propaganda.
It’s not like we want them to lmao. Don’t you see all the effort we make to try to get them to treat us better? They won’t budge.
@@steveweast475That sounds like something management would say if someone isnt moving as fast and steady. They want.
Poor Americans believe they're temporarily embarrassed wealthy persons. They've deceived people into thinking we can all become rich one day if we work hard even though that's impossible. That's why the public supports them.
@@ISureDont gotta love when people bring up other peoples triumphs as a way to dismiss why others haven't became rich yet.
"I don't see why you're not making the money you should be. Just look at all the stories of people overcoming their own limitations to make a name for yourself. Your just lazy I can't and won't help you." Mentallility I get.
Or they basically help, and then keep a track of all the financial aid they provided to get the money back.
It works if a person gets into a position where they have a stable amount of money to support themselves and pay the other person back. Or it becomes another reason they can't save up money cause they got a loan shark to settle. XD
I was fired from Papa John's for organizing a strike 10 years ago. When the store started taking the local university's meal plan as payment, which the students couldn't tip with. This caused us to effectively have our income cut in half, and the sales in the store doubled.
At least you have balls. You were ahead of your time. Hopefully it comes before extinction.
Sorry that happened to you but stand proud knowing you had the guts to do the right thing even if it didn't pay off. Too many people don't take action because they fear the consequences. Enough people coming together in solidarity can help prevent that. There's strength in numbers. It's just the numbers often aren't there and solidarity doesn't exist.
So courageous
@@justcommenting4981 Ahead of his time? Strikers today are weak, look at the strikes of 1946
@@Zanthorr an extinct animal that has to evolve again.
Not being in a union is like playing Monopoly where the other player is the banker, won't let you see the bank, gets extra rolls, takes a share of your $200-for-passing-Go, gives themselves a raise for passing Go, and won't let you read the rules. Then they tell you that you lose because you are lazy and didn't play the game as well as they did.
Please keep going
This is worse in unions. My company cut Sunday pay union did fuck all then the union raised the dues because the president wanted a raise for all he "hard" work he dose by protecting the lazy workers.
@@modigamin4119 So you got stuck with a union sponsored a corporation. Unlucky
Cry harder communist. Being in a union is like being a whore. Long work days, but no matter how long you gotta pay your pimp just so he can leave you on read when you need his help in a life and death situation. That’s what it’s like working for a union
@@void2920 you mean a regular union? 😂
I remember watching the American Office and being shocked by an episode where the factory was planning to unionise and corporate threatened to shut down the whole place rather than allow this. This was treated like it was a natural outcome. It really highlighted how fucked up American attitudes are to organised Labour.
Economist Hunter Lewis: "Higher wages earned by unions actually come out of the pockets of other workers, not out of employers’ profits, a point that is now well established but still little understood."
Bestselling historian Tom Woods: "Labor historians and activists would doubtless be at a loss to explain why, at a time when unionism was numerically negligible (a whopping three percent of the American labor force was unionized by 1900) and federal regulation all but nonexistent, real wages in manufacturing climbed an incredible 50 percent in the United States from 1860-1890, and another 37 percent from 1890 to 1914, or why American workers were so much better off than their much more heavily unionized counterparts in Europe. American workers had the eight-hour-day well before Europe did, and they earned much higher wages. Unionism never accounted for more than a third of the American labor force, and that was at its height. Most of them seem to cope with these inconvenient facts by neglecting to mention them at all."
Forgotten Facts of American Labor History
www.lewrockwell.com/2004/11/thomas-woods/unions-lie-and-so-do-their-supporters/
"Labor union membership in private employment has greatly declined over the decades, from about 35 percent in the mid 1950s to about 7 percent today. The reason is the fact that unionization imposes artificially high costs on firms, in the form of above-market union wage rates and reduced efficiency and quality of product as they struggle with union hostility to improvements in productivity, arbitrary work rules, and the difficulty or even impossibility of firing incompetent workers.
"Under such conditions, firms cannot meet the competition of other firms, foreign or domestic, that are non-union, and thus sooner or later must go out of business. The most recent large-scale example is that of Hostess Brands. It finally had to close when one of the major unions it had to deal with was unwilling to accept a wage reduction, with the result that 18,000 workers became unemployed. This kind of story, repeated hundreds of times over, explains the decline in union membership."
Labor Unions, Thugs, And Storm Troopers
mises.org/library/labor-unions-thugs-and-storm-troopers
I think a quick review of history would dispel any desire to unionize. Two things happen: the unions get hopelessly corrupt and the unions force wages so high they are no longer competitive and the company either goes out of business or moves to another country. Short term gain for a long term loss. Not a brilliant strategy. The idea was good, the execution was pure greed.
@@RS-ls7mm Do you have a weekend? You have unions to thank. Do you get sick pay? You have unions to thank. Do you get paid overtime? You have unions to thank. Employers will treat employees as scummily as they can get away with; they can get away with a lot more without unions.
@@RS-ls7mmyou could say the same thing about communism. Idea was great on paper, got corrupted by greed. Its all about execution.
@@netto6681 So? Like I said, good intent but it rapidly went off the rails. Power corrupts and unions are now synonymous with corruption. Why do you think basically all manufacturing left the country? The US has the most expensive, spoiled, entitled workers in the world. Only a fool would think that's competitive.
You know a company is mistreating you when the mere threat of unionization gets them acting right. I remember my first interview for a ironwork career out of high school. I was immediately asked “do you have any children? Are you a union member” they were pleased when I answered no, we immediately discussed pay afterwords lol 😂 I’m a wiser and more cynical man now..
That must gave been ages ago because it’s illegal to ask people if they have children!
Hey, if a Corporation doesn't want their employees to unionize, then it shouldn't give the employees reasons to do so.
@@Intentionaltia: Noble business owners want to do the right thing. However, put yourself in their position, owning a business or hiring a contractor for home emergencies. The contractor I used kept talking about his kids.
He had some tradition-thing that he needed to pak himself with kids.
Yeah one time I mentioned Unions at a job. They were trying to limit trips to the water fountain to once per shift.
You'd think they found Anthrax with how quickly they shut the whole place down. Pulled in each and every person in the warehouse into a meeting with management and HR.
All because I told them they cant limit our water intake.
People that bad mouth anything that helps workers have a voice is probably in management and don't want to shear with the workers and not make a giant bonus every month
At Trader Joe's the threat of unionization *magically* got the entire company tons of new benefits. Ten dollar premium pay on Sundays, a higher crew discount, some time off increases, etc. If nothing else comes of it I'm still glad we unionized because it raised everyone else's standard of living just a little bit more.
So that's why everything suddenly got more expensive, negating any gains.
@@RS-ls7mm Part of my job is to keep track of and literally change the prices on the signs by hand, so trust me when I say they were going up way before unionization lol
@@avaname9466 So you are saying you are not bright enough to figure out that the price increases were because everyone else in the supply chain wanted higher salaries.
@@RS-ls7mm you are speaking to someone who actually works for Trader Joe's. I have information about our truck drivers, our suppliers, the orgs we contract, etc. There is no mass organizing movement of workers within our supply chain that I'm aware of. Trader Joe's raises prices because it can and because they are working on massively expanding their business. However, If you have some secret insider info I don't know about plz let me know 🙄
@@avaname9466 So then you are clueless. No one said anything about a mass organizing. Buy a vowel.
I’m fortunate that I work for a unionized corporate job and I hope that everyone is able to get a union job as well.
My father worked for a union corporation back in the 70's through the 90's. The strength of the union allowed him to afford custom building three houses in his lifetime. The United States of America was STONGEST when unions had the most members.
I'm 30 stepping into the corporate world. Any suggestions for finding a union?
@@Obiwancolenobi I feel like I got lucky with this job. I randomly typed Bargaining Unit or Union Jobs on Indeed and I randomly applied to multiple jobs until I landed this one. Good luck and I hope this helps!
unions are nothing more than a system where you allow your employer to beat you once a week instead of twice a week.
anything short of full communism is a cop out and is doomed to fail in the long term.
My only contention is that Unions can be just as corrupt as any employer. And when they do become corrupt they can devastate cities and entire industries.
Becoming a union sheet metal worker has been the second best decision I made. First was getting sober.
Glad that unions are treating you better
One day at a time brother
Proud of you
Dilly Dilly 🏆✅
Amen brother
Congratulations friends, stay strong
Watching as an outsider (Australian), it is wild to me that companies treat workers like this. America sounds like a god damn dystopian hellhole
Sounds about right
Slaves to a machine that doesn't benefit them.
Hey (also Australian) we aren’t politically great either
That's because it is. Cyberpunk 2077 seems like heaven compared. We have the same damn thing minus the cybernetics.
It is
Unionization making a comeback is the one bit of optimism that I still have left for this country, but it's still a long uphill battle.
And everyone needs to be vigilant about union leadership becoming entrenched and corrupted. It isn't going to amount to much (good) if we get a bunch of Randi Weingarten's out there.
@@feydrautha012 I've heard the name before, but who is that? What union do they lead? (And badly from the sound of the comment)
I hope unionizing also translates to more people willing to unite along class lines for common goals. Most people are workers, not the super rich owners. We are stronger together. What can we unite for that includes all of us and benefits all of us in a healthy way? Perhaps a Basic Income. Put the power back in the people's hands. Every adult can get a dividend straight to their account, something around $2,000 a month (adjusted for inflation), to ensure they can afford their basic needs like food, water, shelter, clothing and healthcare and then choose how and when they labor. The people decide what they find meaningful to do in the community. Not the dictatorship profit-seeking companies. Imagine what you would do if you didn't have to go into a BS job and could pursue your passions and interests? Maybe you have young kids to take care of, you can spend more time raising them well. Maybe you have older family to take care of and spend time with in the twilight of their lives, giving them comfort and companionship. That isn't worth much profit to a capitalist but it is priceless for families.
A Basic Income can be a bridge from this insane capitalist death spiral economy to a better system, like a resource based economy of abundance, healthy relationships and ecological, social and economic sustainability.
@@feydrautha012 do nothing unions, and class traitors getting into the power structure. It's important to stay engaged and attentive to union affairs and even participate in the process to bring a political vision to guys only thinking of percentage point gains in pay working within the system rather than in industry and interindustry organization to actually change it.
@@feydrautha012 the good thing is, in a union, if the leadership becomes corrupt, the members can remove them from office or elect better competent officers. In a non-unionized workplace, you really can't vote out your employer. But yes, your point stands. It's important to be vigilant.
I work in corporate America and I can confirm that leadership is taught how to spot union formation and stop them from proceeding. If you plan on unionizing do it outside of work away from your employer until you have all of the steps needed to bring the vote forward. Recruit online. Once the movement is big enough you have to move swiftly and uniformly or they will squash your efforts through terminations and other means
@@stuckinthemud4352 personally I see the good and the bad of unions. If It we're up to me I would pass a law to give businesses the option of not allowing unions with the stipulation that they would have to pay employees a guaranteed variable yearly wage. If they opt for a union then they could negotiate the wage as they see fit
@@stuckinthemud4352 state gathered income data. Price of living goes up then wages should go up to match it. There's a reason that our parents could survive off of 7.25 an hour and now you struggle with 15 an hour. Minimum wage is not keeping up with inflation
@@stuckinthemud4352 if businesses were self regulating in the best interest of all parties involved I would be against it but working for the corporate world I know that it is a cancer on this nation that only the government can control
@@stuckinthemud4352 And yet you can't spell "Guaranteed".
@@stuckinthemud4352 Yes, anyone who proposes solutions to our current economic woes 1% as radical as Roosevelt's is infact Stalin.
Also, we aren't living in the most prosperous time in history anymore. Atleast, not in the US and West. Literally entire nations have yet to recover from the 2008 recession.
Imagine a hospital spending 5 figures A WEEK to union bust. Oh, I can't forget about my mom who was unlawfully terminated for her being very pro-union at said hospital. Then, a Union company for nurses decided "hey, you know how you are trying to unionize? Well, we sued your hospital for illegal union busting, but will settle the case and not help you unionize after all."
Chevron laid-off my wife for unionizing.
@@scottdavis3571that's a great reason to sue
Can nurses even legally go on strike?
@@Allen667sjjaprobably not, would go against some sort of ethic code.
My entire wing is in a union at my hospital. When they tried to work us to the bone with covid. We got the schedules to be more acceptable and a 10% pay raise. But the union had to fight for it. Then again I don't live in america
As a labor relations student, studying how poorly employers treat their workers is infuriating
To John Harnet 628: You are parroting union mantras. Co-workers copulate themselves, inspired by union-fed managers who know how to read the room
@@QuesadillaQuest808 hahah euro has been stronger then dollar for a while and inequality is less for sure. You have no clue do you?
@@QuesadillaQuest808 It literally does my guy, also the EU economy is recovering quicker the us's. Besides that calling a economy strong with trillions of dollars in dept and constant money printing is basicly calling a poor man rich because he squats a big house. I'll hold your beer whilest watching you guys crumble in the coming 50 years. May god protect you my friend.
How about go work for a day in your life first bud
@@michael7264 how about using your brain for once and not needlessly conforming pall? People study to work, don't be jealous your stuck in your unsatisfing job because you never cared to develop your gray matter. The insecurity just radiates from you my guy.
I feel like even average joes have started questioning capitalism a little, being especially critical of corporations. Awesome things are to come in my lifetime
Because now as inflation & price-gouging is reaching an all-time high while most wages stay stagnant, people can no longer ignore how we're being shafted out of fair pair.
The middle-class is literally shrinking out of existence to the point where its going to be only working-class vs rich upper-class: its estimated that atleast half of American middle-class millennial adults will be considered "poverty-level" by age 65 at the current rate.
Its getting cartoonishly dystopian at this point, especially in places like Los Angeles; eventually people will have no choice but to see that the math isn't mathing right.
yes
@Meian Yep. There is no "free market". The Corporate Oligarchy has purchased the government at all levels, local, state, and federal. The Corporate Oligarchy literally writes the laws, and the bought politicians do what they are told. This is why Americans MUST unionize. Our government has abysmally failed to protect workers.
@fuglong6096 Unfortunately, the changes we are beginning to see post-2020 should have been in place since Unions were strong, back in the 1970's. For the most part, the Boomer generation, and GenX (my gen), have failed to understand that when we turn all power over to the "job creators" (eye roll), we are giving up all of our collective leverage as workers, who actually DO ALL THE WORK.
Corporate propaganda, through Infotainment networks (CNN, MSNBC, Fox) has convinced tens of millions of American workers that we deserve nothing from our employer, nor our government. Nothing could be further from the truth.
- Americans workers deserve an education system that is centered towards educating workers to be proficient in careers, and not in regurgitation of useless data based upon standardized tests.
- American workers deserve a fair living wage, based upon current economic conditions.
- Americans workers deserve to have Health Care as a RIGHT, and NOT a Sword of Damocles that their employer holds over them, like some kind of sick threat.
- American workers deserve a 40 hour work week, and that does not include answering emails, texts, and phone calls when not on the clock.
- American workers deserve freedom from abusive employers, who constantly find creative means of forcing workers to work for free, or does not pay workers overtime.
- American workers deserve Child Care, if they qualify, so they can work without being terrified of what will happen to their child while they are at work.
- American workers deserve a government that forces employers to give a valid reason to fire workers.
- Americans workers deserve to NOT see their boss and their CEO making hundreds times more money than the workers make.
I'll stop at that. But American workers deserve so much more than what I listed. We are literally the 'engine of the American economy'. Corporate power screwing American workers over is screwing the entire Untied States over.
Some do, but some also decide that it's all pointless and everything is against you and there's no point and then try to gaslight others into believing that.
I'm very pro union. However, let me say that organizing is just the start. Thanks to our politicians in the pocket of their corporate donors, unions have been weakened to the point of ignoring safety and job security issues. Yet a labor contract is still better than no contact.
@Larrymh07 GREAT POINT! Labor organizing is just the beginning. Once Unions are back to a strong level of membership, the unions can begin to impact the American political system, by only backing pro-labor politicians. And to be honest, I do not care if the politicians are Democrats or the former "republican party", as long as I see the results of politicians being pro-labor.
Which, of course, means voting out almost every politician currently in Washington DC. You saw what they did to the railway workers.
@@darthbrandon2149 Thank you! Especially on point is your statement in regards to the railroad unions dispute.
@@Larrymh07 After that "EFF YOU" to the railroad workers from the Democratic party, I am not sure things will go so well in 2024. Union workers do not forget those kinds of things.
Don't get me wrong. I am not anti-Democrat. I just take notice when the party screws up royally, for the whole country to see.
@@darthbrandon2149 I hate to quote dictators but both Stalin and Tito had said essentially the same thing about the 2 party system. Both are being run for and by corporations.
@@Larrymh07 #SadButTrue
I'm in my 50s. Never felt the need to join a Union... until now. I'm looking around at my job in Automotive Manufacturing, seeing the turnover, the outright abuse, the stagnant pay, the Fortune 500 profit reports, the insulting schedules, the 66, even 77hr shifts, the injuries, the denied leave, the mandatory short-notice weekends, the towering arrogance, the joke vacation time, the bootlicker sophistry ("Having a crappy abusive job is better than no job")... I'm joining the UAW today if they'll have me.
This is so odd, in New Zealand when I first joined my job and was going through my contract my bosses actually encouraged me to join a union
based bosses
That's because your bosses want to take some of your pay through union dues. In short, you aren't getting payed as much as you thought.
@@metallica1fan1 union dues go to the the union, not to the boss.
@@turtlesaredifferentfromtor6745, the Union bosses.
@@metallica1fan1 You are a liar.
from my understanding. A group of workers were trying to unionize on a coal company. All the mechanics wanted better pay, benefits and stuff. AND they fired the lot of them and hired a 3rd party crew to do the mechanic stuff.
Another story I was told was when a group of people got to the point of electing to unionize, but the company did not want to sign, so they sold off all their assets, consolidated debt and terminated their entire company...3 weeks later re-opened under a new name with all new workers.
They should have went to the NLRB. Getting fired like that is illegal.
@@newagain9964 depends on how many workers
local government should sign for the coal company.
In Australia, basically dissolving your original company to make a new carbon copy that is a legal successor under a new name is outright illegal since 2001. It’s called “pheonixing”.
@@theorangeoof926 and as stated most of the tactics in the video are already illegal, something being illegal and legal is fully useless, rather knowing which one has the power over the other, and with whom that one sides, is what matters.
the Government will always side with the businesses, simply put, because they have much more in common with the companies than whomever is working, they tend to be from the same neighborhoods, same interests (accumulation of wealth and power etc) and overall same strata (upper-class) so it never really matters what is illegal and what's not, rather who is doing it and who will prosecute it.
I remember when working for Home Depot they would force me to watch hours and hours of anti-union videos alone with head phones on in a cold training room. They'd say it's mandatory training. I could spend half my shift just sitting there listening to video after video on how they are bad. I remember once we had a meeting about it and told us how great it is not being in one "we are like a family!" Is a common line they would use.
Holy shit. That sounds like brainwashing from some corporate elitist dystopia novel.
What did the antiunion videos say?
@@mikafizz1022 Its your basic they sound good but really they destroy our family. It makes it harder for us to offer you things as now we need a third party. They dont understand how we do stuff. You'll have to pay union fees so you'll make less money etc. Etc. Pretty much they give you just straight up lies or rather half truths.
Unsurprisingly, Walmart does the same thing to it's recruits.
Yeah the fritzl family don’t believe that bullshit they just don’t want to pay what they should be paying you.
As Gen X (now known as "The yeah-but-let's-just-ignore-they-exist Generation"), I am stunned at the loss of collective bargaining amongst the worker class. When I was a kid , "look for the union label" and "Buy American" actually meant something. When Reagan crushed the ATC union, he cast the spell for the end of worker's rights in service of the owner class. That whole ad campaign vanished, and we were told to complain about immigrants. We were told to worry more about the people who could be exploited for less than us, not the exploiters. Smh.
I never listened to that bullshit. Tom Morello was my hero growing up.
@@Lonsoleil Well, then you're my younger brother's age. I was listening to Consolidated when I was growing up.
Gen X sold out so massively.
Surrender Dorthy. Back to work slaves
Unions are great. Just be careful you dont become complacent with them. I've been in good unions and bad unions. It all depends on how involved you get with the union itself.
THIS. Member activity or lack thereof makes all the difference in the world from what I understand.
You are the UNION
As a Union Tradesmen I am 100% pro union. My union is strong because we do work most people just don’t wanna do or can’t do, so my union and job is very secure, but I always root for people who try to unionize companies in industries that are harder to unionize such as Starbucks just because of how replaceable they see you as. I will always root for the little guy
Why are so many southern unions republican?
@@Indecipherable00key word southern
@@boyar1978 right to work is designed to be anti-union
@@boyar1978 you've taught in multiple other schools? In other countries? Sounds like you have the privilege of leaving. Many of us don't. Unions give us a way to fight back against tyrannical bosses who would rather feed us to the machines we operate than allow us to buy the things we make for them.
@@boyar1978 dude wtf was that
The most WTF revelation I ever had when learning about the modern labour landscape is that the Pinkerton National Detective Agency is still around (And from 2020-2022 where hired by both Starbucks and Amazon) and still doing the same old crap, Though minus the part where they shoot at the picket line with machine guns.
Edit: I can't spell lol
Really
Cops come at picket lines to bash heads + arrest people now. Pinkerton-like companies are around too + operating in the digital space ie Peter Theil's Palantir or look up Tiger Swan from the DAPL protests
Yeah, that is crazy. My bet is a vast majority of Americans are totally unaware of just how hard the Corporate Oligarchy will fight against American workers. I mean, spending billions of dollars that could otherwise go to making their workers very happy and loyal to the corporations.
Quislings
Well, they don't shoot at picket lines in the US. They've gone international, and probably do it all over the developing world.
Workers unionized at my job. After one month of we all got a 40% salary increase, flexible hours and other benefits from our employer :)
That's awesome sauce
That's good but not enough comrade, do not rest in the arms of social democracy.
As a current middle management worker at a department store that rhymes with Stallmart we had to go to classes. One of these was how to legally dissuade workers from talking about unionizing and what not to do to avoid lawsuit. Examples include advising that unions can't guarantee change and giving stories of unions just taking money and how if you have a problem you can always take it up with a higher level of management. I saw a single store that almost unionized and was then closed for "plumbing issues".
It’s almost like it’s not worth the hassle of running a union Walmart with the antiwork generation
Reminder: The whole reason Labor Day exists is that it was a day factory workers in the U.S. would go on strike if they felt they weren't being paid enough or had unsafe work conditions, & they would remain on strike until their bosses met with them to meet at least some of their demands. Back in the late 19th & early 20th centuries if Labor Day worker strikes occurred they were very successful in benefiting the lives of unions, but nowadays so few Americans are in unions at a time when we desperately need them.
That was in Chicago? I heard from a friend the original Labor Day was started when American workers walked out en masse. Major protests! America needs a national walkout.
It’s weird seeing the older folks in my life be so anti union and how they’re anti basically any of the rights they enjoyed as young adults
@@stuckinthemud4352 Stop with your nonsense underneath any comment. Your BS does not work here. We are not in the US. We are on the internet, with people all around the globe who can educate each other, unlike rural US.
@ghost mall wait in America you don't have pensions?
Are there state payed minimum pensions, or can you just not have *any* pensions when you get old?
@@aluisious 1) yeah i know, Happens in basically every country
2) i often heard that state or teacher pension are collapsing but there aren't many public ones? And how would you get it, if a company wants to give it as a bonus to the employees?
@ghost mall you missed the part where it was their generations leadership that got us to the crazy times we live in today...
@@makuru_dd3662 If you were to ask the young people I work with at Sbux what a pension is, they would be hard pressed to provide a definition. That is how bad it has become in the US. When I was growing up in a union family in the 1960's and 1970's my father and mother had pensions, Social Security and their savings. Today, very few companies offer pensions and those that do are typically unionized. I used to have it described as a three legged stool that would support us in our old age, pension, SS and personal savings. Today, we have SS that is ridiculously underfunded and whatever personal savings people have been able to create for themselves. Companies provide nothing for their workers. Oh, wait, Sbux does contribute 1% of the 20% I put in the Roth I set up as soon as I started working for them. Yes, 1% of the 20% that goes into my Roth is from Sbux. I can guarantee you that wouldn't be the case with a union contract. Pension, from most US corporations; that's an utterly unrealistic concept.
When I worked for Target, I was forced to attend at least 4 "anti union" meetings over the course of the 7 years I worked there. I always knew it was a crock of s***. Years later when I worked for Sodexo at a hospital in Valhalla, we voted to have 1199 be our union, and sure enough Sodexo used the wait it out tactic you discussed in this video. Where I work today we have a strong union.
Because working at Target requires less than an hour of training and little education, a stoned teenager could do your job, get educated
It is disgusting just how far bosses go to whip employees. Employees have no rights. They are practically enslaved.
When I worked at Walmart about 14 years ago, you'd get fired for even mentioning "unionizing"
Also, they made all their employees watch a corporate video about how unions are actually bad for us as workers. It was terrible.
@@daniellarson3068 Most of them. especially the youngest and most vulnerable (single moms, people who'd be literally homeless if they lost the job, etc.)
They still do it.
Being from Sweden, where almost everyone is unionized. Watching unionbusting propaganda and hearing arguments from people whom are at the top of the powerstructure cracks me up. What these folks doesn't understand is that a union makes the worker healthier, happier and overall increase productivity for the company.
I'm a member of two unions myself. One in the field where I work, and another that helps and support the guys who works for me (where I was before I got promoted).
It's really nice to see unionizing sweeping through the world, especially the US. Since what you do, good and bad, ripples like rings on water through the rest of the world.
United we stand, divided we fall
im an american and it is my dream to live in sweden and escape this hellhole of a country. im poor here as well without a car (they pretty much force you to get a car in my country), so thats fun. i just want you to know that seeing europeans and others care for our wellbeing and the betterment of our country gives me some drive to keep pushing. im very depressed living here knowing my life is being wasted, but im hoping for change with this new wave of unionization. i truly appreciate you supporting us.
@@Lemonincense Keep fighting brother, the more educated people are, the more class conscious people get the better rights workers will get. Hopefully some day we can get rid of this corrupt system.
But as someone who has moved to Finland I also want to inform you that whilst the benefits and security of a social democracy is great we must also remember it is still capitalism and exploitation especially of the global south is what allows social democracies to work. Eventually even these benefits will be stripped away. In Finland they have even brought in forced labour laws recently. Only way to stop it is get rid of the system entirely.
As a poor man who grew up in severe poverty from Australia, who also lacked a car in a nation that needs one, I can only imagine the shit you Americans go through
Keep your chin up bud, unionise, and fight the man. Fuck those pricks keeping you guys down.
@@Lemonincense This is especially true in the face of all of the "'Muricans bad" cheap dunks being as prevalent as they are. Sure, there are insufferable clowns here but most of us are just trying to survive and get by.
It's always comforting to see people genuinely care.
@@Lemonincense
Some of us are trying in regards to transport. In my part of Michigan we voted yes to expand public transit at least in our county and at least plans are being made.
@@kurisu7885 I’m in South Carolina sadly. No progress will be made in any shape or form here, and my rights to my body were taken away here as well.
I’m a union worker. I’ve worked non union jobs in my life time and I can straight up tell you I’d never go back to non union if I can help it….. This video has definitely made me want to get more involved with my union and also the spread unions. I wish I knew more ways to help.
Economist Hunter Lewis: "Higher wages earned by unions actually come out of the pockets of other workers, not out of employers’ profits, a point that is now well established but still little understood."
Bestselling historian Tom Woods: "Labor historians and activists would doubtless be at a loss to explain why, at a time when unionism was numerically negligible (a whopping three percent of the American labor force was unionized by 1900) and federal regulation all but nonexistent, real wages in manufacturing climbed an incredible 50 percent in the United States from 1860-1890, and another 37 percent from 1890 to 1914, or why American workers were so much better off than their much more heavily unionized counterparts in Europe. American workers had the eight-hour-day well before Europe did, and they earned much higher wages. Unionism never accounted for more than a third of the American labor force, and that was at its height. Most of them seem to cope with these inconvenient facts by neglecting to mention them at all."
Here’s a data comparison across countries: ourworldindata.org/working-hours
Forgotten Facts of American Labor History
www.lewrockwell.com/2004/11/thomas-woods/unions-lie-and-so-do-their-supporters/
"Labor union membership in private employment has greatly declined over the decades, from about 35 percent in the mid 1950s to about 7 percent today. The reason is the fact that unionization imposes artificially high costs on firms, in the form of above-market union wage rates and reduced efficiency and quality of product as they struggle with union hostility to improvements in productivity, arbitrary work rules, and the difficulty or even impossibility of firing incompetent workers.
"Under such conditions, firms cannot meet the competition of other firms, foreign or domestic, that are non-union, and thus sooner or later must go out of business. The most recent large-scale example is that of Hostess Brands. It finally had to close when one of the major unions it had to deal with was unwilling to accept a wage reduction, with the result that 18,000 workers became unemployed. This kind of story, repeated hundreds of times over, explains the decline in union membership."
Labor Unions, Thugs, And Storm Troopers by George Reisman
mises.org/library/labor-unions-thugs-and-storm-troopers
Smiling Dave: "Now some may argue that history proves Chomsky right. Minimum wage laws and unions raised wages and protected the helpless workers from unbearable sweatshop conditions, they will say. But that is confusion of correlation with causation. An economist would argue that laws and unions cannot raise wages, which are determined by the iron laws of supply and demand.
"What did raise wages was something that Chomsky and his kind ignore, something that happened at the same time the unions and politicians were taking credit for helping the workers, mainly increased productivity of the workers. New technology and capital accumulation meant that the average Joe didn’t have to sew with a needle and thread anymore, but could use a sewing machines instead. Thus he became more valuable to his employer, since he could produce much more in the same amount to time. As a result, the demand for Joe increased, which raised his wages, by the iron laws of supply and demand."
So Called Wage Slavery
smilingdavesblog.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/so-called-wage-slavery/
Dude it’s a TH-cam comment section. Nobody’s reading all that. Keep it short next time
@@Brandon-zh9ed It got 12 likes on another comment in this video, and someone said they appreciated the research put into it. It is those TH-cam scholars that I try to reach.
@@ErikLiberty good luck with that. 👍🏽
@@Brandon-zh9ed I appreciate that but I don't need luck since, as I stated, I was already successful with this same comment elsewhere in the comment section.
I am a former UAW tradesman and 100% Union believer. I have worked in "Right to work" states (Florida) where employers don't hesitate to tell you that they already have people who want your job if you don't like working here. When you are an "Employee at Will" you have NO security or rights. Employers are afraid of Unions because of control issues. Unions made this country great, and it's not just about wages. I've said enough, you get the point.
Unions are likely to make a huge comeback with Gen Z and the next Gen and I sincerely hope it does. After working in the private sector and lucking out and getting a public sector union job I realized just how necessary unions are. Every company should have a union to stop higher ups from having runaway salaries and taking money from below them to pay for it. I saw this in practice when I worked for a large medical testing lab during covid. The company culture told us that we were a family and therefore had to tighten our belts and take a temporary pay cut. Easy to guess that those at the department head level didn't even get the slightest cut. In fact I heard our director got a bonus for our labs work and effort to meet quotas. The Union busting of the 80s was the worst mistake in government. Know your worth and don't think that you'll get to a director's level just by working at a company for 20 years. It's a game of "who do you know" not "work hard get rewarded". Everyone needs to know that a small Union Due in the hands of people who actually care for you is insanely necessary for any job.
yes
It was never the government’s mistake. They did it on purpose. Just like last time(MLK Jr.)(Caesar Chavez)(others who I can’t name now)(Malcom X) we will have to get beat if you want a living wage.
Those at the top of the corporate ladder don't tend to take cuts, although they pull a sleight of hand in the media. So and so CEO "didn't take a salary this year," means they did via stock buybacks. It's a really surface-level optics strategy. So dumb.
I have worked for two Fortune 500 corporations in a "Right To Work" (eff that) state. In both instances, the corporations were absolutely brutal on their baseline workers.
True story : Due to being a middle-aged male with the normal infirmities that set in after 50 years old, I need to go to the bathroom more than younger employees. My most recent Fortune 500 employer made me go to a specialist - on my on time - to get a "doctor's excuse" for having a condition. AND, my former Fortune 500 employer made me log off the clock during bathroom breaks that did not coincide with my two daily 15 minute scheduled breaks. I literally got paid nothing to go to the bathroom, and this is apparently legal in my state. Needless to say, I gave up a very good paying job over the bullshit.
American corporations are totally out of control. The reason being, the Corporate Oligarchy literally OWNS the entire American political system for pennies on the dollar. Even at the state level, where "Right To Work" laws are enacted, so employers can fire their employees at any time, for no reason given.
I am here to tell GenZ with 100% certainty. If YOU do not join a union, you will experience every insanely inhumane treatment your employer wants to dish out (legally).
@@darthbrandon2149 It truly is. I remember being shocked that my union coworker was able to take paid leave for her back surgery and recovery (around 2 months reduced paid and 1 week unpaid). At my previous company a pregnant coworker took maternity leave (8 weeks unpaid) and ended up having complications. The higher ups were seriously considering just letting her go because she used more than the allotted maternity time until a group of coworkers informed them of some laws that they thought we didn't know and the relented. Suddenly the work load and write ups started piling up for those who spoke out.
I can understand the idea that people may "abuse" the privileges of a union and I've so far seen one case of that kind of happening where we're down one employee due to her taking exorbitant leaves for divorce proceedings and we're unable to replace her due to the difficulty of firing someone but if I'm being fair for every one person who "abuses" union protection ten others are helped.
Some say that unions are a necessary evil, but I say they are a necessary good.
I remember when Trader Joe's was considering unionizing when I worked there 300 years ago. Our store captain took us back one by one to "check in on us". They wanted to make sure we were informed about how it may negatively effect working conditions whilst feeling out our positions on the matter. It was very slimy :P That was my first interaction regarding unions.
My second came around the same time when the medical lab my wife worked at was bought out and had the chance to unionize. The new company promised not to layoff employees, move operations, reduce pay or benefits. The vote failed and they did everything they promised not to. It took a solid year of organizing and strikes before they could scrape back some things, but the real damage had already been done.
If I were not a union member at my current job in education, I would be getting nowhere near a competitive pay rate.
I think you added an extra 0 to 30
All a person needs to know are these words "Minimum Wage". What that literally means to a corporation is "If we could pay you less, we would".
@@burningsnow9870 I was there Gandalf. I was there 300 years ago.
Your observation is interesting because I once worked for a family-owned global company that while I was employed there, was in the process of switching from the previous generation of owners (who had helmed the company when it experienced its largest growth) to the next generation (who'd grown up with extreme wealth). In my first four years there they practiced a solid (but not legally binding) policy of "one for all; all for one" in which workers all up and down the line, from the president to the guy sweeping the warehouse, made in the 90th percentile of wages. The company had a self-funded medical plan such that workers paid only a $5 co-pay to visit the doctor and paid only 5% of charges up to $1,000 for any non-routine cost (like a surgery or ER visit). They also had a company-funded pension plan that was fully funded, not this practice where the company puts 15% of promised funds in the account and presumes the market will make up the other 85% before the employee retires, IF the company is even still around. No, they put 100% of the pension contributions into an independently run 3rd party fiduciary so even if the company fell on hard times, the pensions would still be there. As a result they had hundreds of employees who'd been with the company their entire careers and had no intention of ever leaving; they loved the place. And the company still made $10B annually in pre-tax profits. So much so that they had ZERO debt; they funded every new expense, from raises to new factories, out of their own treasury (as the corporate financial analyst, that was part of my job).
Then the new generation took over and over the last four years I was there it changed dramatically. Pensions switched to 401(k)s that weren't matched. Medical switched to a 75/25 plan with thousands in deductibles, lower coverage, and higher co-pays. Wages dropped to the 65% percentile and suddenly those workers who'd been there for 30 years were told they had to start working to compete with the young kids just starting out (i.e., put in 65+ hour weeks) or your review would reflect your lack of commitment and you'd be terminated on performance grounds (what we called the "rank and yank). And on top of all that, the demands became ridiculous and worker support plummeted. All because the new generation wanted more. There were no shareholders or debtors, so the additional profits went right to the new owners, who'd already grown up as billionaires.
So of course the union talk started and spread like wildfire and omg the sudden "but we're a faaaamilyyyy" bs that started coming from these people was laughable. They thought having managers working on the floor instead of sitting in their offices and throwing a pizza lunch once a month would tip the needle. And they tried the same, greasy tactic of "let's have a one-on-one powwow, just the two of us" where they interviewed everyone to ostensibly consider their grievances, but in reality it was to determine who were the most adamant union advocates. I left prior to the vote, so I don't know how it turned out, but I know that today many of their facilities are union shops and I giggle every time a former colleague tells me another is voting on it.
@@prime_optimus I was only trying to help cause someone with less critical thinking might think he was being sarcastic
As the daughter of a union worker, I'm ALL in for union. That's one thing I want to know within a job. For anyone wanting to do a union or currently fighting for one, I wish you the best of luck!
I’m a Pest Control Technician and we are in dire need of union representation nationwide badly. The exterminators at my company pay everyone’s salary at our company, but are severely under appreciated and under compensated for their efforts. Currently there are not any pest control unions in our industry.
Without a Union you don't stand a chance when a punk manager puts you in his cross hairs!
Be the first one. Change the world. 🎉 You can do it.
Why not start your own pest company and take better care of your employees?
From Sweden here:
The foundation of our job marked are that worker unions and employers orgs view each other as equals. Every new deal contains compromises from both parts, making both the workers and employers happy.
This system have worked so well, that there are no minimum wage by law in Sweden. The minimum wage in each area are negotiated between worker unions and employer orgs.
Unfortunately the right-wing factions (from the traditional conservatives to the "centrists" and fascists like SD) have been undermining unions since the 90's, and we might see hardship ahead. Hopefully not, but...we need to organize here again, because our country is moving in a dangerous direction.
Sounds way better than in other countries but "viewing each other as equals" is still a fucking joke in a system that bases on exploitation and oppression. As long as capitalism exists, capitalists will always make their money by stealing that delicious surplus value from their workers.
@@snorpenbass4196 Great that unionizing works in some countries, in some regions and circumstances, but you are right. The push from capitalism is to be against unions because without unions companies can make more profit. And that's the name of the game for capitalism: Profit maximize, compete for self-interest and try to infinitely grow. These are unsustainable incentives and plague the entire world because the entire world is dominated and driven by market capitalism. Even Sweden, which had better social supports, is still dealing in money and markets, and that's a dangerous game that our human society has to come to grips with.
Do we want to live in debt and labor-for-income forever? Humans made up debt and labor-for-income. No other living thing deals in debt and labor-for-income and many of them have wonderful, long lives in social communities. Humans also lived over 90% of our history without money, markets, debt or labor-for-income and that was a long, successful stretch for us with cooperation being a key to the success of it. For if we were always greedy and always need to live in a economically stratified society that would have happened long ago and we probably would have killed ourselves off. We didn't, we cooperated and now we decide in the modern age, do we unite and cooperate to create a better system to live more sustainable into the future? Or do we let the status quo system take us off a cliff?
This system only came about due to agrarian and industrial worker alliances fighting for this system.
Unfortunately, capitalism is trying to claw back the gains.
@@snorpenbass4196 oh they've been going at it even longer than that. Most of the right to work laws, which effectively cripple unions in states where they exist, were passed in the 40s and 50s
Businesses spending $350 million a year to avoid unions reminds me of when Uber and Lyft spent multi-millions on political ads to keep their drivers from getting benefits. Throwing money away to avoid giving it to workers is perverse, wasteful, downright evil. I'm so glad people are fighting back.
It’s speaks volumes of the truly dark malice of the human heart, but hopefully unions will become more commonplace.
@@JETAlone12 Yes, I understand it's the "smart business move." But the money is still wasted in the sense that it only goes to make rich lawyers and businessmen richer, when it would be better spent on those who need it.
@@saagisharon8595 Right. It's all about control and power. And the ammassing of more short-term profit, even if the corps would benefit more in the long run from having happy loyal employees! They don't think about what's good for the whole company or the whole city or the whole society. Their view is so narrow -- like animals who seek to dominate other animals and who seek food, and that's all. It's evolutionary regression.
@@stuckinthemud4352 If I wanted a Marxist revolution I would have said that. 🙂
at each branch which manager negotiates with the head office?
There are negatives with unions that are not mentioned in this video.
1. It is hard to fire unproductive employees.
2. Unproductive employees pass more work to productive employees.
3. You cannot negotiate your own salary and must be inside a bracket wage within the union rules.
4. Some people are paid higher than you because of seniority and despite that you work more, you cannot negotiate for a higher pay because the union rules states what your wage is.
5. Some unions are corrupt.
6. Some unions are gatekeepers from outsiders coming in.
I am in a union and there are some bad things. Some unions are good some are bad.
You are right but they are still overwhelmingly good if unions are done right.
Happening to me right now. Starbucks is also bullying and intimidating the kids at our shop - it’s a gross misuse of power. But we continue to educate and empower.
I'm German and whenever I am about to loose my mind with how things are going here I just think "Calm down, things could be much worse, you could be a working class US American..." If I'm really down I'll add "...that just had to go to the Hospital and now is 100K in debt." Helps every time!
Lose not loose
One thing missing that's very relevant is the co-opting of these very unions.
When all else fails, union infiltration is a very big problem.
This happened at my step dad's job, he says the union jacked the dues and doesn't do anything for anyone, it's just kinda there and everyone there says it's been hijacked.
This is why socialists must be in the unions. A union that does not constantly push a socialist (I mean abolishing capitalism btw, not the soft Bernie ‘socialism’), it’s ripe for co-optation by capital (i.e. turning the union into a worthless org that just takes dues)
@musicdev usually having people who have a basic understanding of class relationships is enough.
The good thing about unions is that you can elect who you want, unlike your boss.
A union is less a thing you buy and more an organization built by continuous participation. If it's become co-opted, look into the material conditions of why, reach out to broader unions for help cleaning up your union, such as the IWW, read or listen to the literature it has a lot to teach on class relations and helps you make convincing points to co-workers. A democracy has to be kept up by action.
@@musicdevdumbass shit like this is why so many people are anti union. As long as people wrongly think Union=socialism we will never change the momentum
Nursing assistants and home health aides need a union big time.
*Corporate GREED is the bane of human civilization!*
We are all gonna die because of this and i'm not even exaggerating
corporations are a fairly new enterprise my friend
No fucking wonder greed is one of the *seven deadly sins.*
Reminds me of the time Walmart tryed to set foot in germany :D With american managers. Funny things happend back then. They were dragged to court by the unions every week. And the judges were like "wtf is this bullshit with walmart all the time" since they have never seen a company like walmart that violated almost every single law regarding worker´s and union´s rights etc, and even some constitutional rights of their employees.
At the end they have made a loss of $ 6 billions and did shut down everything in germany after only a few years.
You people dodged a bullet and then some. Walmart is best understood as a corporate parasite. They'll break labour and suck an economy dry if you let them.
Based
My first job was at Walmart and it was awful lol
Interesting!
That's what they get for trying to enter an actually functional country lol
Workers of the world unite!
@@stuckinthemud4352 And Capitalism kills far more.
@@stuckinthemud4352 Good because I wouldn't have wasted my time reading an "explanation" about anything from some random guy in the TH-cam comment section.
@@stuckinthemud4352 how about you go and bother someone else then?
I worked at a car battery warehouse for close to 8 years non union and they would always try to brain wash us by telling us bad stuff about unions earlier this year I finally left my job and got into a union job best decision ive ever made in my life. I never realized how much my old job was screwing me over. Yes u do have to pay the union, but the pay, raises and benefits are more than worth it I never see myself going back to a non union job.
I had some friends that worked at a Starbucks in Augusta Georgia, and the turnover for their location was absolutely insane. It felt like every other week they were firing someone for stupid reasons like being a couple minutes late to work after only one other warning, or not being pleasant enough with customers when they asked for irrational requests. Absolutely bonkers
Worked quite a few places over the years that would find a reason to fire people.
Such a great video! Currently trying to organize at work and this is so damn prescient
Nice! Best of luck and solidarity ✊
Good luck!
Let's gooooooooo!
It's a good time for unions!
I believe in you 😎👍👍👍👍😎😎😎
Keep fighting never give up
Unfortunately I live deep within the Bible Belt. South Carolina is a right to work state and if you even whisper about a union to the wrong person, you are immediately fired and it’s sucks. I seen it happen just last year.
@@daniellarson3068 I think it's because it's already inexpensive to live there, so your money can go a long way. It's easy to blame "backwards" southern people but it's really just black people being disenfranchised by wealthy white people. It's like that wave of businesses threatening to leave California for Texas blah blah blah
@@daniellarson3068 Pretty ironic since to your average Brit, us Americans are all Yankees. Though it doesn't seem too surprising Southerners would call Northerners that as well considering the history the two sides had since the Civil War.
@@daniellarson3068 I think it comes from the older generation down here. Most millennials like myself are for unions. The older generation basically berates us because “they had it harder” making it seem like since they made less money made it harder for them.
For example we had someone last year bring up workers unions, since the line we work on in our factory was mostly young people, and basically was saying we should unionize due to the sheer amount of overtime we had. Immediately one of the older people on the line told the supervisor and that guy was taken off our line. Come to find out he was fired entirely for talking about unionizing.
Following that “incident” we had a meeting about unionizing being bad etc.
I don’t think it’s seen as a “yankee” thing, just probably a matter of “these kids can’t have it better than me” kind of thing. Or perhaps a fear of losing their job and health insurance.
It’s really sad to see how brainwashed some of these people are. I bet they were brought into a meeting about unions being bad when they were a lot younger and I guess the scare tactic they used worked on them.
@@saagisharon8595 pretty much! Haha
@@daniellarson3068 I've wondered if calling unions labour confederacies would work better in the south.
If your enemy hates you, then you are doing something right.
I am working at Tesla in Buffalo, where we are attempting to unionize. Wish us luck!
Hows it going?
@@potatocatstar terrible lol
“When you cut out a man’s tongue, you’re not proving him a liar. You’re telling the world you fear what he might say.” - George R. R. Martin
The very fact businesses can get away with breaking the law is a problem in and of itself
@@saagisharon8595 never said it was the only problem.
I believe channels like these are our only hope 🙏
Some guy said once: "We are equal , but some are more equal than others"
Unionized workplaces are also more productive. This is where the hypocrisy of capitalism really shines. If the natural outcome, the great endgame really is to maximalize prosperity for everyone, than unions would be in their best interests, since a union saves a lot of money and time otherwise spent on micro-managing everyting in the workplace without any feedback from the workers.
Unions prioritize human beings(safety, respect, decent wage, ...) over profits and that's what they can't stand.
@digitaldirtbagg I don't think that's a good argument, even if that's true sometimes, it's not the responsibility of the workers or their unions to make a company profitable.
Hmmmmm it's a pity that your argument falls down when it comes to Australian unions...... productive businesses have 🐝 destroyed by unions pulling strikes as much as they want.....hell one of our major political parties are literally a massive union lobby group
It’s not about productivity. It’s always been about them fulfilling their desire to have power and control over others.
@@richardcostello360 eek, bad unions
I would never want to own a company without a Union. I want an opposition so anyone who works for me knows I have their best interest at heart
You can't have an employee's best interest at heart if you don't have a heart.
I would never want to own a company in the first place. A company should belong to the workers, not those who steal from their workers
@@carlsumalvico4353 based as fuck
@@carlsumalvico4353 well, I would never want to own a job, either.
What?
I have a medical condition that requires me to have access to a chair while I am working. I worked for the busiest location of a certain rental car company in one of the busiest, tourist friendly states in the US. At the time I had two wounds on one of my legs that were struggling to heal due to swelling and infections (overall it took nearly 2 years of specialized wound care and painful treatments). Anyhow, there were chairs provided, so technically we had "access" but not enough for each employee on duty. They were also very s*itty, many in disrepair, and rarely would the newer employees have a chance of snagging one for their shift over the more senior employees. I explained my condition to my managers. They told me that I needed to provide a doctor's note, which I did. They said I and my doctor would need to provide paperwork and that there was a "process" involved before a determination could be made. They made me feel so terrible for asking for reasonable accommodation. They were not discreet and disclosed my condition to some of my colleagues. Mind you, all I was asking for was access to a chair so that I could slightly elevate my leg and mitigate further damage. I was so humiliated, anxious, and upset every day I had to go in to work and deal with their little mind games. Finally, my grandpa reminded me that I was part of a union and that I should stop all communication with HR and my managers and contact my union rep. It took my rep less than a week and ONE phone call for me to receive my accommodation. I got laid off due to the pandemic but to be honest, I don't miss that job. I DO miss being part of a union and still think about how kind and awesome Chris from Teamsters was to me. I hope one day we meet again so I can thank him again for helping me through such an awful time in my life.
P.s. never forget that ultimately, HR is not your friend.
America as we know it is finished. All indications point to 2023 being a year of severe economic pain across the country. Put that money to work right away to make it grow. I knew I had to make an investment. I never imagined that a few thousand dollars per month would add up. However, it is. I've made around $600,000 since 2020.
Congrats. The true financial unlock comes when you understand and know the technique required to manage your investment's overall risk profile and avoid permanent capital loss. It is critical to have a strategy in place to capitalize on profits when they occur..
We're probably at the end times of the US being a super power. China requires more work from it's people, and workers expect less in return. It's legal to "chain workers to their desks". In the USA People at the top are "too cheap" and people at the bottom get a much higher quality of life than the bottom rung of growing societies (China). The high quality of life is on a downturn, one way or another.
@vacestevens3394 I'm intrigued by your experience. Could you possibly recommend a trustworthy advisor you've consulted with?
@vacestevens3394 I just looked up the broker you suggested on Google and I'm incredibly impressed with her credentials,so thank you for sharing. I scheduled a phone call with her.
wrf is this a bot conversation??
I used to work for the State and we were part of a Union. Benefits and pay were great. Now that I am retIred I work part-time for a non-unionized Transit bus company. They have been very nice to us recently. We all got pay raises and a $1,500 Christmas bonus! They have never done that before. I think they are afraid we will unionize.
As a side note, some Unions are better than others, obviously. I highly recommend the book, "Class Struggle Unionism" by Joe Burns. He said there are two types of Unions: business Unions and Class Struggle Unions. The former is very sympathetic to management and quickly makes concessions while the latter is very Marxist focused and knows that management is NOT a friend of the workers. The book is really good! Check it out.
In a wore, Teamsters
cool book recommendation. wishlisting now.
Worked in an alcohol warehouse a few years ago and people straight up said management would fire anyone who talked about a union. They actually had a union a few years prior to my starting there. When the pandemic hit, unlike a lot of industries, alcohol sales didn’t slow down. Their business didn’t suffer AT ALL. How did they thank all of us for working thru the pandemic?? They withheld EVERYONES raises that year, and proceeded to buy an entire other beer distributor in the neighboring county. This is an enormous company dominating the alcohol distribution in practically half of my state. I almost wanna go back there just to agitate from the outside.
hmmm....I'd sue
Are you talking about Ambev/AB Indev?
Nah mate it’s called Frank Beverage Group out of Middleton Wisconsin
Nah mate it’s called Frank Beverage Group out of Middleton Wisconsin
Do it! Fuck the system! ✊🏾
THANK YOU for sending folks to us. Not only are we a proven ressource that can help a vast majority of workers who want to unionize or need help when they don't have a union, we can also always use the help of others to grow and make our work better-known. Thank you!
We wouldn't need unions is companies treated employees right and they were happy, but that usually is not the case
When I moved to Germany, I started talking with one of my coworkers about unions and how to unionized... he was French and asked me why I would always lower my voice and start whispering when we discussed this topic 😅. He was shocked when I told him we'd get fired for this conversation in the US and told me that I didn't need to whisper anymore!
😂😂😂
I left a country where you're legally obligated to join the union of your job field/occupation to go to America where unions haven't destroyed industry
@@richardcostello360 unions don't destroy industry, industry destroys itself by only focusing on profit and not long-term investment in their people or plants.
@@richardcostello360 Are you an oligarchy?
The only thing you can trust about corporations and their billionaire owners is that they will never do the right thing unprompted.
They must be FORCED to do the right thing either by government regulations or the strength of labor.
Unionization is the thing that gives me hope that the Neoliberal Ere is finally over.
My favourite uncle was one of the instrumental Canadians who worked to bring our country socialised medicine. He was also involved with organising several national unions. He ran for premier of our province _as a socialist_ in the 1960s. The man was a gen-u-wine socialist in the days when being one in the open meant you took on the role of social outcast, complete with threats, verbal and otherwise. He was ahead of his time, and I took up his socialist ways but in a much more low-key and personal form. Yup, when it comes to my Heroes of the Left short list, my uncle Ed Finn is right there alongside Tommy Douglas as 1a and 1b. Ed's 1a. Family bias.
At my job we have a union....I'm mixed on my opinion on them. I"m all for the Better $$$ and stuff but I have a VERY big Issue when it comes to employees that either DON'T do their jobs or SHOULDN'T be doing the job......Case in point, we have a driver who wracked up 10 accidents in LESS than 3 years sending multiple people to hospital and causing TENS of THOUSANDS of $$$... Company Fired the individual and Union took it to the wall and got their job back! A LOT of Members disagreed with what the Union did under the Circumstances....that was absolutely NO COMMON SENSE......It will only be a matter of time till this particular member gets into another crash....I just hope and pray no one is killed when it happens.
If management cant fire them, its because management isnt doing it correctly. Or just not doing anything at all. All a union does is make sure the worker has due process. A lot of times, management when trying to bust a union up will pretend that they just cant do anything when thats just blatantly false
Unions are democratic, corporations are dictatorships. One of these systems is easier to make better. If you union sucks, the workers need to fix it.
I'm part of the IBEW local 613, best decision ever
Amen brother, L.U. 756 here ✊️
Local 640 ✊
1455 here, 15 years.
Ibew local 428.
The IBEW was the first union I ever saw. I was a part of it briefly while working at frontier communications. It’s crazy how much leverage unions afford to its members. Frontier was scared shitless of the union.
I'll never forget my first job's onboarding training sessions that had an anti union section. They told me all the BS like oh you will never get hurt in a grocery store and thing like "this isn't a coal mine, so why would you need to be in a union". I'm pretty sure the anti union stuff went on longer than anything else. I was 18 at the time and was incredibly nieve about the usefulness of unions and how they protect workers. I got hurt at work a bit later due to being asked to do something unreasonable and the company wouldn't do anything for me. TLDR if you can be in a union, be in one.
>I was asked to do shit that was dumb and I blindly followed instead of refusing and/or threatening to quit on the spot.
Bro it's just a job you need to get a backbone. Companies that get rid of all their competent workers by firing those with self preservation instincts go bankrupt unless they're propped up by the government.
@@icarvs_vivit he was 18 at the time dude. Most people in their 30s don’t know their full rights as employees. Decades of what amounts to indoctrination have had a serious impact, and when it’s your first job fresh out of high school losing the job seems like a much bigger problem than it is.
@@VisonsofFalseTruths I did this at 19 and again at 20. It's not an age thing, it's a courage thing. Also, people being young and, allegedly, less independently minded cannot by definition excuse the vast majority of union labor in modernity whom are older, more educated workers like pilots, teachers, writers, etc.
@@MayhemRhythm Generally speaking, all companies have to pay people what they are worth. $10 an hour for a cushy retail job seems unfair because the labor market hadn't caught up to inflation (there is always hysteresis to these things) not because Dollar General was anti-union. For such a low IQ and low responsibility job, you would probably be paid less overall in the long run with a union because your labor there is just not actually very valuable in the first place and highly replaceable. Your only move (striking) will still do jack shit if you aren't actually worth the raise. And if you are lucky to actually get a small raise you're still paying people to do nothing but organize and threaten strikes on top of, and irrelevant to, the heavy taxes you already pay.
Dollar General definitely wants to prevent having to fire their staff and get new workers but what they say about it taking longer and vastly overcomplicating your raise is correct. It will take longer AND you will probably have less afterward anyway. Just ask for a raise when you actually deserve it. If he refuses and it's unfair, threaten to quit.
If you want higher pay for petty work, the only way to actually do that is to reverse monetary inflation so the hysteresis works in the opposite direction, in the worker's favor, which is a purely governmental issue and not a private sector issue.
@@MayhemRhythm That IS a cushy retail job, just not for $10 an hour in 2022. You have a skewed perspective of what a hard job actually is. Go work in a wood mill, or a steel foundry, or as a logger, or as a roughneck drilling oil. And the same shortstaffing problem OFTEN applies to these jobs as well.
You have no idea how easy and simple and safe such a retail job is.
And my point still stands: it's inflation that makes that cushy job not worth it to work at that wage, or you would not have taken the damn job in the first place. Thus it's not being anti-union that allows Dollar General to not raise wages but that inflation is actually slowly destroying the value of labor itself.
5:06 as a unionized barista, you missed a city where people were fired, a person in Ann Arbor got fired too. Some of the management that was involved in the process got fired for it, but not all. Wasn't my store and I didn't know the barista, details are fuzzy.
16-20 year olds need to see this
Imagine spending millions of dollars in technology to try to avoid paying employees that same millions of dollars so they stay loyal.
It’s a Jewish thing.
I guess having the ultimate power is worth it? Spite and control, since they are out the money anyway
Whilst our rights are under attack in the UK, I look at US laws and think “no shit they’re a massive economy, they don’t do anything to look after their employees” it’s sickening the lack of protection, holiday and benefits workers have in the US
We don't have maternity leave and we are often pressured to eat at our desks and respond to emails, work even during our 30-minute unpaid lunches. We are even expected to respond to emails and phone calls during our off hours, even on vacation. Most Americans are so nervous to take time off for illness or to take care of family many allow themselves to get sicker in part because of privatized healthcare and also because how miserable an employer will make your life if you use your insurance or demand time off. God, forbid you ask for a raise. They'll find any way to fire you and they'll make your life impossible. HR will do reviews constantly until you decide to quit.
@@jalicea1650 it hurts my heart and my brain when I read things like this 😢 the way workers are treated throughout the word is abhorrent and we as a society of workers must bring ourselves to the point where this can no longer be an option. The media propagandist capitalists suppress peoples will and wants to fight the evils of capitalism and there needs to be voices that break that monopoly on society
@@WaterCarrier07 I feel like the UK is down the same path already treaded by Americans. Given enough time your country will be as broken as ours. Beware the Tories they look to the Americans as the example of proper business/government relations.
From breaking the train unions strike to gutting healthcare services and social services. Trust them when they say, "We want to modernize NHS." That means make it like American healthcare. Brits have to wake up and fight! I pray Americans can do the same, but most Americans are so brainwashed by decades of propaganda that we would need a near societal collapse caused by another Depression/Recession to reset our country. The world needs to move past this neoliberal age ushered in by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.
As a 50yr old American,. I recently got my very 1st Union job. I'm pretty excited and already seeing the benefits ! I'm honestly tempted to move back to the state I came from and try to help start Unions there,. they really need it.
Bernie Sanders is really the only politician I've seen significantly break the "ratchet to the right" in politics since the 70s
@@garyjohnstone6422 your mother
More like _try to_ break it. It has not worked from what I have seen.
Thank you for this video! I was fired from trader joes store #720 for "leading the union effort". I was a model employee for two years, getting raises and exemplary work. However, when they got whiffs of unionization they fired and burnt out a lot of us in the middle of the pandemic. Union busting is real and it sucks! Remember, HR works for the company not for you!!
So, my union dues are set at 1% of my gross pay. In 2020, our organization tried to force everyone to take 96 hours of unpaid leave (or about a 5% pay cut). Our union negotiated that down to 48 hours of unpaid leave (already I've come out ahead by paying my 1% of gross pay to the union). Recently they were able to negotiate to get that retroactively changed to paid leave, so sometime in January we will get paid out for those 48 hours of leave we were forced to take. If our union made no other wins between now and 2025, I'd still be ahead. People really need to stop seeing union fees as an expense and start looking at it as an investment. Invest a little today to get a bigger payout tomorrow.
Yes! That is actually a useful tactic for discussing unionization with "free market" type workers if you're trying to organize. Point out to them that union dues are a kind of investment that provably gives a much greater than 1000% return.
But the burning question is ........are you FORCED to be in the union or do you have a choice?
My home country of Australia tells me "if you want to work in a certain industry then you've got to be with this union"
When the unions dictate what you can and can't do or what job field you're able to work in......then the problem is worse than the original issue at hand
@@richardcostello360 you aren't forced to join a union, but for most employers, if you aren't in the union, you don't get any of the benefits that the union negotiated for. My union is somewhat unique in that our negotiations are for all employees, not just members (you do have to be a member though to receive union representation if you end up in mediation). Most places though, you have your choice of joining the union and taking the union contract or negotiating a contract with the employer directly. You almost always end up with a better contract with the union than without.
@@smileyeagle1021 you're American right?
@@richardcostello360 yes, in the state of Nevada (each state is slightly different in how labor laws impact union representation, but no state, except I think Montana, makes it legal to force someone to join a union as a condition of employment).
I got a high paying union job and I can say that one pleasant side effect, other than wages keeping up with inflation, is that supervisors have to treat you with respect. The whole threatening attitude "When I say jump, you say how hi" doesn't fly. Technically, they aren't even allowed to ask you to do any work, if they need something done, they must go to the leads first and the leads will delegate the task. If they want to ask you to do something directly, they need to have a rapport with you and ask you as a favor. One thing to note is that it's the supervisors that have a high turnover and once in a while, we get a new supervisor that comes in with the wrong attitude. They usually don't last long. And all of the sups that treated their workers with respect, they are in upper level management now.
The US is really weird..
As 17 year old student in Finland I'm a part of an union.
I am personally a member of a union, and if I add up my union dues it comes to about 806usd per year, but the way that many union busting situations I hear talk about it is that I have to pay that in a lump sum every year. While I know some unions can do things like that, most tend to just take it out of your paycheck. I pay ~31usd out of my paycheck. But when I'm making gross pay of north 2k per paycheck? I don't even notice it. And since joining the union, it's been the first time in my adult life I haven't had to stress about getting my health looked after. Something I repeatedly would complain about in America often comparing it to Australia where I grew up.
Join a Union. I can't stress enough how important they are. They aren't perfect, but when told I can fight a corporation alone or with an army, my odds are better with the army. Negotiation with a company without a union is like trying to say you're gonna take down a demon king with your bare fists blindfolded and hog tied. With a union. You may only get movement, vision, and a pointy bit of metal, but you still have more of a chance.
You've compared a country that has a healthy relationship with unions versus a country where the unions directly killed off heavy and most medium manufacturing companies AND destroyed ship building.... I've lived in America for 20 years and if it wasn't for aging parents and the crapshoot called COVID I'd still be there..... living in Australia these past 3 years has reminded me why I left to make real money in a country where I'm not penalized by unions and taxes for unemployed bums because I studied a desirable qualification and worked hard.
@@richardcostello360 boo
Unions are the dodge-roll. Any demon king can be defeated with enough dodge-rolling and well-timed strikes. ( haha, "strikes" )
@@richardcostello360 Unions have never, at any point in history, anywhere in the world, had a negative effect on any industry. Period. It has literally never happened. And it makes sense, because at a fundamental level that's quite literally not possible.
They make it impossible to fucking loin!!!!
I'm not from the US but the not-for-profit organisation I work for was unionised about 5 years ago and it was the best thing to happen. Not only did pay rates increase, but executives were held accountable for their decision making and there was much more transparency at all levels of the organisation. I don't understand how anyone from the working class could be anti-union.
Classism/Racism/Sexism; now the popular response is they don’t exist. U r just not working hard enough (people would rather feel it’s better 2 not b a woman than 2 improve the conditions 4 everyone (why work towards equality when u can feel better?).)
@@achaean7615 this is practically ripped from fox news verbatim and its hilarious
@@achaean7615 fundamentally, there is a sense of responsibility on both sides
when the vast majority of employers have the same bs working conditions, all of the jobs available to people entering the labor market are under these conditions. Yes, deciding where you want to work is important. When everywhere is equally bad, however, then unions are a solid way to reverse that change.
I have a love/hate relationship with unions. While I do see the benefits of having a union, I’ve also seen corruption in the very unions I’ve been under. Namely in the airline industry. It left a bitter taste just witnessing union members doing illegal acts. That notwithstanding, not having a union is dangerous. The illegal labor practices of today have sent us back to the 19th century! Another sad practice of corporations is to send operations overseas (as they have already done) or lobby congress (as they already do) to bust a strike!
We need as many unions as possible asap
I agree
But can these unions make lasting change? The game is clearly rigged and the companies are just waiting. The flaws have been exposed though
Unions are there to protect you. I got a 5% wage increase cause of inflation. I work 38 hrs a week but last week it got cut down to 29hrs. It was not my choice and because of unions I ended up getting paid for 46hrs. Keep it up guys!
All unions mean is that workers remove their contribution to the means of production together-exactly what investors do in what oligopolists call a “free market.”
What do you mean by this? Investors don't do anything of value, but workers do everything that is of value
English please
@@Cycrum not necessarily true. Investors allow more leverage. Aka faster growth and more jobs.
Investors are the car and the workers are the engine. The more cars and engines the more growth/production.
@@IL_Bgentyl Yes, it is necessarily true. By definition, investors do not produce anything. Workers do, that's what makes them workers.
In your automobile analogy, the workers are the car and the investors are the car's owner. It is an explicitly parasitic, exploitative relationship. Everything that matters to the function of the car is done by the car. Investors simply direct where they want that function to take them. High level company executives, in this scenario, would be the chauffer operating the controls of the vehicle, letting investors leisurely relax while providing absolutely nothing to the process and reaping the vast majority of the reward.
@@boyar1978 Do you know what would happen then? The "capital" those "owners" possess would no longer be considered to have value, and the workers would simply continue producing.
Ironically, you've pointed out the exact flaws with capital as a concept. Its value is inextricably linked to its distribution. If they refuse to distribute completely, they no longer have any power or wealth whatsoever. It's specifically their attempts to distribute as little as possible that give them power, and give their capital value.
Taking it all in, thanks for the insights!!
my workplace is like a really ghetto grocery store and everyone does there own stuff and the management is really chill and they dont care about anything, plus its unionized.
I grew up always hearing about how unions "just keep crappy people in positions they don't deserve" from my family. I started working at places that always showed anti-union propaganda as part of orientation. I wish I had known differently because perhaps I would have been better off. Well now I know better. Even if I never end up with a union, I would rather see worker's rights increase across the board than continue being a lowly wage slave
There's some truth to the "just keep crappy people" argument, but the real truth is the business agent of a local union's most important duty is to protect the language in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA), even if that means representing a member who nobody likes or who isn't doing their job as well as most other members. The business agent can't ignore the language in the CBA without risking the loss of it for all other members.
The more they fight against unionization, the more that tells those that want to unionize that they really should.
So companies rather spend millions for attorneys to fight this instead of just spending that same amount millions to make their staff happy giving them a pay increase? OK, got it! I hope they keep shutting down as a result. All they’re gonna do is shut themselves out of business, locally. GREEATTT!!! GOOOO!!!
As an Aussie, this is just sickening. You guys need to push back, and hard. Australia went through a similar thing back in the day. Now we have an 8 day a year sick leave pay, minimum 4 weeks annual leave pay, including other paid bonuses.
Social Democratic like ideals aren't looking so bad...
The Pinkertons still exist. Their HQ is in Ann Arbor Mich, and Amazon has been using them to union bust.
Ugh, I had no idea. I live about an hour from some of the worst monsters in this country. Well, I live about 2 hours from Grand Rapids and Steven Crowder is from Michigan so I already knew we had POS people from here.
Very sad.
Wait it's in AA? I could totally bomb that building tonight, in a video game roleplay of course
Yeah and Starbucks has used them, and a manager with ties to a Saudi Arabian child sex trafficking ring, to union bust local stores, especially the one on Glencoe.
@@BigDonkMongo Minecraft has many interesting mods ;)
The most extreme example I can think of about union-busting was an effort where a European automaker actually *wanted* their US plant to unionize, because it was part of how they've done business in Europe. And the Republican Party and the Chamber of Commerce and a bunch of other groups funded the anti-union campaign, because even not being management they still believed it was in their interests to crush unionizing attempts.
Hmmm… what if the car maker was making a cut of the union dues?
@@aycc-nbh7289 In Europe, there at least was a requirement that the workers have representation (typically union leadership) on their board of directors. That automaker had determined that having a unionized and properly represented workforce actually helped them. It turns out that well-paid workers who are being treated well are more motivated to do a great job.
@@thexalon But having the carmaker make a cut of the union profits defeats the purpose of a union. I haven’t seen many examples of companies wanting people to unionize, though I believe I _have_ seen an example of what you mentioned regarding union representation, since Chrysler at least used to be partly owned by UAW.
@@aycc-nbh7289 The automaker was not getting a cut of union dues. They were benefiting from the efficiencies of having a union to talk to.
I have a vague recollection that the company in question was VW, but it might have been BMW or Mercedes.
@@thexalon But couldn’t they also have had these same benefits if they simply encouraged good communication with superiors? And I’m not sure whether this is true, but public sector unions where I’m from may use inefficient and outdated techniques because the newfangled equipment may put them out of jobs.
I’m not necessarily anti-union, but I am saying that the policies that unions sometimes generate may be counterproductive.
I work at Amazon and we recently were given the same pay raises as the unions fought for; I personally received a full dollar to my base pay with an additional 40c per six months for 2 years. So I’ve directly benefited from the work of the union without having to be part of the union.
I used to think that "at will" employment was fair. After all, no one should be forced to employ someone against their will. And in theory that's correct, however when researching on laws regarding being fired for talking about wages, it was revealed that the entire burden of proof is on the employee. And not just to prove that you discussing wages was a factor, but also to prove that NOTHING ELSE was a factor in you being fired. Employees are expected to prove that they never once broke a rule or even had a disagreement outside of discussing wages with other employees. "At will" employment is fair, but the world itself is not, and we can't operate on the assumption that people will treat each other fairly.