[lextek]

Just wondering if anyone is a member of a Union? I couple of folks ran through our shop (auto dealership service department) and passed out flyers to everyone. Just curious.

 

[Todd R]

I used to be in a union at one of my past jobs. What do you want to know?

 

[john_jcb]

I was in the Steel workers union for a time.

 

[lini]

I am - at least somehow. I used to be in the "IG Medien" (Industry Union Media), but their membership fee was too high, so I changed to the BJV ("Bayerischer Journalisten Verband" - Bavarian Journalist ...uhm... what would be Verband in English? Community maybe...). Anyway, unions might give you some advantages - in my case it was the... oh my... Berufsrechtsschutzversicherung... uhm... an insurance that will cover the costs for lawyer and court if you run into some trouble in your business. I wanted to have that - especially when I worked as a freelancer.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[aeberbach]

I used to be a finished artist, back in the days when typography was done without computers. I was a union member then. Then I was in the australian Public Service Union when I worked there. Then I got a degree and stopped doing the kind of job you belong to a union in.

 

[rickcr42]

years ago I worked in a foundry and belonged to the "Allied Moulders and Workers Union".
I had to look at the codes on the back of my check to figure out why I was receiving all this extra loot

and it seemed we were always threatening to strike.

But know what ?

We threatened ourselves right out of a job.Three hundred were layed off in two weeks and total shutdown in four.

 

[JMT]

I used to be a card carrying member of the Musician's Union Local 12. The musician's union did nothing but collect dues and try to prohibit us from playing at non-union clubs.

....got a cool monthly newsletter though.

 

[daycart1]

I was in the Laborers' International Union when I was on a road crew working my way through college!

 

[Mr.PD]

I've been a member of the United Transportaion Union for 23 years. Where I work everybody is a member of some union. We have to be or our company would screw us into the ground.

From what I understand you work for an auto dealer. Is it an independant dealership? or part of a chain? I ask because the size of a company has a great deal to do with how they treat their employees. My dad was an auto mechanic until the day he retired. I don't think he ever was a union member. IF your employer treats you fair and pays you enough, you may not want a union. If you feel that you guys can't talk to the employer about raises health care etc. you may want a union.

Unions can be good and bad at the same time. I don't like the socialist attitude, the way they always keep even the worst guy working, the compromise to keep everybody working when a couple less would let everyone else make more money. Don't forget seniority, union dues, rules that say you can't do something because it's somebody elses job (even if they aren't there) etc etc. Strikes can be hell. Then you can also get into a situation wher you can be priced out of the market, especially in auto sales and repair. Competition is stiff and if half of the dealerships had to pay union wages and the other half didn't the higher wage guys could be forced out of business. See rickcr42's post for an example of this.
On the plus side, you get more money, more vacation, and better health care. One thing to be very wary of is a closed shop. That's where you must belong to the union to work there. When that happens union dues go up, it's a screw job.
Unions are a big racket, they do help you and they can screw you.

 

[lextek]

Mr. PD,
I work at a Lexus franchise. The owners have 9 other car lines. I believe we are well paid and treated fair. It's not perfect, but what is? I've been ther 12 years and am the Diagnostic Specialist/Foreman.

 

[pigmode]

The unions I've been associated with in the past were top heavy, blood sucking, parasitic p's os.

 

[Tuberoller]

I belong to two unions,Chicago Firefighters Local 2 and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local 134.All the employees at my electrical contracting company are IBEW 134 as well.This has actually been cheaper for me to than having them all be non-union.All my workman's comp,insurance and other benefits are administered through the union.I pay a flat rate for this and the employees,as well as myself ,pay dues.the union reps for IBEW local 134 work hard to keep the good guys working and to keep the bums out.I had to fire a worker a while back and the union gave me no beef because I did it right and hired another union electrician right away to replace her.I think some companies work harder to keep unions out and to cut corners than they do to provide a good working environment.the decline in well qualified tradesmen has been in strict conjunction with the decline of unions.nobody wants to work in the trades without a union backing them.

Lextek,the Auto mechanics union local 701 here in Chicago is one of the strongest in the nation.there is also a huge shortage of qualified technicians here.this shortage can be contributed to the dealer's push in the early 90's to force the unions out.A short(9 day) strike occurred but the union survived.Since that time the numbers in the union have steadily declined and new apprentice technicians have been scarce.The carmakers and dealers now go so far as to offer large cash($5,000.00) signing bonuses for technicians and cash incentives for ASE and manufacturer certifications.The dealer where I take my car is a huge Chevy dealer,the place is so busy they have stopped ding drive-in oil changes and will not allow customer-wait work,the appointment schedule is backed up a month.I tried a much smaller dealer in Indiana and it was not much better.the Technician told me there that the owner was buying back vacation days at double-time rates because he could'nt spare the manpower.The daelers admit the mistakes and ante'd up for a big raise and benefits increases.The techs got a $5.00 raise over three years and a daily gaurantee of 7 hours.the dealers caved in on the very first bargaining session.I don't know what scale is where you are or what kind of conditions you work under but the techs here are making $28.65 an hour now and the rate will increase to $30.15 in July 2003.The max vacation of 4 weeks is obtained after only six years,this is carried with the tech to any union shop.Anything over 50 hours booked is split 50/50,ex:if you sell a 30K service on friday after you have already booked 50 hours for the week,it's worth your time to hang around and do the work for your half of $450 labor.Take that into consideration.

Edit: I corrected the pay scale after talking to a friend who is a Cadillac technician.

 

[meithkiller]

I work for UPS, so therefore I'm in the Teamster's Union. Most people have heard a lot of bad stuff about the Teamsters, and from what I've seen after two years, a lot of it is true, and some of the bad stuff is a little exaggerated. Part-time UPS employees definitely wouldn't be getting the good benefits we do without the union. On the other hand, part-time Fed-Ex employees start out making more money.

The biggest thing I hate about the union involvement at UPS is the adversarial relationship they promote between the union members and the management. Supervisors aren't allowed to help us out no matter how backed up we are or the union steward will file a grievance, costing UPS money. One other thing I really hate about being a part of a union (at least in my case) is that it promotes mediocrity. A person who slacks off and doesn't work hard or carry their weight has the same chances for promotion and advancement as someone who works at 110%, giving everything they've got. At every job I've been at so far, except this one, when I worked hard, it got noticed, and my wages and position reflected my hard work. Now I'm more or less encouraged to not work hard, I have no incentive to.

It is pretty much a mixed bag, but overall if I had a choice, I'd rather not be in a union.

-Keith

 

[Mr.PD]

Quote:

Originally posted by meithkiller The biggest thing I hate about the union involvement at UPS is the adversarial relationship they promote between the union members and the management. Supervisors aren't allowed to help us out no matter how backed up we are or the union steward will file a grievance, costing UPS money. One other thing I really hate about being a part of a union (at least in my case) is that it promotes mediocrity. A person who slacks off and doesn't work hard or carry their weight has the same chances for promotion and advancement as someone who works at 110%, giving everything they've got. At every job I've been at so far, except this one, when I worked hard, it got noticed, and my wages and position reflected my hard work. Now I'm more or less encouraged to not work hard, I have no incentive to. -Keith

I gotta agree with meithkiller. Railroading doesn't work exactly the same way but things are similar. My supervisors are very limited in how much help they can offer. Most of my incentives are to slow down in fact I make more money if I stall around. Hard work will only bring on an expectation for more hard work. Promotions are usually not sought out by most people in my department because our managers generally work more and earn less.

lextek: you say 9 other car lines? Sounds like a large dealership. If you like the way it is now, why change it? How much are union dues?
I need to find out if my uncle is union. He is the service manager at a Mercedes dealer in a large city.

I am not a big union supporter. I know I need one, but I sure don't like the $90 a month dues.

 

[grinch]

i hate unions. but, i work for a company that was strong-armed out of a lot of good work by electricians from the local 3 union.

we're a telecommunications company. the problem is, the local electrical companies decided that since one can make a lot of money splicing fiber, that they should do it. that's it. what does electricity have to do with splicing fiber? they decided that they should do it and forced our contractor to use union guys (from their union, not the current ones.. from the telecommunications union) so i lost my job. luckily, i just got transfered to doing something else instead of being thrown to the curb, but i'm one of the lucky ones.

i realize that they aren't all scumbags, but this run-in has definitely left a bad taste in my mouth. i always thought of unions being started to keep companies from employing eight year olds for forty-five hours a week and keeping the big nasty companies from stepping on the employees.. not making it so you have to pay an electrician +$40 an hour..