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Employment probation and union dues
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Well, an alert member might would notice that I was seeking information, not trying to step on toes. I understand that unions raise wages, and just about every union member is for that. <br /> <br />Most of my information comes from the Media, which is always biased, and they only show airline strikers, who are unhappy that they may face a cut to $50k a year from $70k a year. I've had trouble having sympathy for that particular group. Also, my father used to be part of a Millwrights union, which could be set up differently from a railroad union. His experiences have been that his hard work has gone down the drain, due to 'more senior members' taking his 'cushy' position from him, not realizing that he had made it cushy and easy, not because the work wasn't there. <br /> <br />Also, I've seen some information about the United Auto Workers. While they raised wages and made life better for workers in cities all over, the end result was that they chased the Automobile manufacters from the country. Now, all the real workers, who paid their dues each month, still got laid off when their factory closed. With all those jobs lost, the higher ups in the union have done alright. I believe that recently, the UAW sponsored a NASCAR race. I don't understand how that sponsorship will net them more income, as it would in the form of sales for a normal retail company. That particular case seemed to me that the union, who fights for workers rights, had extra money lying around, and felt the need to spend it. <br /> <br />Where I work at, an armored truck company, when I first started in the spring of 04, everyone had just voted to start a new local of some security guard union. But since most of the people who were for it were on a differentshift, everything kind of died down about it. Fast forward some time, throw in a major lay off, due to our branch losing a major customer (due in part to people not doing a good job), and no one has said anything lately. Except the guy who was there the saturday before Labor Day, getting us all to sign a new petition to officially dissolve the union. It seems that with the union there, but no one did anything with it, we wouldn't get paid for any holiday except Christmas, but with it not there, we can at least make an argument to our management. A couple people still bring it up, about the union, and I've noticed that these people (who I work with), make more money per hour than everyone else, due to time at the company, and also do the least work, due to how our pay system motivates us to work quickly. They will also complain about any extra work, which will pay them more in the same system. But these are just the people that I work with. <br /> <br />What I'm trying to explain with this long winded post, is that just about everything I hear about unions is bad, with the exception of pay. I am not personally worried about making as much money as I possibly can, enough to live on. While I'm sure I'll want to make more in the future, I'm happy to work for it, working for promotions (which I've gotten two already), and going to college to have something more marketable (slowly but surely). <br /> <br />It looks like most people are for union, while some aren't trusting of them, which makes sense too. I'd certainly like to see more responses. This is for my thoughts on unions in general, with a base on the railroad unions. <br /> <br />James
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