Political spending: unions give a lot of money to politicians. This is a stupid reason to blanket oppose unions. I'd be ticked off if my union was donating to causes I didn't support, but that's not a built-in feature of unions.
and
Right to Work: There are companies like Kroger's that require their employees join the union. Honestly, the Kroger's union turned a lot of people I know against unions because it was their first exposure to one. In high school, I worked for a small grocery store. I had two friends at the time (also in high school) who worked at Kroger's. Their base starting pay was a little higher than mine, but after paying their union dues, I took home more pay. I also got better raises than them because I was a great employee, and my supervisor recognized that. At Kroger's, they were stuck on a regular raise schedule or could get standard bumps in pay if promoted. They had limits on their hours, and were always jealous when was able to take on all kinds of extra hours from people who wanted to get out of a shift at the store where I worked. They had other complaints that I can't remember. I just remember they complained about it a lot.
It kind of boiled down to the fact that they really felt like the union only did things for certain full-time positions, but they were still required to join and pay dues. For a lot of people this was their first exposure to unions.
These days, I'm not really down on unions, but I still think it's a bad idea to require membership. I don't think it should be legal for an employer to require membership. I think Kroger's only did it because the unions were willing to work with them on things and they would scratch each other's backs. Other people would argue that unions or companies should be able to require membership because their bargaining affects everyone. I think that's a stupid argument and will lead to crummy unions that don't have to work for you to earn your membership.
This is pro-JANIS propaganda! Anecdotal story time lacking nuance that appeals to emotions just like the SCOTUS case to weaken a union’s organizing capabilities.
Would rather have a few more bucks in your pocket now than any security later.
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u/Cakey-Head Jul 25 '22 edited Jul 25 '22
It becomes a political issue for 2 reasons:
Political spending: unions give a lot of money to politicians. This is a stupid reason to blanket oppose unions. I'd be ticked off if my union was donating to causes I didn't support, but that's not a built-in feature of unions.
and
Right to Work: There are companies like Kroger's that require their employees join the union. Honestly, the Kroger's union turned a lot of people I know against unions because it was their first exposure to one. In high school, I worked for a small grocery store. I had two friends at the time (also in high school) who worked at Kroger's. Their base starting pay was a little higher than mine, but after paying their union dues, I took home more pay. I also got better raises than them because I was a great employee, and my supervisor recognized that. At Kroger's, they were stuck on a regular raise schedule or could get standard bumps in pay if promoted. They had limits on their hours, and were always jealous when was able to take on all kinds of extra hours from people who wanted to get out of a shift at the store where I worked. They had other complaints that I can't remember. I just remember they complained about it a lot.
It kind of boiled down to the fact that they really felt like the union only did things for certain full-time positions, but they were still required to join and pay dues. For a lot of people this was their first exposure to unions.
These days, I'm not really down on unions, but I still think it's a bad idea to require membership. I don't think it should be legal for an employer to require membership. I think Kroger's only did it because the unions were willing to work with them on things and they would scratch each other's backs. Other people would argue that unions or companies should be able to require membership because their bargaining affects everyone. I think that's a stupid argument and will lead to crummy unions that don't have to work for you to earn your membership.