Unions are outdated. It is 2023 not 1923

frick unions.

I have problems with unions but to deny their usefulness is being willfully obtuse. They are a powerful employee voice at times to upper management. There is a lot wrong with unions too.

My dad always said “unions are for people who are too scared to talk to their bosses”

After working in several union plants and salt mines, as a contractor, union workers suck. They don’t give a shite about getting work done. They’re just looking for the next break time.

If you think that's bad wait until you hear about federal and state govt labor unions.

Two words why unions suck: Angel Hernandez.

quote:

---

Even though other employees want an employee fired, the union will go against its membership to protect slugs, criminals and crazy employees.

---

I have seen this so often. It is wild when the union reps go against the vast majority of due paying members to protect the bad apples

I think in theory unions can be a good thing and have a place in balancing out power... but in practice they are usually just disgustingly corrupt and unnecessarily political.

ETA: as the FTC increasingly refuses to regulate monopolies and pseudo-monopolies I think people are going to start thinking about unions again. If the FTC did its job effectively and efficiently ( ) a lot of unions might not be necessary because of healthy competition.

Without saying the company that I work for, since the beginning of the pandemic, the company let go of a lot of people. Somewhere close to 1000 people across the country lost their jobs, and close to 600 of those were in the corporate HQ. They have not rehired and 90% of those jobs are permanently gone.

However, the company profits soared, and the volume of business grew, along with the job responsibilities. Most employees are overloaded and stressed from handling too many responsibilities, but management does not see it. The senior company exec sends out messages complimenting the employees, while telling them , "we must work harder to achieve our goals", and "achieving our goals is its own reward" all while ignoring that everyone is already "doing more" and ignoring the inflation that's taken 20% of the employees' purchasing power away from them.

I agree with you that unionization is not the answer, but what do people do when a company goes from a great place to work to one where it becomes unhealthy and stress filled?

As for me, I'm ready to retire. The reason I haven't is I'm remote, nobody hovers over me, I'm paid extremely well and I perform a job nobody else has the experience for except one other person, and he's just one year younger than me and has a countdown clock running in his office to his retirement. I can say, "NO" when someone tries asking me to add some new work or report to my already full schedule. It surprises management when someone says "NO". I already work many evenings until 7:30 - 9:00pm, and sometimes, because of the international clients, have meetings at 4:00am.

But not every employee is in a position to say "NO, I am at 100% already. You have to take away something to add something more."

Without a union, please explain how employees speak up in unison to let a company know they are tone deaf and overworking their staff?

quote:

---

I work in labor relations and fight unions for a living.

---

So this is your unbiased take I assume.