Machiavelli Wrote:Totally amazing what we do to sell out our fellow man. They even take courses in it. Management makes sure they have their parachutes. Screw they guy who actually does the job.
I would like to talk about this for a moment or two. First of all, have you ever been behind the scenes of how unions interact with management? I have. More on that later.
The courses we took, and there were many, first taught us to keep the employees happy, i.e., fair pay and working conditions, open lines of communication, respect, etc. A happy employee has no need for a union.
The 2nd thing they taught us was how to recognize signs of possible union activity: employees no longer talk around mgmt, people who rarely associate with each other are now grouped together, there could be unhappiness among the employees who do not wish to join a union, etc.
The 3rd thing they taught us was how there are no rules to what a union can say to an employee - they can make empty promises and not be held accountable and we were given many examples.
The last thing we learned was the strategy of contract negotiations and what unions almost universally ask for upon their first discussions with mgmt. Naturally, they look out for themselves first.
Here's what happened during my most recent involvement with negotiating a union contract with the CWA who wanted to represent about 400 people:
The union needs to have several employees involved with the negotiations and the employees vote on who they want at the table. This is nothing more than a popularity contest and doesn't necessarily mean they are the sharpest pencils in the box.
The first thing the union wants is direct withholding of union dues. This costs nothing to the company but the company naturally wants something in return. The union has nothing to give, the employees have to give something up, usually some sort of benefit.
Score so far:
Union +1
Company +1
Employee -1
The 2nd thing the union wants is to have all employees included in the union and not just the ones who voted for it - they want the dues of all the employees. The company wants this to happen so there's no bickering between union and non-union employees but they want something in return. Again the union has nothing to give up so the employee has to.
Score so far:
Union +2
Company +2
Employee -2
The unions are smart, they know companies have budgets that usually can't be increased. For them to get more for their members they have to bundle things differently. They usually cede on health and medical benefits by having lower coverages, higher co-pays and increased employee costs. In return the company will take some of the money saved on benefits and give it to the employees in the form of raises. This allows the union to claim a victory and all they did was move money around rather than increase it. The down side is that the employee feels a little richer but when he needs the benefits they cost far more than the raises they received.
Score so far:
Union +3
Company +3
Employees -3
The unions really can't get anything out of a company that the company doesn't have. It takes from the employees.
The only benefit of a union for the employees is a degree of protection for misfits who should not be working there to begin with.
Another thing that goes against the employee is that is gives the employer zero flexibility in bending the rules to accommodate and employee who may be having issues outside of work. An example of this might be if an employee has an ill spouse and needs to miss work to take care of her or the kids. If that employee goes beyond the allotted number of allowable days off he gets written up and then fired. Same thing for arriving to work a few minutes late - late is late and the rules need to be applied. Any compassion the employer might feel to the employee goes out the window because if the rule is bent then the new rule becomes law for all employees from that moment on. In fact, by giving an employee a break the union can file a grievence against the employer.
Finally, and I left a lot out of this, is that the employee can not directly interact with the company on anything other than issues directly related to what they do on the job. If an employee feels screwed he can't go to HR, he has to go to the union and the union has no obligation to push his issue. In fact, the union may come to mgmt with two employee issues and bargain away one of them to get the other and the one who loses out has no recourse.
During the negotiations an astute employee would actually see and hear with his own eyes and ears his job being negotiated away from him and to the union but the brainwashing the union gives the employees prevents them from seeing this. We used to give raises averaging from 3 to 8% depending on the employee. As said before the union negotiated a pay increase (at the cost of a loss of health benefits) and a 2% yearly raise and called it a victory and the sheep were happy with it. That 2% raise, by the way, was offset by the cost of the dues the employees had to pay and yet they were unable to see it. For the first year of the contract the employees saw virtually no raise. When the employees finally feel a sense they're getting screwed the union will blame management and that's when the hatred will start. Slick.
