Please tell me the pro's & con's to employees once unionized?

Question

Please tell me the pro's & con's to employees once unionized?

Answer 1

Depends on the union and whether your professional is "politically helpful" to that union. Unions are into money, power, and base memberships numbers, and not much into the people that pay their way.  Tread carefully.  Often you are worse off without union representation than with.  One example is retirement accounts, company matched 401k accounts -vs- union retirement accounts.  Do your homework before you sign on the line, because you will play h**l getting out.

Answer 2

The amount of money that they take out of your pay check for dues and fees and other random c**p. Plus they really can't guarantee you anything. It's the bosses word in the end.

Answer 3

Pro:  Unions protect workers from bad employers by insisting on reasonable working conditions:

Con:  There are laws that protect workers from most major wrongs, and the proccess to address employers actions goes from 6 weeks to over a year with a union in place

Pro:  Union employees tend to get paid better than there non-union counterparts:

Con:  Unions tend to put smaller businesses out of business that cannot afford to pay higher wages

Pro:  Unions can magnify the political power of the workforce by showing a united front with a barrel full of cash to convince politicians to pay attention to the workforce

Con:  Unions occassionally support causes that are not inline with the majority of the union members.  The members have little to no say about how their dues are being spent.

Pro:  Union members tend to have better health insurance that non union workers

Con:  Union health plans are the second leading cause in the drastic increase in the cost of health care over the last 50 years.

Answer 4

standardized compensation packages

union dues

superb benefit packages for union leaders

kickbacks and graft for leadership

greater warning of impending layoffs as jobs are moved to non-union venues

arbitration process to address employer misdeeds

greater job security for leaders and their friends

Answer 5

One is that they cannot d**k you on raises.  When part of a union you all get set raises no matter what.

Answer 6

A highly emotional topic. One "pro" of unions is they will get you higher wages and will protect you on the job from bully bosses, but on the 'con" side, unions seem blind when other people can do the same job for less money and that's usually what the company is interested in.

With continual and yearly raises, the product being produced may price itself out of the market, leaving room for cheaper alternatives.

Answer 7

Lets see:

Cons: Paying union dues (and not getting much for them). Going on strike (no pay). Having to go through collective bargaining and being held to what everyone else gets (but only after they finish negotiating for things that may not matter to you). Not being able to get raises based on how hard you work.

Pros: Being able to goof off at work without fearing being fired.

There was a time when unions made some sense. In this day and age, there's not nearly as much value to them.

Answer 8

I  worked in a union environment and it was c**p!

I was the lowest guy on the seniority list so I keep getting laid off.

There were a couple of old guys that did nothing but they couldn't be fired. One guy - every year in the month of December, whenever he was due to go one nights in the rotation would "hurt his back". He would be off work all through Christmas and New Years, usually 4-6 weeks and his back would heal the first week after it was his turn to be on nights. He did this every year and they couldn't fire him. That meant that for the rest of us that did the same job - we worked 12 1/2 hour days all through the holidays with no time off. A different guy showed up drunk - I mean wasted for his afternoon shift, since he was in no condition to work he was sent home, that meant that I had to work a double. This was a very draining, physical job so while it was nice to have the extra money it was difficult to do, especially on 20 minutes notice. The guy grieved the decision to send him home, argued that the people who made it were not doctors and were not qualified to judge. Yeah like a medical degree is required to make that judgement! Any way he won, and got paid for the day and no further repercussions.  These are the kind of people that were protected by the Union while all I did was pay dues so that these stiffs could do this kind of c**p and I had the honour of being laid off first.

Also, frustrating was going to the union meetings and listening to all the of the BULL****! I'd have to sit there and listen to these guys spout off about our "Union Brother and Sisters" meanwhile they were the same guys that kept taking overtime while I was laid off. They were all full of c**p, they were happy to s***w there "Brothers and Sisters" if it meant more money for them.

So many times the foreman would tell me that I was the hardest working guy but not to come in next week, there's no work. I finally couldn't take it I went back to school and changed careers.

Bad experience for me. (Obviously ha ha) Also for my father, same Union, when it came time to retire his pension was cut in half, somehow millions of dollars of Union pension money went missing... hmmmm go figure.

Answer 9

In this day and age, unions are outdated.  Many companies are finding ways to bust the unions or work around them.  I worked in a nursing home and watched the ineffectiveness of the union they had.  I felt sorry for the union members.  Yet they kept believing in the union.

Answer 10

Unionized at one time, but not now? or recently unionized?

I think unions are good. Youe employer can't rip you off and make you work 39-1/2 hours and other B.S. tricks. It works both ways. protects you and the employer.

Answer 11

I believe that if you're the best you can be, you don't need unions. I just can't see lining the pockets of union officials who aren't all that powerful or effective when it comes down to it.