Why have unions?

Question

I am a fairly new railroad employee and a little confused about the role of the unions, in this day and age.

I worked in a steel mill almost 18 years and was a member of the USWA the entire time. So I know something about unions.

I am trying to figure out the BLE AND UTU. If I ask a conductor or engineer about the role of the union they seem to get offended when I don't accept the standard answer of "we need them". In my past experience the biggest, and only "trump card" the workers had was the right to strike. When that is no longer an option, such as with the railroads, what other leverage do we have.

Railroads have very deep pockets and it seems too easy for them to pass some money to the right union or govt. people to get what they want. What are we going to do, quit the union? We can't, union dues is like paying rent for our jobs, you quit paying, they repo the job. Union dues keeps going up and the return on our money keeps going down.

So, what can we do?

Answer 1

An Excellent question.

     Collective bargaining organizations have been whittled away over the years by many different events, the majority of which was precipitated by a conscious, overt acts of one kind or another.  Though now a guard dog with no teeth in so far as the BLET is concerned, this, as well as other unions, can be looked upon as a necessary evil.

     The BLE, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers was the first labor union organized in the US, in 1863.  (By the way, wikipedia isn’t always correct and they missed on this one as well, citing some other outfit chartered in 1886.)  As intended with any credible labor organization its purpose was not only to improve compensation, but to better work rules and conditions  in addition to playing a role in civics as well.

     You are absolutely correct when you cite the now existent immediate “back to work order” issued by the governmental courts before a strike is called.  In order to initiate a legal strike, the process of serving a “Section 6" notice, notifying the rail carrier(s) targeted that a strike is impending also allows the order ending the strike to be written before the date in question, with the result of the pickets never even show a hair on their chin.  I find it rather ironic that in these instances, railroad workers are “vital to the Nations security and economy,” yet when it comes to wage negotiations and improvement to working conditions, those same vital people become overpaid “blue collar” workers, actually classified as “unskilled labor.”

     The assault on all labor unions has come from different directions and in different forms, but the mantra is still “bust the unions.”  An excellent example of this is when PATCO, the union that represented air traffic controllers when they went on strike during the Reagan administration, was dissolved as replacements were trained and hired for the strikers, non-union “scab” labor, and PATCO was no more.

     But in the case of the unions you mentioned, the “de-horning” process occurred over time and because of some changes that at face value didn’t seem to pose any threat to the unions’ existence.

     One of these changes, unrecognized as a potential threat at its inception, was the de-regulation of American railroads.  Prior to deregulation, the rates for transportation of the various commodities rolling over common carrier tracks were set by the Federal Government.  Consequently, whenever there was a union demand for an increase in wages or benefits or costly improvements in safety and work conditions, the carriers were protected to some degree, since the associated costs of the changes demanded were simply passed along to shippers and consignees by a nearly always bumping up the rates they would nave to pay.

     Since deregulation, the carriers, now forced to compete for business, have had to absorb these increases in cost.  The move towards deregulation was intended to reduce costs to shippers by increasing competition within the market place.  The now truly adversarial relationship between union and carrier was merely “collateral damage.”

     Creation of “short lines” has been another excellent back door effort to bust the unions, and is quite simple in concept and implementation.  A carrier applies to divest from rail line, usually what used to be a branch line, the divestiture receives the obligatory rubber stamp approval, and “presto,” a new, non-union shortline carrier is born.  With the same connection, to the same carrier, often with the “new” railroad being a subsidiary of the parent company that used to operate the branch.

     It is obvious that legislators have pockets well lined with lobbyist railroad dollars but, the Political Action Committees are trying to buy the unions a little clout in DC as well.  In this instance, however, it is a David vs. Goliath battle that David will never win.  Still, without the effort, we would all be working for 50 cents a mile.

     But, the unions still can protect their members, on occasion.  Case in point; Currently one is vested in Rail Road Retirement after ten years of compensated service.  One of the main benefits here is that in the event you don’t come home one day, your widow and children will be able to collect survivor benefits. An engineer I knew went to work on his last trip at 11:59 PM on August 31, 1976.  His seniority date was September 1st.  He died while on duty that night.  His widow, five months pregnant, was denied survivor benefits, because her husband didn’t have his ten years in, by ONE MINUTE, account going to work before midnight.  The union stepped in.  It turned out this man had two weeks vacation pay coming to him, the union got it paid, that gave the man the necessary service and his widow got her survivor benefits.

     So, even though the picket lines of the past may remain in the past, the unions still provide vital services to its members.

     The one thing that undermined the unions in question the most was the BLE takeover try by the UTU after the UTU had sold out all of its members.  Its an age old concept: “Divide and conquer.”  And, the carriers are the ones who won.

Answer 2

Back in the early days union were great but today our Govt placed laws in protection for us against employers.

Today Unions is just a good old boy system and mafia that tap into your salary. Or other hand they could fight for you and right for salary.

Its hard to be outside of Union in your line of work. I live in state that is 'right to work state' so union is a choice.

You have to weight in the factor of good of union or not and make your selection from there.

Answer 3

grin and bear it

Answer 4

Well unions are there to protect the interest of workers.

Don't forget you voted (employees) them in.

You can always vote them out (you just need enough votes).

You could try becoming a union rep and then you would have a voice in some matters.

Some of the things they do may go unnoticed to you like firing employees. Usually it's a lot harder to get rid of an employee when he is unionized.

Job security is one important issue in that the union uses seniority. Employers could (in the event of a layoff) get rid of the employees that they want, however because of the union they are forced to go by seniority.

Unions are becoming a little smarter as well. It's in nobody's interest to be on strike for 2 weeks to get a 4% raise. The 2 weeks cost that in lost wages.