Why do union workers strike?

first, the company does not decide to become a union shop. The union solicits an employee or two from the company, sells them on the idea of greater strength with a union representing them, Then these two sell the idea to co- workers and soon the time comes for a vote by the employees, not the company. It may be that the factory is a union shop while the office is not.

A union member does not go to a non-union shop seeking employment. After all a non-union shop does not offer union coverage just because someone is a union member. In fact you will find that a non-union shop does not want to hire union members because they do not want union talk infesting their workers.

Why is any one selfish? More of everything for me. And if the Union doesn't do a good job (one does pay union dues to be a member of a union) the employees can vote to throw the union out of the shop. So the Union must produce benefit to the employees in order to stay in business.

With a Union, you do not ask for a raise...everybody in the Union stands with you and asks for a raise.

Ever hear of a Mexican standoff? 6 of 1 or half a dozen of another?

Sending jobs overseas...pro and con to everything.

$26.00 per hour plus 1/2 of the social security payment plus worker's compensation insurance plus medical insurance, etc

is the actual cost to the company.

on the flip side, $26.00 less state income tax, less federal income tax, less medical insurance premium, less one half of the social security payment, LESS UNION DUES, etc.

American unions were, repeat were, a great idea way, way back when children were forced to work long, hard, slave type labour. When men worked without breaks, without lunch, 7 day a week, etc. Unions today are dinosaurs which need to be updated.

Agreed, why should everybody get a raise when only a coupla guys are bustin their butts?

An aside, I was a teamster as in Jimmy Hoffa's union while he was still to be found.

People who get paid $35/hour to work in an auto factory should go back to the 1970s when they had no low cost workers to compete with. Its the 21st century and the only car company that is manufacturing big time in the USA is Toyota. Most of the other ones have already shipped their factories to Mexico and China. Now even Mexico can't compete since businesspeople know that you can pay a Chinese worker in China half of what you pay a Mexican. Companies that employ unionized workers are either stupid or there is a shortage of non-unionized workers in the market. Unions are pieces of crap that don't know how much pressure it puts on companies who already have trouble keeping up with the market. The unions should remember that there is competition out there and the union can be useless if there is a single massive layoff. Now many of the UAW members are quiting the union since its out of line in a modern world where all business people want to maximize their profits.

I believe unions are a big reason the US is loosing manufacturing jobs. They constantly demand more money and benefits. Companies can no longer stay competitive with foreign companies. This is also why we don't export much any more. It seems like we get all of our goods from China.

Here is a perfect example of how unions work. I work in the television production industry in Dallas. Most of the TV production companies here are non union. If you go to shoot something in New York, mostly union companies, you have to hire an entire crew to do the shoot. It doesn't matter if there may be a few positions that you don't need. Because of the union you have to hire the entire crew anyway. So you may have some crew members with nothing to do, but you have to hire them anyway.

And lets say there's a grip struggling to carry a bunch of cables, he can walk right by an audio guy, but the audio guy can't help him, because that's not his job.

Absolutely. That is the other side of the collective bargaining coin. If the union refuses to work the employer has the right to hire replacements. In a time of high unemployment that makes going on strike risky.

I am with you on this one Rick. I am in education and belong to a union. Our teachers are not allowed to strike. They have to continue working through contract negotiations.

My union is not allowed to strike either. We work with kids who are getting more and more violent every day. We are threatened and many have been physically harmed in our jobs. Of course there are cases where a teacher is actually killed while trying to do their job.

Anyone who thinks teachers are overpaid is sadly informed. When their kids come home "whinging" about not passing, who is going to get blamed but the teachers?

They strike for fair pay! Both my brother-in-law and his wife are teachers and they get paid enough! I am fed up with TEACHERS whinging about their salaries.

whenever I ask a question, even if its the easiest one, they can't provide me a proper informed answer here. wtf happened to people that actually take the time to write an answer?

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