Question for unionized workers only: Whats it REALLY like to be part of a union? How much do you REALLY get pd?

Really, it depends, but a friend of mine who works in the auto industry and is unionized, gets pait about 30 dollars an hours AND benefits...

He does basic janitorial work

Heres the ironic part: He himself thinks he's being overpaid! He once told me that he doesnt care about how un-classy his job may be, bacause he gets pai more than me! (including benefits)

(and i have a masters degree, while he has no college education)

to liberal asskicker: i meant to give you thumbs up, sorry... i accidentally gave you a thumbs down

I was in a union for a couple of years when I was a kid. The answer is it's really nice. You get good wages, reasonable hours, good benefits like health care and pension, and your employer can't just use you like dirt, e.g., when I was working if they made you come in on a holiday they had to pay triple time, that sort of thing. Disadvantages? Well, it was really hard to fire people once they had seniority, so management only did it in the most extreme circumstances, and you sometimes had to pull the weight of a few people who really shouldn't have been there. Also, there was a seniority system, so sometimes the most qualified people didn't get jobs that should have gone to them. And the union got to name half the hires, which was nonsense and thoroughly corrupt, just a way of building patronage for the officers of the union (who got voted out of office anyway).

On the basis of my experience I'd say any employee who opposes unionization is absolutely nuts. But I don't like featherbedding, seniority, the excessive difficulty of firing people. It wasn't really a big part of what went down, but that sort of stuff in my opinion does give unions a bad name. Unions should be about decent wages and good working conditions and being treated with respect, not about paying people to do nothing or slack off on the job.

EDIT Liberal Asskicker, Reducing wages doesn't as a general rule increase employment. In fact, it tends to have the opposite effect.

And I'm kind of amazed at the greed that says a blue collar worker shouldn't earn decent money. Those of us who are privileged have way more than we need. What kind of greed earns hundreds of millions of dollars whle begrudging a house in the suburbs to some guy who pushes a broom? The ratio of CEO to average pay in this country has become outlandish, something like 1000 times.

I worked for a union for 27 years up until a year ago. It's socialism. Everyone gets paid the same regardless of how hard any of them work. The wages aren't as good as they used to be. On our contract janitors and cooks get paid to much for the area and technical jobs don't get paid enough. Poor performers are protected to the point that it is almost impossible to fire a lousy employee meaning that productivity is effected. The most important thing to me was that the union has no requirements for their members to do any work. All requirements are for the company.

Basically unions suck. They drive up costs and are counter productive.

I worked union most of my life until I went into management.

I have never worked for 2 unions that were alike.

I the steel worked union. if the union said walk off the job, there was no question as to why, people left.

When I was in High School, I worked a retail department store, And I feel they just took out money for nothing.

But keep in mind that we; the American Worker, would not have what we have if it were not yfor unions

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I belong to the Union of Government Workers of The World, Detroit local 1348. I am in charge of seeing that all sweeping instruments (Hand Operated) are in good working order. This job is highly technical, i am in charge directly of 3 brooms, push models an d I make $ 73.75 an hour. We are considering striking for better pay and a promised never to be laid off. Our benefits, which covers everything you could imagine, is also lacking. We want coverage for more. Hope that inspires you to organise.

All unions are different.

I've worked with the steel workers union, the Safeway union and the nurses union as an aid. The negotiations are always different from one industry to the next.

Think of it as a second government between you and the real government. You have to follow their rules, too.

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To the thief below me:

$64 per hour could go a long way to hiring more employees, don't you think? If your employer could pay you half that amount, he could two people.

You don't need that kind of wage to survive, so it's not a hard-fought victory, it's a hard-fought extortion, and I'd be willing to bet the union will fight to prevent non-union shops from competing. (That, my friend, is tyranny.)

I was a union member once upon a time and i can tell you i was sorely disappointed !! Basically they are a communistic style organization the laziest worker gets paid just as much as the most productive.

In 2006, average annual compensation for Chrysler employees was $151,720, GM was $146,520 and Ford was $141,020. Most of these UAW members had high school diplomas. By comparison, the average annual compensation for a PhD university professor was $93,000, and Toyota/Nissan/Honda employees was $96,000.