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No, and I'd advise people not too. Unions had a purpose, and sadly still do in some isolated instances, but tech (professional work in general) is not one of t

No, and I'd advise people not too. Unions had a purpose, and sadly still do in some isolated instances, but tech (professional work in general) is not one of them. I say sadly because businesses should have matured to the point by now to make unions unnecessary, and employees should have evolved further to see the problem. But some business/industries have a lot of bad actors and the union does fill part of a need, but it isn't what employees think it is. I have dealt with unions as a leader, I have dealt with a union trying to unionize employees that worked in my teams and I have dealt with union based employees in a plant and non-unionized employees in a different plant within the same company. Guess who got better benefits and pay? Wasn't the union employees, too much money had to go to pay the union dues, legal fees and unnecessarily inflated benefits, so we would fight every penny and ask on that side. And yes some states in the U.S. have rules around union employees can't be paid less than non-union doing similar jobs, but trust me large corporations know how to work those rules properly. While I have lots of opinions based on my experiences, in the end what I learned is that unions are honestly not there for the employee, they are there to raise employee wages/benefits so that the union can collect more in fees (generally a percentage of total compensation, so salary + benefits). The sad fact is they honestly don't care about you, your family or making it better, they get paid more by making the business pay more wages whether the market and work demand it or not. There was a good reason unions existed in the past, and I am a fan for their reasoning at the time, not today. They are now nothing more than a big business putting their hands in your pocket to take money from you. By the way, did you know in many states, if your fellow employees unionize but you opt out that you can still be forced to pay union dues? Yea, this has been litigated in the recent past and some states changed that law, but just beware of what you ask for or support.

maxxxxx 8y ago
" I say sadly because businesses should have matured to the point by now to make unions unnecessary, and employees should have evolved further to see the problem." Without a counterforce it's just a matter of time until we regress to ever worsening conditions for workers. Capitalists never gave anything away voluntarily. We need unions or other workplace regulations to keep things in balance.
- davismwfl 8y ago
  I agree there has to be a counterforce to protect workers from the early days of the industrial revolution where factory workers died and/or were mistreated because of no regulations, no safety and there was little if any oversight to give workers a recourse. Today in the US there are at least 4-5 agencies that oversee companies and their behavior. Laws are now on the books to protect workers. Workers can now sue their employers for violating their rights. Workers have protection of whistle blower laws. Are any of these perfect, no, but these are the true reasons unions existed. It was to protect the worker from abhorrent conditions and treatment. That has happened through the new laws and agencies in place. What we should be doing is forcing the agencies and politicians to use the tax money they took from us to clean up the areas which are not good enough still, not giving away more money to a union which is just another business there to take their share of your earnings and the companies earnings. Unions are a tax on everyone, they are not free, so you are taxed twice for 90% of the same protections, and the other 10% I would argue are not protections but limits on your rights. I still see places we need it to be better, but that doesn't mean tech is a place for unions. Can you imagine all these 2-3 year post grad engineers getting the title of Senior software engineer and getting the equivalent high salaries or out of turn bonuses for great work now learn they have to wait 20 years to be called senior, can never again get an out of turn bonus or special treatment for going the extra mile. Unions equalize by taking everyone down to the lowest level of commonality, you are no longer an individual you are a cog to be used to further the union leaderships goals, not yours. Sure, you get a few extras for that but I for one don't want to hand someone else my freedom to earn and advance at my pace so they can get what they feel is important. * edited a few words to make it clearer.
  - maxxxxx 8y ago
    Without unions employers will be lobbying relentlessly to weaken current laws. You can argue about what unions should be doing or not or how they should operate but they are absolutely needed to give workers a voice.
  - mhdhn 8y ago
    Where did you study history? Trump U? When was the industrial revolution? When was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire?

maxxxxx 8y ago

" I say sadly because businesses should have matured to the point by now to make unions unnecessary, and employees should have evolved further to see the problem." Without a counterforce it's just a matter of time until we regress to ever worsening conditions for workers. Capitalists never gave anything away voluntarily. We need unions or other workplace regulations to keep things in balance.

davismwfl 8y ago
I agree there has to be a counterforce to protect workers from the early days of the industrial revolution where factory workers died and/or were mistreated because of no regulations, no safety and there was little if any oversight to give workers a recourse. Today in the US there are at least 4-5 agencies that oversee companies and their behavior. Laws are now on the books to protect workers. Workers can now sue their employers for violating their rights. Workers have protection of whistle blower laws. Are any of these perfect, no, but these are the true reasons unions existed. It was to protect the worker from abhorrent conditions and treatment. That has happened through the new laws and agencies in place. What we should be doing is forcing the agencies and politicians to use the tax money they took from us to clean up the areas which are not good enough still, not giving away more money to a union which is just another business there to take their share of your earnings and the companies earnings. Unions are a tax on everyone, they are not free, so you are taxed twice for 90% of the same protections, and the other 10% I would argue are not protections but limits on your rights. I still see places we need it to be better, but that doesn't mean tech is a place for unions. Can you imagine all these 2-3 year post grad engineers getting the title of Senior software engineer and getting the equivalent high salaries or out of turn bonuses for great work now learn they have to wait 20 years to be called senior, can never again get an out of turn bonus or special treatment for going the extra mile. Unions equalize by taking everyone down to the lowest level of commonality, you are no longer an individual you are a cog to be used to further the union leaderships goals, not yours. Sure, you get a few extras for that but I for one don't want to hand someone else my freedom to earn and advance at my pace so they can get what they feel is important. * edited a few words to make it clearer.
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  Without unions employers will be lobbying relentlessly to weaken current laws. You can argue about what unions should be doing or not or how they should operate but they are absolutely needed to give workers a voice.
- mhdhn 8y ago
  Where did you study history? Trump U? When was the industrial revolution? When was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire?