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I worked (years ago) for the UFCW as a worker at a grocery store. All of the union that was exposed to me as a part timer was: - hours go out by seniority - r

I worked (years ago) for the UFCW as a worker at a grocery store. All of the union that was exposed to me as a part timer was: - hours go out by seniority - raises happen at set intervals regardless of quality of work - that guy selling pot out of the backroom will be protected until they catch him stealing a rotisserie chicken - 0.x% of my paycheck goes to the union. - I got paid less, and received raises less often than I did when I worked at Walmart. Now there's lots more to them then that, but they certainly failed to sell me on the concept as a teenager, despite having me as quite the captive audience.

domikazi 7y ago
Yep. I had this same experience when I was working at a grocery store. I didn't want to join a union, because the idea of my 16 year old ass having to pay $20 dollars a paycheck to somebody for a job I was gonna have for 4 months during the summer sounded asinine. Well, the "union-boss" at my store informed me that if I didn't join then I wouldn't be put on the schedule or get any hours. So I joined just to get hours, and lost a few hundred bucks that summer so the old women who had been cashiers for 30 years could get their raises.
- maxk42 7y ago
  Remarkably similar experience. I worked as a bag boy at a grocery store many years ago. The guy who hired me told me he strongly encourages everyone to join the union and I didn't realize at the time it was an implicit threat. After four months I kept wondering why there were five bag boys on duty and I was the only one working and where they went. One of the store managers came over to me during one of my shifts to thank me for my hard work. I was literally just doing my job while the other kids weren't. Less than two weeks later I had no hours on the schedule. Assuming it was a mistake I asked the guy who scheduled the hours (Mr. "Strongly Encourage") and he said he'd look into it. It was the end of my week so I needed to know what time to show up on Monday and so I persisted and said I needed to know when my next shift was so I wouldn't be late. He kept feigning ignorance. After my third inquiry he turned and said "Look, someone else transferred in so they got the hours, okay?" I might still be on the payroll with no hours scheduled at that company for all I know. This was definitely a case where a union wasn't good for workers -- it was good for the lazy bums who didn't want to work.
apexalpha 7y ago
Okay so my comment was a bit rude, but it from reading this thread it seems many US citizens are so entrenched in an anti Union stance they can't even think of what could be. In my country the unions negotiate a framework for pay rise based on performance management. They make sure people working (night) shifts have enough time off, can't be rotated at will by management and get compensation. People who are forced to leave due to downsizing get a proper retraining budget first and are transitioned to other jobs in or outside the company. It just seems every time Unions are brought up here on HN someone says "my train was late once so all trains are bad form of transportation". But this is too simple, and it doesn't account for the fact that highly skilled IT people can easily negotiate good wages but that low skilled people can't, and they need unions the most.

domikazi 7y ago

Yep. I had this same experience when I was working at a grocery store. I didn't want to join a union, because the idea of my 16 year old ass having to pay $20 dollars a paycheck to somebody for a job I was gonna have for 4 months during the summer sounded asinine. Well, the "union-boss" at my store informed me that if I didn't join then I wouldn't be put on the schedule or get any hours. So I joined just to get hours, and lost a few hundred bucks that summer so the old women who had been cashiers for 30 years could get their raises.

maxk42 7y ago
Remarkably similar experience. I worked as a bag boy at a grocery store many years ago. The guy who hired me told me he strongly encourages everyone to join the union and I didn't realize at the time it was an implicit threat. After four months I kept wondering why there were five bag boys on duty and I was the only one working and where they went. One of the store managers came over to me during one of my shifts to thank me for my hard work. I was literally just doing my job while the other kids weren't. Less than two weeks later I had no hours on the schedule. Assuming it was a mistake I asked the guy who scheduled the hours (Mr. "Strongly Encourage") and he said he'd look into it. It was the end of my week so I needed to know what time to show up on Monday and so I persisted and said I needed to know when my next shift was so I wouldn't be late. He kept feigning ignorance. After my third inquiry he turned and said "Look, someone else transferred in so they got the hours, okay?" I might still be on the payroll with no hours scheduled at that company for all I know. This was definitely a case where a union wasn't good for workers -- it was good for the lazy bums who didn't want to work.

apexalpha 7y ago

Okay so my comment was a bit rude, but it from reading this thread it seems many US citizens are so entrenched in an anti Union stance they can't even think of what could be. In my country the unions negotiate a framework for pay rise based on performance management. They make sure people working (night) shifts have enough time off, can't be rotated at will by management and get compensation. People who are forced to leave due to downsizing get a proper retraining budget first and are transitioned to other jobs in or outside the company. It just seems every time Unions are brought up here on HN someone says "my train was late once so all trains are bad form of transportation". But this is too simple, and it doesn't account for the fact that highly skilled IT people can easily negotiate good wages but that low skilled people can't, and they need unions the most.