4 ms·
Not to argue for or against unions. But in the US the history of unions often ended up with ties to organized crime. In addition unions seemed to become more i
by buscoquadnary 4y ago
Not to argue for or against unions.
But in the US the history of unions often ended up with ties to organized crime. In addition unions seemed to become more interested in serving the needs of the union rather than the well being of the workers. One example is a buddy of mine that had to be party of a bag boys union who had to end up paying basically the entirety of a pay check in union dues each month simply to be employed, without him getting anything from it.
From what I understand there is a literal and figurative ocean of difference between the unions in the EU and the US.
I'll further add that trying to conflate the two is a tactic I've often seen used by dishonest people to manipulate the conversation.
- karpierz 4y ago> But in the US the history of unions often ended up with ties to organized crime. Organized crime takes root in groups that don't benefit from government protection. Do you think that unions would've turned to organized crime if the authorities and privatized security groups didn't regularly attack them without any intervention by the US government to protect them? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_union_busting_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_union_busting_in_th...
- slackfan 4y ago
- ncphil 4y agoIn the history of unions in the US, who do you think turned a bind eye to the infiltration by organized crime? During the depression labor organizing was mostly the work of people who the government persecuted after the war for their politics. That left a power vacuum that organized crime was happy to fill.
- jjj123 4y agoI agree. So are corporations.
- commandlinefan 4y agoI kind of feel the same way - I think that, in the long run, unionization will be bad for everybody involved... but the employers have really, really, really brought this on themselves. All they had to do was try to be human beings from time to time, but apparently that was too much to ask.
- manuelabeledo 4y ago> But in the US the history of unions often ended up with ties to organized crime. Is this true, or just another case of historical revisionism based on pop culture? Not denying that there aren't examples of this, but it does seem a bit like people like to go back to a few famous criminal individuals to justify that unions are "bad".
- cool_dude85 4y agoYour buddy was a bag boy paying "basically the entirety of his pay check" in union dues? Let's be specific here. How much in pay and how much in dues?
- Melatonic 4y agoI highly doubt this - everytime I have heard people complain about this it terns out to be a percentage of their paycheck (which is pretty standard for all unions - rarely it is a flat fee). What potentially could be a whole paycheck are the payments for healthcare that is provided by the union
- ericd 4y agoThat’s pretty bad, though - if I’m in my 20s and in good health, I’d definitely prioritize, say, rent over high-end health insurance.
- bombcar 4y agoOr the "union signup" fee that is charged on your first paycheck, and eats your paycheck if you're minwage.
- cool_dude85 4y ago