I hate when owners of companies cheap out.

[terrehautian]

The union contract was up with the people who own where I work next month. The union guy out of Indy did the negotiations today. Right now, the two full timers get 2% raises a year. The part timers make min. wage for the first two years and then .10 more after that. Now my work isn't that hard, but it is somewhat specialized. You couldn't come in off the street and do it well within a week like other min. wage jobs. Did I mention part timers make less then min. wage when union dues taken out? Every contract up until this last one was actually descent and we were able to keep people if they weren't working for the experience. The union proposals were for way more then min. wage for part timers. I expected to not get this, but figured it was go high, and settle for less and still get raises. FT would going to go to 4.5% raises, again, high but settle lower. Everything was shot down. Being shop Stewart (not asked, basically told the other full timer didn't want it), I am starting the paperwork to decertify. I don't want to go non union, but everyone else does.

The good thing is that I can go freelance union and still pay a little less in union dues and as long as I get one free lance gig a year, union dues would pay for them self. If I get two, the second one is pure profit (usually I get between 350-450 per gig). Great thing is I don't have to share the gigs with the others. And if I don't get my annual raise like almost everyone else in the building gets normally (union or non) this year, I will be mad. The others get them Jan. and the union people got them in August.

Oh to the union haters, see, there is good unions.

 

[pirate]

Non-union all the way!! (I'll save that argument for another thread.


As for minimum wage goes. I'm not sure why anyone would ever want to work a union job for minimum wage and then earn less after dues were taken out. I would think that it would be time for a career change if I was ever in that situation.

Good luck.

 

[terrehautian]

It wasn't min. wage job up until this last contract. When federal min. wage went up, it became one. I see benefits of unions and disadvantages also. Which is why I am having the paper work brought up to get rid of it, this last contract and the new one stink and it isn't the unions fault.

Maybe being non union will be better, if I don't have to pay union dues all year to have free lance jobs, it is an extra 35 a month (not much really). It may also mean I get to do more stuff for work. For some reason my bosses boss was afraid of letting any union member do stuff that wasn't union regulated.

 

[Ted]

How does it feel to make less than a non union dishwasher.....and not even the senior guys get cost of living increases?

 

[IndyDave1776]

What union are you in? The International Brotherhood of Thieves? They certainly aren't earning those dues they are collecting!

 

[rockhopper46038]

...this last contract and the new one stink and it isn't the unions fault.

For some reason my bosses boss was afraid of letting any union member do stuff that wasn't union regulated.

If it isn't the union's fault for not negotiating a better contract, whose is it? Seems like the union dues are just lining someone else's pocket.

Most likely the reason the "boss's boss" didn't want a union member doing that work is because once a union member DOES do it, the union mentality says that work becomes "union work", and if anyone else then does it, grievances get filed.

Minimum wage is a tough row to hoe, for sure, but it's hard to know if the owners are making money (in which case a good owner would reward good employees in a non-union setting), or if minimum wage is all he can afford if he wants to keep the door open.

 

[Mad Macs]

Welcome to Right To Work.

 

[terrehautian]

I found out that if my work goes non union and I go free lance union, I will pay around 372 a year in dues, but I should be getting around six jobs a year if not more. That will around 2100 or more clear in extra income.

 

[Westside]

What union do you belong too?

 

[atvdave]

Non-union all the way!! (I'll save that argument for another thread.


As for minimum wage goes. I'm not sure why anyone would ever want to work a union job for minimum wage and then earn less after dues were taken out. I would think that it would be time for a career change if I was ever in that situation.

Good luck.

I'm a union man myself, and for the love of me can't figure this one out... Son.. Terrehautian.... union or not, you need to change jobs...

 

[terrehautian]

What union do you belong too?

IBEW (but not the traditional job that it represents).

I'm a union man myself, and for the love of me can't figure this one out... Son.. Terrehautian.... union or not, you need to change jobs...

I love my job, I am the only one who wants to stay union (if it wasn't for the union, I would be getting paid around 8-9 an hour instead of over 10 I get now {not much over 10}). I hate that the part timers are getting the short end of the stick. Which is why I am not fighting them to go non union.

 

[atvdave]

Sorry... I didn't read the post right.. I thought you where getting min.. as a FT worker..

I'm a member of the IUE-CWA. Good luck..

 

[PistolBob]

I tried several times to get a union job back in the 70's and 80's...I was never hired so I had to just go out on my own and learn a trade that would support my family, so I went into IT and I have been doing that for almost 30 years, and in that time I have grossed well over 1.5 million dollars. Never paid a dime in dues.

 

[karl77]

sounds like some one needs to learn to negotiate a contract, not give in.

gotta do what ya gotta do to keep bread on table, gas in tank and ammo in gun.

 

[Double T]

Now you see where those union dues get you? Less green in your pocket.

Unions are worthless. OSHA has now taken over the OG union purpose, and they have since become a cover for greed and laziness.

 

[hoosierdoc]

I'm sorry, I had a hard time following the post. Are you upset that there isn't much of a raise available in a down economy with a huge surplus of available employees? This tends to drive down the wages for all of us. Supply and demand.

 

[Mad Macs]

Now you see where those union dues get you? Less green in your pocket.

Unions are worthless. OSHA has now taken over the OG union purpose, and they have since become a cover for greed and laziness.

Unions can be good or bad.

 

[hornadylnl]

IBEW (but not the traditional job that it represents).



I love my job, I am the only one who wants to stay union (if it wasn't for the union, I would be getting paid around 8-9 an hour instead of over 10 I get now {not much over 10}). I hate that the part timers are getting the short end of the stick. Which is why I am not fighting them to go non union.

I make $22 an hour in a non union factory as a maintenance man/electrician. Do you have industrial maintenance experience?

 

[PistolBob]

IBEW (but not the traditional job that it represents).



I love my job, I am the only one who wants to stay union (if it wasn't for the union, I would be getting paid around 8-9 an hour instead of over 10 I get now {not much over 10}). I hate that the part timers are getting the short end of the stick. Which is why I am not fighting them to go non union.

I would never knock a man over what he's being paid, but it is just my wife and I and there is absolutely no way we could live on $10 an hour. I suppose if it was just me, I might be able to make it work...but then again, I'ma no maintenance kind of guy.

BTW...a buddy of mine is up in Nor Dakota working for the oil business as a general laborer...he's making about $55 an hour because they don't have enough guys. He sent me a newspaper ad for Burger King, offering a starting wage there of $15.50 an hour...mainly because the labor pool is virtually empty. If you don't mind the cold, that might be the place to be.

 

[Jake46184]

There is no such thing as a "good" labor union. They all artifically manipulate the relationship between employer and employee and disrupt the preferred outcome of market forces on the labor market. You like your union because it gets you more than market forces would offer you if left to decide. What you do not understand is what your union costs you, and everyone else, in its overall effect on the economy.

There is no such thing as a good labor union. Your relationship should be between you and your employer. Period.