It depends on the union. My experience as a union worker in two different union jobs has been especially negative.

1. Was only hired because the person who was in the position was required to leave, because she wanted to go to part time, and the union wouldn't allow two part timers to occupy the position. I was not told this. It was a civil service job. Two weeks before my 6-month probabionary period was over, they fired me and hired her back. Turns out there was some kind of time window, and the coast was clear for her to return. I tried to fight it but the union said I was still on my first 6 months, so they wouldn't represent me. I reminded them I had been paying union dues since my first week there, and they still refused. I had to fight them to get a refund for the 5.5 months of union dues I paid without the right to representation.

2. Supermarket worker in a union shop. They actually -negotiated- for a first aid kit on every floor of the building. Clue as to why that's stupid: OSHA requires a first aid kit on every floor of the building. I wonder what the union gave up in exchange for something they were getting anyway. They also -required- me to pay full union dues which included a really BAD health insurance that I wasn't eligible to use anyway, because I already had free excellent health insurance through my husband's job. Law stated that I could pay just the monthly maintenance fee and opt out of union membership, but they refused to allow it. They weren't supposed to require that of me. But - Teamsters will be Teamsters. If you won't join the union, you can't work in that company. They will fight you tooth and nail, and they have the money to cover the expense - because everyone else is paying through the wahoo for things like first aid kits (translation - the Union President's bank account).

My husband worked for a union shop - they spoiled their employees like crazy. But the company didn't negotiate anything. They just said "this is what we're offering" and the union said "awesome." It was the company that was great (at the time), not the union. The union took his weekly bribe to do absolutely nothing other than sign some papers once a year. Eventually that local got taken over by an out-of-state regional union who tried to push for things that the employees didn't need, and made a fuss about everything, while actually not -doing- anything. Eventually the company said "y'know what - we're closing this department. You're all out of jobs, have a nice day."

So nah - not a fan of unions. They had their place. They abused their privilege and now they've just made it more difficult for everyone.

Ah, I wonder why a lot of manufacturing jobs are now in foreign countries???

Because they're not dependent on union demands.

That said - some other countries are not very good to their workers. Poverty wages, no benefits, no time off, no breaks, mandatory overtime without overtime pay - some of them get paid the American equivalent of $100 per WEEK, for a 60-hour 6-day week. Those countries would benefit from unions. Until the unions get too full of themselves.

The Longshoreman & Stevadores negotiated contracts to get their pay and benefits to where they are. Congratulations to them. I hope they do well with the negotiations they are presently conducting.

After a lifetime of ownership of small companies and being a manager at other jobs with Teamster employees under my watch now that I’m retired even though I did fine I could have come out way better as a union member unloading ships in Staten Island at Howland Hook. I could have slept instead of worrying how to get the job done. Being a Union Member must be awesome. When you leave work you don’t have to think about work at all until tomorrow. I rest my case!

Well, just another turd in the punch bowl of life. There’s something going one all the time.

Unfortunately the rest of us suffer when they slow down unloading and stores do not get the merchandise they ordered. Not to mention the huge salaries they make get passed on and the rest of us get to pay more for the stuff we buy.

And then there are companies that are only unionized so they can do business with companies that only use unionized companies. It forms a complete circle.

You should really tell this to the Shop Stewart or one of the members may have a problem with their reputation being injured. Slow down? Doesn’t ever happen, just ask Vito & Rocko!

Nucky do you really think that longshoreman have any interest in unloading ships as quickly as they can?

My company eventually had a union (teamsters). I would put up our employees against any as far as production and quality. The problem is that we can not compete with countries that pay their employees pennies a day, if at all (prison labor). Of course companies like auto manufacturers run to Mexico when the cost of labor is 1/2 that of a US employee. We need to protect our US employees. Both parties seem fine with manufacturing jobs moving out of the country. We need to protect US workers.

If not for unions in the past, all workers would be working 6 days a week, 10 hours a day in unfit conditions and making Florida minimum wage.

The way to do that is to require companies to provide more for their employees, AND eliminate unions. The more employees have to pay into union dues, the more they expect the union to do for them and the more the unions will extort from companies. Eliminate the middle-man, mandate that companies provide a living wage, a contribution toward health care OR offer company self-insurance options, paid time off, all the things companies in other companies are required to provide their employees.

Except - that would be called socialism (even though the companies are still allowed to turn a profit, which means it's still capitalism).

As I've said - unions had their place in our history. They even have a place in new industries cropping up in the country.

Now, their place is strong-arming businesses and forcing employees to go on strike for things they might not even care about, resulting in no income during the strike, companies shutting down, violence against line-breakers, delays and even complete halts in the supply chain, some smaller businesses shutting down because they -can't- meet the demands of their extortioners, and departments or local stores of larger companies shutting down for the same reason.

Has something to do with paying $2.50/hr.

With 25% tariff on goods coming from China, insanely high freight rates and delays in transit quite a few manufacturing jobs are coming back to the US.