Unions: good or bad?
*cough* *blows dust off of my LJ*
So, wow. It's been forever since I've used this thing, partially because I haven't had much to report; if I'm honest, my life is pretty stagnant. I may have an opportunity to change that, but I need some advice. Does anyone (who's still around, anyway) have any experience working in a union?
Someone recommended a union electrician apprenticeship program to me. I have several reservations about it (a five year training program with concurrent school and other obligations, for one) but the worry I most need advice on is this: it's through a union (the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, or IEBW). I've never worked for a union, and the only person I've heard from so far advised me to stay away because union jobs are under fire. This is a perfect example: Boeing, a heavily subsidized, very profitable American company, decided to shaft the union workers that built it by forcing them to either accept large pay and benefit cuts or they'd start building planes elsewhere with non-union workers. (Go on, conservatives: keep saying how an unrestricted free market is good for jobs.)
Plus, I have no experience working for a union. I think protecting workers from greedy corporations that would love to return to the labor practices of the 1920s is an essential goal, but they often seem to be taken too far. How much of the bad stuff is true? Do sycophants get all the good jobs while others wait on the sidelines? Are hard workers told to slow down because they're making everyone else look bad? And most importantly--and most difficult to answer--will union jobs still exist in decades to come?
I need a change in my life, no doubt, and though I can't say for sure that I would enjoy electrical work, an actual career that pays damned good money is something I need right now. But, committing to a five year training program is no good if I can't get work when I finish. If contractors just hire non-union people then five years of my life will have been pretty much wasted; even if I left the union (you can do that, right?) doing the same work for half the pay just wouldn't be worth it if I don't enjoy it.
So if you have any experience working for unions, know someone that is or has been in the IEBW, or have a crystal ball, I would love to hear from you. Thank you!
So, wow. It's been forever since I've used this thing, partially because I haven't had much to report; if I'm honest, my life is pretty stagnant. I may have an opportunity to change that, but I need some advice. Does anyone (who's still around, anyway) have any experience working in a union?
Someone recommended a union electrician apprenticeship program to me. I have several reservations about it (a five year training program with concurrent school and other obligations, for one) but the worry I most need advice on is this: it's through a union (the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, or IEBW). I've never worked for a union, and the only person I've heard from so far advised me to stay away because union jobs are under fire. This is a perfect example: Boeing, a heavily subsidized, very profitable American company, decided to shaft the union workers that built it by forcing them to either accept large pay and benefit cuts or they'd start building planes elsewhere with non-union workers. (Go on, conservatives: keep saying how an unrestricted free market is good for jobs.)
Plus, I have no experience working for a union. I think protecting workers from greedy corporations that would love to return to the labor practices of the 1920s is an essential goal, but they often seem to be taken too far. How much of the bad stuff is true? Do sycophants get all the good jobs while others wait on the sidelines? Are hard workers told to slow down because they're making everyone else look bad? And most importantly--and most difficult to answer--will union jobs still exist in decades to come?
I need a change in my life, no doubt, and though I can't say for sure that I would enjoy electrical work, an actual career that pays damned good money is something I need right now. But, committing to a five year training program is no good if I can't get work when I finish. If contractors just hire non-union people then five years of my life will have been pretty much wasted; even if I left the union (you can do that, right?) doing the same work for half the pay just wouldn't be worth it if I don't enjoy it.
So if you have any experience working for unions, know someone that is or has been in the IEBW, or have a crystal ball, I would love to hear from you. Thank you!