Companies and unions
It's like the joke about a demon chasing a devil -- just one damned thing after another.
I like the concept behind a union. Collective bargaining, the notion that people should be able to work together so that more of what they do on the job benefits them, is an excellent idea.
I've worked at a lot of businesses that had unions, and I have yet to see a union that actually put that idea into practice.
I want to believe that my experiences with unions are not typical, but unions -- like businesses, like churches, like any other group -- are made up of people, and people are not perfect. What I've seen so far is that unions work for their own interests and for the interests of their leadership. If those interests overlap with those of their members, well and good. If not . . .
Right now, the unionized employees of Verizon are on strike. The company is trying to recruit people to fill in the gaps as 'temporary full-time technicians.' There's a poster I've seen on Facebook that gives some details which has been edited (in Sharpie, apparently) by someone not friendly to the company. The edits use the word 'scab' several times. Text included in the Facebook entry with the poster says that if you'd like to "work for an employer so shit their workers are involved in a massive dispute with them, then get yourselves down there."
I haven't done any research into the justification for the strike, but I'm already unhappy with the union's (or at least the union's supporters') tactics. Name-calling and demonizing are dirty pool. People who would cross a picket line to take a temporary job are already desperate and probably desperately needy, and verbally abusing them (or worse) is not going to help the strikers' cause. Talking trash about the company, without saying what needs to be changed or why, is just like any other kind of mudslinging.
Please understand that I am not saying the company is in the right in this matter -- I tend to doubt that very much. What I'm asking is that the union, and unions in general, be better than their opposition.
I'm not holding my breath while I wait.
I like the concept behind a union. Collective bargaining, the notion that people should be able to work together so that more of what they do on the job benefits them, is an excellent idea.
I've worked at a lot of businesses that had unions, and I have yet to see a union that actually put that idea into practice.
I want to believe that my experiences with unions are not typical, but unions -- like businesses, like churches, like any other group -- are made up of people, and people are not perfect. What I've seen so far is that unions work for their own interests and for the interests of their leadership. If those interests overlap with those of their members, well and good. If not . . .
Right now, the unionized employees of Verizon are on strike. The company is trying to recruit people to fill in the gaps as 'temporary full-time technicians.' There's a poster I've seen on Facebook that gives some details which has been edited (in Sharpie, apparently) by someone not friendly to the company. The edits use the word 'scab' several times. Text included in the Facebook entry with the poster says that if you'd like to "work for an employer so shit their workers are involved in a massive dispute with them, then get yourselves down there."
I haven't done any research into the justification for the strike, but I'm already unhappy with the union's (or at least the union's supporters') tactics. Name-calling and demonizing are dirty pool. People who would cross a picket line to take a temporary job are already desperate and probably desperately needy, and verbally abusing them (or worse) is not going to help the strikers' cause. Talking trash about the company, without saying what needs to be changed or why, is just like any other kind of mudslinging.
Please understand that I am not saying the company is in the right in this matter -- I tend to doubt that very much. What I'm asking is that the union, and unions in general, be better than their opposition.
I'm not holding my breath while I wait.