What do Unions do for you?
“A study in the American Sociological Review, using the broadest methodology, estimates that the decline of unions may account for one-third of the rise of inequality among men.” “Take construction workers. A full- time construction worker makes about $10,000 per year less now than in 1973, in today’s dollars… One reason is probably that the proportion who are unionized has fallen in that period from more than 40 percent to just 14 percent.”
– synopsized and abridged from Nicholas Kristof’s column in the New York Times, 02/20/15 issue.
Thinking people realize that those who hate unions use the flaws of labor to justify the complete abolition of unions. This is like using the fact that some people exceed the speed limit to justify the abolition of automobiles.
Of course, “silly” provisions in contracts can be highlighted as being just that, silly. As well as “make-work,” or “profit-eating,” or “just a waste of paper.”
They are not so silly when you remember that MANAGEMENTS agreed to these rules, and these rules result from a variety of reasons – not all of which are the fault of the unions. Some are there solely because the management insisted on them, and the union agreed to them.