Advantages and Disadvantages of Union Membership Essays

Advantages and Disadvantages of Union Membership Essays Advantages and Disadvantages of Union Membership Paper Advantages and Disadvantages of Union Membership Paper Union Advantages and Disadvantages I was raised In a union family but grew up to be a company man. I can see both sides and their opinions. I believe we need unions to keep the companies who are not union from treating their employees unfairly, regarding wages, days off, etc. There are good unions that are so effective and there are weak unions who give unions a bad name. Some companies will always treat their employees well and be fair but for those who dont, there has to be someone watching out for their rights. If those companies know that if their employees are treated unfairly, there is an organizer ailing to step in and help, the company generally will step up to the plate and do the right thing. My father and uncles worked for the plumbers, electrical, and teachers unions growing up and they were good strong unions that looked out for its employees. I spoke to my father about his opinion of the plumbers union and what he saw as the good and the bad of it. An advantage to being a union member Is that you have an advocate to stand up for you If there has been a wrong done to you In the work place. There are generally many more safety precautions taken for the errors safety with a union than when not. A business agent will locate Jobs for you In such trades as Pipettes, sprinkler fitters, welders, or construction workers. When you work on a job and then when that job is completed they work to have another job for you to move on to. You do pay dues, which seem to be a little steep at times, but when a member passes away, there is a death benefit paid to the family to help with funeral expenses. He remembers that the insurance coverage was excellent also. It pays 100% for him and 75% for the family. He also remembers how difficult it was to get into the union. How he had to apprentice for five years doing all the hardest work for half the pay. He also felt that the union is only interested in doing what generates work for union plumbers and not necessarily what is best for the building owners. The Business agents would also always play favorites with their buddies and send them to Jobs first and say they were requested by name. My uncle was a teacher and Vice principle of Bragger High School In Newark, and moved on to be a union superintendent. He says he has seen some good and some very ugly sides to unions. One of the biggest advantages is having representation during the performance review process. He has seen principals misuse the process to get rid of a teacher they Just dont get along with. Union contracts provide a structure for the reviews and usually support for a struggling teacher. The contract will also cover details, such as how much time a teacher has to set up a classroom and move items if he or she is involuntarily reassigned to another school due to enrollment or other hangs. In many cases he has seen where unions have kept bad teachers in their jobs where they would have been fired anywhere else. He has seen teachers that once they became tenured, stopped doing their Job altogether. Working out of the headquarters building shared by the Verizon union, I also have my own pollens of unions. When the company was doing well, It was able to meet the union requirements. Now as the landlines side has begun to lose money, the union has been went on strike when the company tried to move to non union shops during a merger. Three days into the strike Verizon managers claimed to have counted 455 acts of vandalism, which they attributed to union members. Managers blamed unionists for throwing rocks, eggs, and bottles at workers and managers who crossed picket lines, as well as disrupting service by cutting cables and wires. Verizon is still in talks with the CAW and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers over a new contract that would cover roughly 45,000 workers and replace an agreement that expired Gauge. 6.