Do you personally think Unions are still up to the job in this era ?

I personally think they have done a wonderful job in the past, in different ways, but I also think what they are doing now and the way they are applying their force to get a few cents per hour is out of proportion and so I do think they have become more of a threat for the economy than they are a blessing for the workforce.

I think they need to rethink their strategy ...

what do you think ?

I just spoiled your plan of creating a thread with zero answers.
You didn't dare post it in P&R just in case. Gotcha!

PANDURITO said:

Union steward here...

I'm not sure what you mean by out of proportion as far as wages are concerned so I'll wait for you to clarify. What I can tell you is that unions are involved in much more than salary negotiations. Here's a few other issues where union representation benefits employees...

-workplace safety
-representation in disputes with management
-health care
-prevention of workers being forced to work long hours without breaks
-job security, i.e. no firing without just cause and due process

People take these things for granted today but these benefits are rarely due to the kind hearts of employers. For the most part these standards were negotiated and are maintained and enforced by organized labor. I'm willing to bet that with the demise of unions these benefits would be either eliminated entirely or scaled back in a very short period of time

The current front burner issue is finding ways to fight outsourcing of jobs to other countries.

okay .. don't kill me .. but ... I can speak for myself .. I don't need someone else speaking for me .. if I need to organize than I would try that, but otherwise .. I'm not paying for someone to speak for me .. IMO

questionofu said:

Nope, I won't kill ya but it isn't really a question of not speaking for yourself which you always have the option of doing even as a union member. It's more a matter of collective bargaining having more leverage in most cases.