Of course, you’ll hear propaganda from anti-labor people about how that additional pay is going to be eaten up by monthly union dues, but that’s a pathetic lie. Depending on the industry and geographical region, union dues run about $50-$60 a month, which is $600-$720 a year. And $720 isn’t 15 per cent of any union worker’s income . . . unless he’s earning $4,800 a year, which happens to be less than half the federal minimum wage, which means that whole “dues will neutralize any gains” argument is absurd.
2. Benefits. Pensions, medical insurance, paid vacation, holidays, personal holidays, sick pay, overtime premium pay, penalty pay and shift differential are generally not only better in a union shop, often the only way to obtain them is through a union contract. In truth, many of these benefits and perks don’t exist without a union providing them. That’s another reason why companies don’t want to go union. Under a union contract they have to share those goodies.
3. Safety. This is a stark and sobering reality. The safety record of union facilities is demonstrably superior to that of non-union facilities. Anti-unionists can talk all they like about OSHA (Occupational Health and Safety Administration) being the “great equalizer,” but it simply isn’t true—no way, no how. Besides being understaffed and over-extended, OSHA has been effectively gelded by eight years of Bush administration anti-worker neglect and mockery.
A union contract gives employees the immediate right to insist on a safe work environment. Rather than having to petition a remote government agency in the hope that they come to your aid, as a union worker you can instantly grieve an unsafe condition. The safety provisions of a union contract guarantee immediate, hands-on control. It’s no contest. Union facilities have an infinitely better safety record.
4. Dignity. As a union worker you don’t have to put up with flaky bosses, arbitrary decisions, or co-worker harassment. You don’t have to tip-toe around in fear or be at the mercy of weird or grossly incompetent managers. A Union contract can prevent bosses from flitting about making arbitrary, off-the-cuff decisions and can force them to behave like “professionals.”
5. Security. The boss can’t walk up and fire you because he wants to give your job to his wife’s nephew, who’s looking for a summer job before returning to school. Management can’t lay you off out of sequence. They can’t demote you arbitrarily. Nor can they prevent you, without sufficient cause, from promoting you to the next higher job when it’s your turn. African Americans and women didn’t get their fair shot at higher-rung manufacturing jobs until labor unions gave it to them, a fact that doesn’t receive enough recognition.
6. Competence. Union workers tend to be better workers than non-union workers. Just think about it: Which job in the community is going to attract a higher caliber performer—the one with the good wages, benefits and working conditions, or the job with low pay, lousy benefits and no air-conditioning? Not only will better workers apply to a union facility, but management will have a significantly greater number to choose from, allowing them to hire the very best.
7. Activism. You have the opportunity—the privilege—of one day becoming a shop steward, of representing your fellow workers, if they feel justified in giving you that responsibility. Shop steward is no glorified popularity contest, like being elected class president in high school. It’s an important job. People on the floor are going to select the person they deem best qualified to represent their interests. As a union representative, whose authority is recognized by federal labor law, you will forever be a footnote in the history of the American labor movement.
