48.9% of Unions members work for the Government

[GMDino]

(02-01-2016, 12:03 PM)Benton Wrote: Two reasons.

One, they aren't always needed. Small businesses are roughly half the jobs in the U.S. I don't know how many of them are unionized, but I'd guess a much smaller percentage than those employed by large businesses. And, generally, small businesses are less likely to have a union for a lot of reasons, but one of the biggest is the direct contact between management and workers. When you see your boss on a regular basis, or when your boss has to work in your working conditions, there's a better understanding between the two. Likewise, smaller businesses employer fewer people, so there's less of a need for employees to come together to get training or corrective action for employees who aren't pulling their weight or who are putting others in danger.

Two, misinformation. You can see it in this thread or open up Facebook. There are people who have been lead to believe unions are all about protecting the lazy, bleeding companies dry of profits and supporting socialism. Those people have been mislead by a very well-funded effort to reduce worker rights and wages through misinformation. It also helps politicians score points with a segment of voters, and some donors.

One reason I am at my current job was that it was a small business with one owner.  The job previous to that was expanding rapidly and you could feel the growing pains from it.

We are a non-union shop, but the owner treated the employees great.  He has since passed away and the new bosses are not quite as generous, but they do enough to keep them relatively happy.

I've never worked in a union environment.  Closest I came was my time in radio, but I didn't work in a market where that was needed and then I got out of the business.