I'm torn at work about whether or not joining a union, everyone in the company, even the executive is organized into different unions. The one I'm interested in joining is the most economical of them (100% tax refund on member fees, good insurance), but I feel so dirty and weak even considering it, but now I'm losing out on wage increases because I'm not a member of any organization, on the other side my bonuses is about 12x times more than what the increases would bring but I could have both.

Is it hypocritical to join a labor union as a conservative? My conservative friends are all members of Unions in their work, so far I have gone a long just fine without it, and been happy for it. I will never join the communist labor union though, a friend of mine was required to be a member in his previous company, when he quit his job and the union they threatened he would never get work in Norway again, luckily though he got work at Siemens.

Anyone got tips or experience about being in a labor union?

Sometimes a man has to compromise to protect his family.
So ask yourself, can you sacrifice principle and core values, for comfort and safety?

You do have another option, you could move...

I know I didn't post what you wanted to hear, but whatever your choice, you have to live with it.
How would your wife view you afterwards, would it in any way effect her opinion of you to the negative?

Just ask yourself, can you endure sacrificing principle, will it take a toll on your soul?
If not, you know the answer.

If I joined a union, my wife would ensure that I not die a natural death.

Lemme tell ya a story...

When I was a young man, I went to work for MTD, the big power equipment company, at their plant in Valley City, OH. It was a union shop, though I can't recall for sure which union was involved. In any case, I was never asked whether I wished to join the union -- I was inducted into the union whether I liked it or not.

I spent the first six months or so working in the stamping rooms as a general laborer. (By stamping, I mean 30-ton presses stamping out steel parts.) Then one day a bid sheet appeared on the bulletin board for a crane position. The stamping rooms had a 20-ton overhead crane for moving stock and dies, and they needed someone for the second-shift spot. "I can do that," I told myself, and I signed the sheet. Days passed and no one else signed the sheet. On the very last day, at the very last minute, a gal from the welding shop I'll call "Bertha" (I honestly don't remember her name, but she looked like a Bertha.) signed for the job. Rats. I only had six months, and she had 22 years in. In union shops, it is rare that anything other than time on the job will determine your eligibility for a position.

Bertha was a welder, and by all accounts one of the best in the shop. She was ugly and stout and she chewed Red Man and knew cuss words I'd never even heard before. Moving to the crane would have actually cost her money. Running the crane paid a flat rate, whereas her welding job had a piecework rate that allowed her to make $2-3 more an hour -- nothing to sneeze at back when the minimum wage was $1.60 and gas was still selling for less than 50 cents. But Bertha had decided she wanted to run the crane. On second shift. Rats.

But there was one little problem that Bertha could not solve. There was a test, an actual written test, that you had to pass before you could be considered for the crane position. It was pretty easy, I thought -- really just basic math and logic stuff, although there were a couple questions that involved reading a Vernier scale, as on a micrometer. We both took the test, and I went back out and took up the gloves and guards and started oiling stock for one of the presses. Bertha had 22 years; I had six months. Game over.

When they called me into the office later that day, it was to tell me that I would begin training for the crane position. Bertha, she of the 22-year seniority, apparently couldn't read or count; she had failed the test. I started training the next day.

But Bertha, a child of the union, couldn't let it go. She publicly called me everything but a white boy. (I was, actually, a white boy at the time.) She accused me of cheating on the test. (An interesting allegation, that, since neither of us knew in advance that there even was a test.) She filed grievance after grievance after grievance, and I spent more time those next few weeks sitting in grievance hearings than I did running the crane. Finally, after the last grievance hearing, Bertha and I stood face to face on the press room floor and she said, "Well, I guess you got it, you skinny little bastard." (I actually was, at that time, a skinny little bastard.) The hate glittered in her black eyes, and she spat some Red Man juice between my toes and turned and stomped off.

Bertha had little to offer in the way of attractiveness or even pleasantness, mainly because she was singularly unattractive and unpleasant. To my knowledge, other than her indisputable knack for welding, she brought no skills to the table, not even the ability to read and count. But 22 years of union membership had convinced Bertha that she was just as good a crane operator as anyone. The union had taught her that actual skills or abilities didn't really mean anything -- there was only time on the job.

Some time in life you have to hold your nose and vote for the less of two evils.   When I was young I used the union as a stepping stone.  Three years after going into the union I went into management. 

I did not have the education to go right into management.  So I had to show them that I was a shaker and a mover.  I had to show them I was the go to person to get thing done the right way the first time.  With in three years they ask me to join the management team.

But that was just my way of getting ahead in life. 

It sounds your unions might be different than how it works here. 

Quote from: walkstall on June 25, 2014, 10:30:22 AM
Some time in life you have to hold your nose and vote for the less of two evils.   When I was young I used the union as a stepping stone.  Three years after going into the union I went into management. 

I did not have the education to go right into management.  So I had to show them that I was a shaker and a mover.  I had to show them I was the go to person to get thing done the right way the first time.  With in three years they ask me to join the management team.

But that was just my way of getting ahead in life.

There's an excellent point that you (almost) made. Union wage and benefit structures are so often touted in the liberal press as being "supportive" of the "working man." But they are also most definitely shackles on the working man. Unions love to shout that "management can't pay our people less than $xx.xx/hour." But most union contracts also preclude management from paying any employee more than that exact same $xx.xx/hour.

Quote from: TboneAgain on June 25, 2014, 12:33:11 PM
There's an excellent point that you (almost) made. Union wage and benefit structures are so often touted in the liberal press as being "supportive" of the "working man." But they are also most definitely shackles on the working man. Unions love to shout that "management can't pay our people less than $xx.xx/hour." But most union contracts also preclude management from paying any employee more than that exact same $xx.xx/hour.

Was not working a making a point.  More or less just saying if there a will there is a way of working around thing for your advantage.  my pay tripled and I got full benefits.  My salary increases were never under 15% per year.  My bonus pay was always over 5000$ a year.  Unions always hold people back if you stay with them in this day and age.