Thursday, October 27, 2011

What Have American Unions Ever Done For Us?

1 comment:

  1. I can tell you what the union has done for me. I've been a Teamsters 120 member for nearly 14 years. I make over 20 dollars an hour. My employer provides 100% coverage with no co pays. I have owned a home for 8 years. I have over $80,000 in my pension.

    My heart goes out to non-unionized workers. My mom was in her late-50’s when she was working for Mid-State’s Aluminum, a non-union plant that starts people at a little over $8 an hour. She miscounted her parts and was caught by management. The manager talked to her and had her sign a document admitting her mistake. She was fired and has not worked since. She was then making close to $13 an hour after over 10 years of service. I told her, “Mom, in a unionized shop we tell management that the only thing we’ll ever sign is our pay check.” Because she had no workplace representation she now lives off of a $45 food card and widow’s benefits.

    As a Teamsters 120 member we elect stewards from our workplace who are trained to represent us on the job. I have had many incidents where my supervisor confronts me about a problem on the job that we disagree. Management doesn't harass us because they know we have a contract. We are protected under the law and have a united workforce. We learn to work together so we don't have to take the brunt of arbitrary and incompetent decisions and we therefore have more control over what happens at the worksite. This builds a sense of loyalty to our fellow co-workers. This fellowship increases as we go to picnics, meetings and events. We get respect on the job and our families benefit from the pride of being a Teamster.

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