this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2023
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Favorable terms with no means of legal leverage are just wisps of air. They can and will be rescinded at the earliest convenience of the corporation, which is literally why we're in the current situation we are today. The strongest middle class in the US existed when unions were at their peak. That is not a coincidence.
A formal, legal union gives employees power and leverage to enforce the favorable terms that they negotiate with an employer. You can argue that unions as organizations can be subject to similar corruption as any other organization, but contrary to popular propaganda, there is nothing inherent in the existence of a union that requires or lends itself to corruption any more than any other power structure.
Employees are legally permitted to organize a formal, legal union of their own outside the existing union organizations, but then they're starting from scratch. Existing unions have been through negotiations, have experienced lawyers, know the process and all of its pitfalls. The vast majority of workers are better off joining an existing union because of this.
You’re correct but my issue is with the corruption part. Look at Hollywood and that fiasco of a boycott and how it affected the people at the bottom of the union. Or the teachers union where is the damn near impossible to fire bad teachers and how the school system is suffering for that. Where as private schools pay more in return your job is dependent on how well your students preform.
Corruption exists in corporate structures, too. Perhaps even especially in corporate structures.
Unions provide a counterbalance to the leverage a company has over its employees, plain and simple.
Neither structure (unions or corporations) is meant to eliminate corruption, but having both means the power differential is balanced, and one can't steamroll the other.
Correct again, but is a union needed in every situation and how do a corporation counter balance a union
A union that abuses their power risks the company becoming unprofitable and forcing layoffs. A company that abuses the union risks the union going on strike. They hold each other accountable. They have a mutual interest in the continuation of the company, and they negotiate within the bounds of that reality.
Beyond this, the law places strict limits on the right to strike, and will make the union liable if they break those limits.
Unions are an essential part of a healthy labor market, even if you yourself are not a part of one.