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ValueOfUnions 6 - 12 Mar 2009 - Main.AndrewCase
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| | Professor Moglen's comments about unions the other day got me thinking that I have a natural aversion to praise for unions. In particular I have a deep-seated aversion to the notion of seniority for seniority's sake rather than performance-based pay. There are numerous benefits to unions, perhaps most importantly a stronger negotiating position when discussing pay and benefits for employees. But on the flip side, it also seems to create hierarchies based on seniority that prevent younger/newer members from rising through the ranks based on "merit". I can understand and sympathize with the job security concerns that were the basis of Moglen's comments, but am I missing some other valuable benefits to the seniority system? In high school I spent 3 years working at a supermarket where the members were unionized. I liked the marginally better pay than the minimum wage that other stores paid, but I also remember a lot of jaded, unproductive older employees. Unions are human organizations too and are just as vulnerable to the selfish manipulation of those at the top as other organizations are.
This is not to say that I am opposed to unions, I just found it odd that even though I have shifted far far left of my originally super conservative upbringing I was still caught off guard by the rhapsody for unions. Are there any built-in corrections for older members who take advantage of their seniority? Don't most of the complaints about teachers' unions revolve around this issue? | | | How about we aim for a mix of personal anecdotes, current events in the union sphere, and academic literature in creating the page?
Perhaps a bit more conversation, and we can produce something that explains: | |
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< | 1) personal experiences with unions
2) current state of collective bargaining in the US
a. Basics on how unions work (legal framework, core ideology, etc.)
-NLRA
-collective bargaining basics
b. Prominent unions and labor coalitions
-Change To Win
-Municipal Unions
-Specialized Skill Unions
3) Problems w/ unions | >
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- Personal experiences with unions
- History of Unions
- Conditions prior to unionization
- Effect of growth of union movement on labor conditions
- Effect of union contraction on labor conditions
- current state of collective bargaining in the US
- Basics on how unions work (legal framework, core ideology, etc.)
- NLRA
- collective bargaining basics
- Prominent unions and labor coalitions
- Change To Win
- Municipal Unions
- Specialized Skill Unions
- Problems w/ unions
- Interests of current members in conflict with each other
- Interests of current members in conflict with future members
| | | Refractoring and merging are great, but I think we need substance to edit and that we won't have that until we combine our opinions and experiences with other sources. Am I getting the gist of the purpose of the wiki or am I turning this into a research project?
--JamilaMcCoy March 12 09 | |
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> | I agree and was not suggesting we refactor now, but that this discussion could produce lots of different thoughts (like your input on policy and practice and mine on personal experience) that will at some point need organization. I think that your thoughts on how to put the pieces together are a good goal, and we can collect the pieces as a group and then put them together.
That being said, I did some editing to the outline you suggested both for formatting (so it will show up on the wiki the way that you drew it up in the editing window) and for content (I have added a section on "Union History"). I suggest that as others add their own experiences, insights, thoughts, that we should all feel free to edit the outline of what we are eventually aiming for. Plus anyone interested in participating should always be editing the outline, which after all is the hardest part. |
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