hey boggy,
first of all please allow me to run a couple of definitions past you.....
a) closed shop-
in a closed shop an employer has the right not to hire you unless you belong to the pertinent union.... closed shops are illegal in the united states.....
b) union shop-
in a union shop the employer hires at will with the proviso that said hiree joins the union within a given period of time..... this usually occurs at the end of a probationary period....
In the case of the union shop the employer has to contractually agree to this in order for it to take effect..... there is no law which requires a union shop in any given state..... ie; i live in illinois where union shops are the norm once a union is organized within a workplace..... still, i know of at least one local manufacturor who refused to agree to a union shop..... about half of the employees that i know who worked there belonged to the union... the rest refused to join and earned the same pay and benefits as the union employees... (this company, too, went bankrupt)
a few points that might clarify things;
1) an employer must contractually agree to become a union shop...
2) when an employer agrees to a union shop he is bound to bargain with the union first in all labor matters.....
3) if the union walks out on strike the employer has the option to hire replacements... these are non union employees who are willing to cross a picket line and provide whatever labor services that the employer requires.....
i have a nephew who crossed caterpillars picket lines a few years back to work as a replacement for striking union workers..... he's a good guy, intelligent, well educated, and a hard worker.....
he had some serious debt, and decided that he was willing to cross the picket line for the money that CAT offered.... all that he saw was the money and couldn't understand why the union wouldn't work for THAT MUCH MONEY!!!..... today with a teaching degree in his pocket, he's working as a union maintenance tech....... Not for caterpillar, of course..... when their union came back, my nephew wasn't even allowed inside the gate for his final check.....
the thing is, though, that he saw what went on in CAT's plant without the union there..... in point of fact, i believe that their production was up, from their usual levels..... even so, he cited favoritism, verbal abuse, and unkeepable promises from supervisors...[ in all fairness, i do believe that he was informed upon hire- in that he was a temp. employee, with out job rights of any kind]..... Caterpillar had their union out the door with no contract, with replacement workers on the job, AND THEY BARGAINED THE UNION BACK INSIDE THE GATE.....
i don't even know what all the issues are at CAT, but if the union offers them no benefit why are they there??? .... i believe that a union can bargain their way out the door..... i also believe that they can offer incredible labor value.....
in another instance, i'll cite the mill where i used to work... i told in an above post, how the place was bought up in bankruptcy court..... a condition of the sale, put in place by the buyers, was that the union represent the employees..... they do outsource a lot of their maintenance work, but that goes to union contractors..... i've had the opportunity, twice, to go back there as a boilermaker..... thanks anyway <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />
i'm a welder, boggy, but ti seems to me that the union must bring something to the table or they'd be gone..... john w
it amazes me that there are no labor relations professionals on the forum to respond to this.... we need a recruiting program!!!
