This is for the Union supporters

[Vibecrewangel]

I had a fairly bad experience with the union I was part of.
Local Food Workers #something or other (it's been like 9 years)

We had a payscale for General Merchandise stock clerks. Once you reached the top of the scale that was it. No more raises regardless of performance or time on the job. The new scale was put into effect evey 5 years. Working full time you could hit the top of the scale in about 1 year as raises were based on hours worked. This meant that as cost of living went up you were still stuck with a 1-4 year out pay rate. The non unionized stores in the area paid quite a bit more for the same work.

If you were even one minute early punching back in from lunch you were written up for working unauthorized overtime.
If you punched out late because you were assisitng a customer or were on a register you were often written up for the same reason. Unauthorized overtime. The union did nothing to prevent this as the contract specifically stated authorized overtime only.

When the teamsters went on strike, we as a sister union had to strike as well. $10.00 a day does not pay the bills. Of course the teamsters still received full pay during the strike.

Union reps failed to show up for any type of disciplanary meeting.

Full and part time workers had to pay the same dues. For some part time workers, this could take up almost 1/3 of their check.



I'm not saying all unions are bad or have as many problems. But mine was a nightmare.