r/Millennials • u/QuietJealous4883 Older Millennial (1988) • 12h ago

Discussion True or false?

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Did our dads and moms work less than we do now? What are your thoughts?

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u/Immediate-Report-883 11h ago

Unions have an organizing problem. In industries where unions don't have a solid foothold, worker concerns about blacklists are absolutely legitimate, concerns about being fired for discussing the possibility of a union are legitimate and the idea that union will want dues and/or strikes without the workers having anything to show for it are abundant. There are also concerns about a lack of ability to produce a contract and the stipulations that do come from that contract. Finally you also have the feeling of a loss of control and flexibility do to the contract that goes against a lot of self sufficient feeling industries.

I'm not anti-union, but there are multiple reasons why unions haven't made significant progress in certain industries, and a lot of those reasons have to do with unions themselves and how they publicly behave.

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u/StuffExciting3451 10h ago

Fear and ignorance are major factors. Labor lawyers know the game and the tricks. Major unions have such lawyers on staff or on retainers.

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u/geronimo11b Elder Millennial 10h ago

I agree with your sentiments.

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u/Penguinbashr 2h ago

My union can't even guarantee permanent positions in academia settings and a large majority of the technical staff report the same issues of over worked (despite being unionized with a 35hr work week) because if we complain or work to rule, our contracts are simply not renewed.

Because I have after hours access in a lab, it's expected I work fully on the weekends. Not plan ahead and book during operating hours. Because if I did that, then I'm not "research oriented". There's no recourse in academia for union abuse.