What Good Are Unions These Days?

With the recent news of the UAW striking at the GM plants it really brings up the question in my mind, what good are unions these days? Back at the turn of the 20th century when there was child labor, unsafe work conditions and slave-like work hours, the unions were there to make the employers realize they needed to change. However these days we have OSHA to ensure safe work conditions, plenty of laws in place to ensure our employers don’t work us to death, plus there are loads of jobs in America so if you don’t like your job — go find another one.

I’ve worked alongside union workers for a number of years. I used to live in Indiana where the union is in bloom, so much so that it truly chokes out competition. My parents and I started a small handyman business. Unfortunately we could only operate within the city we lived in because that city had no union requirements. All the surrounding cities required any contractors to be a union member. However in order to even be allowed into the union, we had to at the very least apprentice with a union worker for 2 years. It was this same song and dance to become an electrician, general contractor and plumber. So due to the union restrictions, we decided to shut our business down.

I then went to work in factories and ran into the union there, but I avoided the factories that required you to join the union. I liked my money far too much to part with a large chunk for the union. However I worked with people that loved the union. Although when I asked what the union did for them, it sounded like they were reciting a marketing pamphlet. It was all general speak — they back us when we need to strike, they will help cover bills during a strike, they have meetings on our behalf with our employer. But then I asked if they ever strike’d (struck, not sure the past tense of a union strike, lol) and they never had, so they were paying all these union dues with no return.

I tried to get out of factories by going into computers, then found myself working for a company that creates software for automotive factories. I then went to Detroit, Chicago, Indianapolis, Canada and the U.K. I found myself smack dab in the middle of union country in the factories in the U.S. The union has driven up the cost of vehicles to a point where an average person can hardly afford a new car and the union also caused the recession in 2007. Oh wait, am I getting ahead of myself? Are you now thinking this is a conspiracy theory? Stick with me for one more paragraph, please.

We had a lot of business in 2006 and 2007. The plants were working mandatory overtime and lots of computers were breaking, plus needing upgrades. Once fuel prices went up, the Dodge Ram plants kept working mandatory overtime. We asked the plants why they were working and after some prying, they said it was due to the union. Chrysler put out the order to stop mandatory overtime and if memory serves, even cut out Fridays to lower the supply of Rams. The union threw a fit and threatened to strike because it was apparently in their contract for Chrysler to continue mandatory overtime until the contract expired. To avoid a costly strike Chrysler kept working 6 days a week building Rams. Because nobody was buying them they had to rent out parking lots, malls, etc. just to have a place to put these trucks. Flying over Detroit looked odd with so many brand new trucks. You guys know the rest, Chrysler declared bankruptcy which apparently severed the union contract. Also as part of that contract was the deal that all retiring line workers would receive their current paycheck and/or healthcare benefits for life.

Now let me tell you about the work of an auto factory worker. They typically are trained in 2 jobs and they switch after lunch. This is to ensure they don’t get carpal tunnel from doing repetitive motion. Their jobs on the line typically have their work instructions printed either over their head or beside them. Basically, if you can read you can do the job. These are the definition of unskilled jobs. In fact the work instructions are a big joke with the workers. Some of them hope to party hard enough over the weekend to forget how to do their jobs, but they can quickly read over the instructions and get back to work Monday morning.

One of the supplier plants — oh wait, you might not know the difference. The OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer — GM, Chrysler, Ford, Mercedes, Hyundai, Kia, Jaguar, Land Rover, just to name the ones I’ve worked with) is the boss. The OEM plant negotiates contracts with suppliers (seats, airbags, wheels/tires, axles, instrument panels, etc.) to get the best deals. Once the supplier is supplying parts for the OEM, then all falls into place. The OEM will broadcast a special message to each supplier with details of the VIN, what parts are needed, quantities, etc. The supplier has a contracted timeframe to deliver the parts to the OEM, regardless of the circumstances. If they fail, there is a contracted price the supplier pays to the OEM per minute to pay for the shutdown.

Now that we have all those gritty details out of the way, I’ll continue with my story. One of the supplier plants I went to, I was talking to a newly hired forklift driver. He was complaining about his new employee wage which I later found out was $15/hour. He assumed since I worked on computers, I would make a lot of money. At that time, I was only making about $14/hour and I had to go through a lot of training. He was surprised to learn that he would make more money in his job than I would. In fact, working for a supplier is the “chump change” if you want to call it that. If you can get on with the OEM, you can make upwards of $35/hour on the line and are guaranteed 40 hours a week.

There is one union plant a coworker went to that I am still in disbelief about. This guy programs PLCs. A PLC is a very dumb computer by today’s standards, but it does it’s job very well. They are inside robots, automated lines, etc. They basically run nearly every plant out there. I know, I know. Backstory on backstory. Back to this guy at this plant, he had to have an electrician follow him around to test any wires and, get this, to plug his laptop into the wall! The electrician was being paid about $60/hour. That cost was passed onto the consumer — you.

I could go on and on with more stories but you are probably bored now, or you think I’m anti-union. You’d be right on the last one. I don’t see anything the union does for our workers anymore that’s reasonable. The UAW is striking at GM to get profit sharing for all the workers, including temps. Profit sharing is normally reserved for vice presidents and above. You know, the people who make tough decisions and are hard to replace because of the business knowledge they possess, not a line worker than can be replaced by another warm body.

Rather than fussing about a menial job not paying for the great life for me, I instead change jobs to find better opportunities. I also trained to make myself more marketable and get a better job. I would recommend those striking to think about making themselves better rather than wanting GM to provide for them as a VP is provided for.