Very well written piece. Much of what you write I agree with. In my many years of employment, I did work with 'Unions' , first ten years was with the Teacher's Union but I think I was young and probably stupid and went along with the flow. (First contract was for $4,800 a year-plus $300 to coach soccer) At the same time I came from a Union household and my Dad was always a union member. And I think it helped him -and it certainly influence my thinking about Unions. I also am a member of the Social Worker's Association, I don't think of it exactly as a Union, but it is lobbing for Social workers. And although I was not in the Union while working at the jail (I was contracted to worked as a social worker there,) the Guard Union did did help influence the pay I received.
So I do think there is strength in numbers, and I don't believe I was 'strong' enough by myself to get as much as I did if just on my own. At the same time, I now mostly work independently and it is challenging to set a wage for my self. (Ok Gregory you grandfather is so good people are 'begging me to do the work-:-) ) But actually at this point I have been in 'negotiations' to get paid more (like I deserve-as any good Union member would say) and "it's not over yet.'
So I don't have an easy answer for myself. Working with others for a 'healthy' change is one way to get change-actually I think that may be call 'democracy', so regarding Unions-lets be careful not to 'throw the baby out with the bath water'.
PS Influence? -I tried my best-I just don't know how I went wrong. :-) (You are right Uncle Dan, Gregory has worked hard to have this right to give an intelligence opinion.)
Lots of nuance here that I think is important to keep in mind. I respect unions, I just don’t love them. I think they should be smaller in scope and simply bargain for wages, not do all the other things they end up doing in the political arena. Certainly they have helped out countless millions of workers earn higher wages over the past century or more.
I also drink from the same fountain as uncle Dan. My main reason is that the present system is NOT working. I think the main goal of schools and teachers, which includes teachers unions should be to educate our children. They have failed miserably. Teachers unions have turned into political organizations with one goal…… money for its administrators and funding for political appointees. I would like to see schools hire teachers who really want to be teachers and administrators who back these teachers and enable them to teach students in a safe environment. I really don’t care about the new woke rules and think they do not help our schools be successful. Please go back to demanding students come to school to learn the three R’s and add a fourth R….. respect for teachers and fellow students. The breakdown of this system is very disturbing.
it's good to know that your Uncle has way more influence on you than your Grandpa :) or perhaps you've arrived at your leanings only after a lot of personal research and thought? what a concept. unions are simple to me. they have essentially one public goal. ever higher compensation for the members. compensation in the form of money, compensation in the form of conditions, compensation in the form of benefits, compensation in the form of pensions. they also seem to have one private goal. ever higher compensation of themselves. compensation in the form of money, compensation in the form of conditions, compensation in the form of benefits, compensation in the form of pensions. i bet more than $0.50 of every dollar of dues goes to union compensation and politics (lobbying/contributions/etc.). where the money doesn't seem to go is to teachers. to administrators. to better student outcomes. recently, just prior to 2019, in the county in which I live, the teachers union boasted that it secured additional income for it's teacher members and everyone was happy seemingly hitting their compensation goals. fast forward to 2022, i'm reading that the teachers are unhappy with their compensation and they need more. one of the reasons is that our county's compensation rank came in somewhere below the middle of maryland's 23 counties. they feel their compensation should be higher. ok, let's assume that our county renegotiates its agreement and the salaries move into the upper half. if that happens then some other county will move into the lower half, and then they will need to lobby and renegotiate because they can't be in the lower half. up goes the compensation, up goes the taxes and what happens to student outcomes? who knows. who cares. shhhhh, don't say it out loud. unions don't care about you. they care about themselves.
Very well written piece. Much of what you write I agree with. In my many years of employment, I did work with 'Unions' , first ten years was with the Teacher's Union but I think I was young and probably stupid and went along with the flow. (First contract was for $4,800 a year-plus $300 to coach soccer) At the same time I came from a Union household and my Dad was always a union member. And I think it helped him -and it certainly influence my thinking about Unions. I also am a member of the Social Worker's Association, I don't think of it exactly as a Union, but it is lobbing for Social workers. And although I was not in the Union while working at the jail (I was contracted to worked as a social worker there,) the Guard Union did did help influence the pay I received.
So I do think there is strength in numbers, and I don't believe I was 'strong' enough by myself to get as much as I did if just on my own. At the same time, I now mostly work independently and it is challenging to set a wage for my self. (Ok Gregory you grandfather is so good people are 'begging me to do the work-:-) ) But actually at this point I have been in 'negotiations' to get paid more (like I deserve-as any good Union member would say) and "it's not over yet.'
So I don't have an easy answer for myself. Working with others for a 'healthy' change is one way to get change-actually I think that may be call 'democracy', so regarding Unions-lets be careful not to 'throw the baby out with the bath water'.
PS Influence? -I tried my best-I just don't know how I went wrong. :-) (You are right Uncle Dan, Gregory has worked hard to have this right to give an intelligence opinion.)
Lots of nuance here that I think is important to keep in mind. I respect unions, I just don’t love them. I think they should be smaller in scope and simply bargain for wages, not do all the other things they end up doing in the political arena. Certainly they have helped out countless millions of workers earn higher wages over the past century or more.
I also drink from the same fountain as uncle Dan. My main reason is that the present system is NOT working. I think the main goal of schools and teachers, which includes teachers unions should be to educate our children. They have failed miserably. Teachers unions have turned into political organizations with one goal…… money for its administrators and funding for political appointees. I would like to see schools hire teachers who really want to be teachers and administrators who back these teachers and enable them to teach students in a safe environment. I really don’t care about the new woke rules and think they do not help our schools be successful. Please go back to demanding students come to school to learn the three R’s and add a fourth R….. respect for teachers and fellow students. The breakdown of this system is very disturbing.
it's good to know that your Uncle has way more influence on you than your Grandpa :) or perhaps you've arrived at your leanings only after a lot of personal research and thought? what a concept. unions are simple to me. they have essentially one public goal. ever higher compensation for the members. compensation in the form of money, compensation in the form of conditions, compensation in the form of benefits, compensation in the form of pensions. they also seem to have one private goal. ever higher compensation of themselves. compensation in the form of money, compensation in the form of conditions, compensation in the form of benefits, compensation in the form of pensions. i bet more than $0.50 of every dollar of dues goes to union compensation and politics (lobbying/contributions/etc.). where the money doesn't seem to go is to teachers. to administrators. to better student outcomes. recently, just prior to 2019, in the county in which I live, the teachers union boasted that it secured additional income for it's teacher members and everyone was happy seemingly hitting their compensation goals. fast forward to 2022, i'm reading that the teachers are unhappy with their compensation and they need more. one of the reasons is that our county's compensation rank came in somewhere below the middle of maryland's 23 counties. they feel their compensation should be higher. ok, let's assume that our county renegotiates its agreement and the salaries move into the upper half. if that happens then some other county will move into the lower half, and then they will need to lobby and renegotiate because they can't be in the lower half. up goes the compensation, up goes the taxes and what happens to student outcomes? who knows. who cares. shhhhh, don't say it out loud. unions don't care about you. they care about themselves.
I agree--there never seems to be enough. Let’s do more with less, not the other way around.