Labor Unions

I have talked to my step dad who has been a member of a labor union and he definitely has experienced the good and the bad. The good thing he liked about being in the union was that it gave him job security, it was hard to get fired, and the union backing was not like private sectors. Another thing was that they had good wages, the benefits package was good, and they even offered paid sick leave/vacation. Lastly, was the fact that everything was fair so if one person got a raise then everybody got a raise. For his bas experiences, he mentioned that sometimes he would disagree with how their advantages or pros come to be. But he mainly touched upon the fact that sometimes elected union representatives are corrupt. 

Some contrasts that I learned from the lecture and what my step dad mentioned was that employers resist unions because unions constrain what managers can and cannot do, even though I think my step dad is trying to say that some people can be corrupt and therefore get away with doing what they want and don’t want. My key takeaways is that it’s definitely 50/50 and I think it would depend on people’s perspectives and what they want out of a job or within their career. I personally didn’t have a problem joining a union but now I see that some of my values won’t make it if I do. I would consider joining a union if they gave raises to those employees who actually earned and deserved it. I don’t like the fact that if one person gets a raise then we all do because how are we supposed to perform well knowing we’ll just get a raise for doing half the work sometimes. That doesn’t sit well with me.