While I do know of labor unions and what they are on a surface level, before this assignment, I have yet to really think about labor unions. To be honest, they have always felt like something in the shadows of an industry, not something that would directly impact me. But after doing research and looking into labor unions in depth, it is easy to see just how important they truly are.
One of the biggest things that surprised me was how much unions can truly help people. There are some more obvious benefits of unions, like higher wages and job security, but there are some deeper ones like having access to representatives in hard situations and overall feeling like you have someone in your corner.
I talked to someone who is in a union and that was really interesting because she spoke about how being in a union does make a very stressful job feel less overwhelming. She was honest about the downsides as well, like costs adding up and the union’s focus not always aligning with the individuals within. This stuck with me the most because it does show that unions are made up of people who may not always agree and systems that don’t always move quickly.
My main takeaway is that unions do seem more valuable in places where employees feel ignored and powerless. In a healthy work environment with strong leadership, clear communication as well as fair treatment, there wouldn’t be as strong a need to join a union. If i were to feel like i wasn’t heard, or that I was mistreated? Yes, I would most definitely join a union. I definitely, after research, don’t see unions as perfect, but they definitely do matter.