Seriously, I’ve heard so many people cheer on union but when I search up what it is I don’t understand it in the slightest bit.
Please, explain like I’m five.
In: 7
Scenario A: You go to your boss on your own and say “I’m not going to work for you until you agree to pay me better”.
They can afford to replace you, so they just fire you instead of agreeing to what you say.
Scenario B: you and your coworkers all discuss in private what you want from your employer. You all agree to quit working at the same time and make the same demands from your boss. Your boss can’t afford to replace all of their workers at once, so they’re forced to listen to you and try to come to an agreement.
Scenario A is working without a union. You are protected only by the laws of wherever you live, which can be pretty weak, and are subject to the whims of your boss. You don’t get better conditions unlesses your boss(es) decide they want to give them to you, which they probably won’t because there’s no incentive to do that.
Scenario B is working with a union. You and your colleagues work together to get what’s best for all of you. Since you all have the same interests this is easy.
Your boss does not have your best interests in mind. They want the maximum amount of work from you for the lowest cost. It’s foolish to trust them. Even if they offer you everything you want when you start working there, you can’t trust them to keep it that way. If you don’t have a union they might look to start cutting some of your nice benefits when things get tough. So you need protection.
This is why people hate strike breakers–if you go into work when everyone else is on strike, it makes it more likely that your boss will be able to fire the strikers and carry on without them.
It’s also why employers often discourage talking about pay. They don’t want you to know if you’re being screwed over.
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