• EvilZ@thelemmy.club
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    12 days ago

    Unions can be useful… I have a friend who after 30 years would clearly be fired and replaced by three new employees with no experience because, to a director it looks like he or she saved money and so can be guaranteed a promotion…

    Where I disagree with Unions is that they have no accountability. If they negociate a scrappy deal or employees get no salary increase, they should give back to the employee as a padding or a rainy day situation considering union members do continue to pay the ever increasing fee of union membership.

    I see unions here in Quebec(Canada) becoming fabulously rich while their scrape by…

    Just look at companies that have seamstresses, they will offer full suits for the higher strata of society and yet the working conditions are like sweat shops… And they are unionized which makes you wonder how bad it could get…

    It feels, from my perspective that unions are useful so long as people can opt out and vote anonymously which is not always the case…

  • sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz
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    13 days ago

    When I was a union rep there would be people that would bitch about the $70 bucks a month or whatever the dues were. I would explain that without the union their pay would be far, far less (not even bringing up the benefits of work hours, vacation days and whatnot). Like the “all taxes are theft” morons, the words often fell on deaf and willfully ignorant ears.

  • Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de
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    13 days ago

    This person may be a higher up at Amazon, knowing that unions will diminish her bonuses (salary) because the workers underneath her are making more and no quotas are being met.

    This is no excuse though

        • SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world
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          11 days ago

          It generates a new one every time you refresh the page. The one in the OP is unique. You won’t get the same one, but if you seen enough of them you can spot these AI generated photos. There is just something off about them. Since the lighting and skin texture is almost always the same and the eyes are sort of dead. And the eyes are always in that same spot.

    • bostonbananarama@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      But that’s not true. It depends if you live in a “right-to-work” state. Currently there are 26 of them, mostly red states. I would assume that, by population, the majority of Americans do not live in “right-to-work” states.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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        12 days ago

        Yeah I live in a populous red state and was forced to join a union for a job. It was as bad as how they forced me to wear hearing protection and steel toe shoes on the factory floor. Watch out or you may be forced to do such things as well

  • paysrenttobirds@sh.itjust.works
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    13 days ago

    While I don’t agree with her sentiment, I can absolutely believe some human union employees would say this. I don’t know if this applies to Amazon jobs, but in the union I know (caregivers) one problem is workers with very few hours have to pay the same monthly dues. Still not really a valid point for most people, but for those few that get caught in it, definitely bittersweet and they will grumble.

    • Aa!@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      I remember feeling this way when I was 18. I thought “well the laws already cover me, so why am I paying for this?”

      Anyway, I grew up since then.

      • Serinus@lemmy.world
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        13 days ago

        I used to consider myself libertarian. Now I understand how basic that is.

        Think of it this way, when you’re way ahead in a video game (one without anti-snowball mechanics), how hard is it to maintain and grow that lead? First, when it’s a team game, you’re likely to have opponents just leave, or start fighting each other.

        Some people will say the world isn’t zero sum, which is true. But when they take the whole sum, it sure feels that way.

        Besides just what is right, the economy works better for everyone when people have money to spend. People who have something to lose commit less crime. If all the money does collect in very few hands, the economy grinds to a halt.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      12 days ago

      It’s not even just about money, and anyone who’s worked a union job will tell you that. Many of the benefits of unions aren’t completely measurable (e.g. correcting the balance of power in favor of workers, even if just a tiny bit).

    • GoodEye8@lemm.ee
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      12 days ago

      Because these don’t see the bigger picture. They see they could get $35 if they didn’t have to pay the union. What they don’t see is that the union is the reason they’re “getting” $35 and without the union they’re definitely not going to get $35. And obviously any non-monetary benefit (such as more days off) goes way over their heads.

  • kn0wmad1c@programming.dev
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    13 days ago

    Even if it wasn’t a bot, why is she mad at unions when she’s barely scraping by? Unions would help her with that

    • Caveman@lemmy.world
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      12 days ago

      Union payments in Iceland are like $20 per month. I’m pretty sure union workers get at least 20 cents more per hour than non union workers to break even.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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        12 days ago

        In the US standard is 2.5 hrs/month. I can’t say for certain I made that back cash, but by the time benefits and job security were added i more than made it up

      • lime!@feddit.nu
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        12 days ago

        union busting tactics in the us are basically on toddler level. remember the pamphlet that was sent out to united airlines workers when they were unionising? “union dues are $600 a year. why not spend that money on a new videogame system instead?”

        • Caveman@lemmy.world
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          12 days ago

          That’d still be a bargain. Many unions in Iceland pay 75% of psychological help, glasses and exercise subscriptions by doing some collective bargaining magic. They also provide “time shares” type of vacation bungalows and more.

          All on top of higher salaries, better working hours and working conditions and will provide legal assistance in case of wage theft which my sister had to use one time.

          Basically a quality of life upgrade that pays you money even though it may not say so on the pay slip.

          • lime!@feddit.nu
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            12 days ago

            yeah i used my union membership to get a lower interest rate on my car loan. lots of benefits.

          • pingveno@lemmy.world
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            12 days ago

            Same at least for my union in the US. I haven’t needed it, but it’s there for the people who do. Most of the benefits like dental have better coverage through my employer, but I am sure it is more relevant for other bargaining units that they work with.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      12 days ago

      If you are asking for the arguments to make sense if you think about it for longer than 3 seconds, then you are asking too much.

  • madeinthebackseat@lemmy.world
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    12 days ago

    I’ve always wondered, what prevents creating a corporation to hire every worker possible, makes them proportional owners, and then negotiates wages and benefits on their behalf?

    One enormous corporation that has all of the benefits of a union.

        • boonhet@lemm.ee
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          12 days ago

          If it operates like an agency, it’s already at a disadvantage because the real profit is being made by someone else anyway. Otherwise it’s a neat idea.

          You don’t hire an agency to break even, you hire an agency to work on projects you assume will bring you profit. In my industry in particular, you might hire some agency employees, spend a few hundred thousand a year, to help finish a product that will rake in tens of millions a year, or to create some internal tooling that saves you millions in employee productivity.

    • BluesF@lemmy.world
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      12 days ago

      I think a major issue is that if the corporation cannot find work for all of its employees, how will it pay them? And since, presumably, there will be admin staff required who also need to be paid, the amount this corporation will charge the employers of the workers will have to be more than is paid to the workers. If this amount is significant, employers can poach employees from the “union corp” by offering more money, while still saving themselves money.

      • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
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        12 days ago

        THIS right here. Mondragon is exactly what GP Is asking about.

        If you’re reading this and thinking about starting an LLC, non-profit, co-op, or union shop, please give this a look too.

  • Glytch@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    Unless you live in a “Right to Work” state, then you get to benefit from the work of unions without contributing any money to their efforts, much like a leech benefits from the blood production of the animal it attaches itself to.

    • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      Not exactly, you will receive the prevailing wage, but not the full benefits package. No thanks to right to work, it’s a big pile of bullshit too.

    • IngeniousRocks@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      11 days ago

      I think the comparison to a leech is accurate, as the leech does not know or understand it is a bloodsucking parasite, but continues to steal blood and nutrients, those ignorant of the work unions perform will benefit from them regardless of their contribution.

      Rarely do you find someone who both genuinely understands what a union is for and declines to join when offered the opportunity.

  • Noxy@yiffit.net
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    12 days ago

    could have been real because of some “ambassador” scheme they had where they’d hook a select few warehouse workers with social media handles to spread the propaganda

    which only makes it more creepy if you ask me.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      12 days ago

      they’d hook a select few warehouse workers with social media handles to spread the propaganda

      Then, if the media didn’t trend or the employees couldn’t keep up with their workload plus social media, they were fired.