Working for the weekend

This will come as no surprise, but I am not a huge fan of unions.

I chatted with a former co-worker the other day. In what will likely prove to be a fruitless attempt to slow the guessing game, I will tell you that we have both moved on to new jobs and then newer jobs (plural). It is not easily guessable or relevant, so don't bother.

She told me about the endless struggle for dominance at her office. How motives are always questionable. That work is never stable and could end with little notice. I cannot help but think that after ten years with the same employer, it is not nice to keep an employee on contract work. Thanks a lot, anonymous union and management.

I distrust unions and have little love for top management in labour issues. I believe that things like salary and benefits are largely self-correcting: companies that don't give their staff appropriate salaries and benefits will soon find themselves looking for new staff. You don't need a union to get in the way.

I actually had this discussion with my boss a while ago. My employer determines salary according to a complicated chart that considers job duties, expertise, etc. The idea is to be fair, and I'm generally in favour of that. But it seems a bit odd to have the union involved in deciding what a position should be paid. I would think that the market could decide that without any help from the union. Potential candidates can decide for themselves if the salary is good enough, thank you very much. A job that doesn't offer an appropriate salary won't get decent applicants. If I don't like my job or its compensation, I will find a new job that suits me better.

This works well in my industry, where there are fewer decent candidates than positions. But my former co-worker is in an industry that is, as far as human resources are concerned, like a crack gang. The rewards are huge near the top. The guys at the bottom are just paying bribes and trying to scratch their way further up the ladder. And the employers know it. They pay low wages, avoid providing benefits and keep all of the staff wondering how long they will have their jobs. If there is a union, it protects the people at the top and in the middle of the ladder, not the serfs at the bottom.

Steve pointed out that all employers would do this if they could get away with it. I don't doubt that that's true. But the unions and the staff are partly to blame for keeping the cycle going. If people refused to take a day of work here and two days of work there, if they told the hiring managers that $10 an hour isn't enough, if they insisted on vacations and health benefits, the industry would have to change.

I have to believe this. I have to believe that the employees ultimately have more power than the employer. I can't understand why they allow themselves to be treated this way, thinking it will ultimately get them further up the ladder.