Posts in category Articles

What is a Laborers Union

Dec26
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Colby

Sometimes businesses can be unfair to their employees. It is easy for a large company to begin to develop policies that are not beneficial for those people at the bottom. A laborers union is a system which is meant to help keep company policies in check. A union is formed when the working class of a company, or in many cases a whole industry band together to make things fair for the people whose shoulders the business rests on. Alone, each individual is just a worker but when banded together a union becomes an entity that can not be ignored.

The most powerful weapon that the laborers union has against a corrupt system is the strike. A strike is when the union decides that rather than attend work, the members are going to actively protest whatever injustice it is that they disagree with so much that they were driven to that point. When a worker signs up for a union they are agreeing to automatically act with the decisions of the union. If the union votes to strike, all members are required to participate, regardless of which way that they voted. With a large portion of the workers unionized, the company is forced to make negotiations when there is a strike, otherwise they lose money from lack of work.

Te concept of a laborers union exists so that the average working man gets what he deserves. The operation and fate of a company lies within the hands of the workers. They are the ones who actually get things done, therefore they are the source of a businesses income. Unions serve to demonstrate that point. If workers are not offered fair wages and good working conditions, the work may simply just stop in mass. This keeps company executives and policies in check.

Tagged , , ,

Benefits of Joining a Carpenters Union

Dec26
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Colby

Carpenters, cabinetmakers, and journeymen will all benefit from joining a carpenters union. For one, a union can provide various benefits such as work safety, legal protection, as well as insurance for both the worker and his family. These unions also play a part in taking care of the workers even after they retire.

Benefits You Get From Joining a Carpenter’s Union
One of the many benefits of joining a carpenters union is that you are given numerous opportunities to specialize in various career paths, not just in general carpentry. Unions are often required to provide access to various learning opportunities for their members in order to encourage specialization in their craft, from cabinet making to dry walling and insulation installation.

Unions also allow apprentices to earn while they learn. Those who want to branch out in the various specializations can do so while still earning a paycheck. Union workers are also privy to collective bargaining agreements, which contains the agreed hours of work, wages, and terms and conditions of employment, including holidays and rest days. Workers who join unions are also at the receiving end of higher wages compared to non-union workers. Transfers from one state to another are also made easier as long as the state has a carpenters union. For most carpenters, joining a union is a must if they belong to work sites that list a union membership as one of the requirements for membership.

Carpenters always have the option to join a carpenters union or not, but the many benefits offered by being union members make a union membership a very attractive option for most workers. Health benefits, retirement benefits, as well as help for further learning and specialization make union membership a very wise option for carpenters. To ensure fair wages and working conditions, union membership is the desirable option.

Tagged , , ,

Highlights of the American Labor History

Dec26
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Colby

The timeline of American labor history can be divided into five important periods that describe significant evolutionary changes of the way people worked in the country. The first period was before the 1900s when the first local trade unions were formed sometime in the 18th century. Through a series of organizational changes across the various states, the National Labor Union (NLU) was founded in 1866. However, due to the instability of other unions and the inadequacy of the labor code, the NLU was dissolved six years later. In 1881, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) was established with the goal of advancing legislations concerning child labor and work hours per day among others.

Between 1900 and 1920, the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL) was formed to complement the AFL, which denied support for women workers. Formed in 1903 during the AFL convention, the WTUL was loosely connected with the older federation. Organized labor from 1920 to 1929 saw economic prosperity with a lack of leadership however, mainly because of the death of Samuel Gompers who first led the AFL.

From 1929 to 1955, the foundations of organized labor were challenged by the Great Depression, which began in 1929 and lasted for about a decade. To mitigate the conditions, the Tart-Hartley Act was enacted in 1947 to regulate union and management restrictions. Since 1955, unions continued to flourish with the economic conditions taking an upturn.

Organized labor nurtured a set of values that workers traditionally espouse paving the way for solidarity among members of the workforce acting upon the interest of everybody. Overall, the nature and power of organized labor has been molded over several decades through the pressures dictated by the evolving corporations especially the efforts of private employers in limiting and controlling unions. Of course, the U.S. labor law was enacted to mediate between the demands of the workers for better conditions and the interests of the various corporations.

Tagged , , ,

Union Wages Benefit Blue Collar Workers the Most

Dec26
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Colby

Labor Unions in the United States date back to the 19th century. They played a major role during the industrial revolution, helping to protect the rights and safety of workers. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 11.9 million workers were part of a union in 2010.

Taking a closer look at the composition of those union members, reveals some interesting statistics. The public sector including all levels of government workers, police, teachers and librarians, had a union membership rate of 36.2% while the private sector only had a 6.9% rate of unionized workers.

Looking at labor union wages, in 2010, the average union worker earned $917 per week compared to just $717 for the non-unionized worker. Men who fell into the 35-64 age category had the highest average weekly union wages of just over $1,000 per week. Women in the same age category hovered right around the $900 per week mark.

As might be expected, unions work best for those workers who perform less skilled labor and generally have less formal education than other members of the work force.

There was practically no difference in weekly wages for managerial and professional workers whether or not they were part of a union. These workers in occupations that include finance, law, management, computers and math, among others, had average salaries in the $1000-$1200 range. Similar positions in union and non-union settings only varied by a few dollars in terms of weekly salaries.

On the other hand, there were large differences in occupations that did not require as much formal education or special technical skills. For example, in the service industry, the average weekly union wage was $723 per week while those not represented by a union only earned $447 per week. In construction, the difference was even greater. A union member earned $1,029 while a non-union construction worker only earned $633 per week. That trend was constant across many job descriptions including installation, maintenance, transportation, production and food preparation.

Tagged , , ,
← Older Entries Newer Entries →

About Us

Unions are a hot button issue right now because of the strain their pensions cause on the entities funding them. As it becomes a larger and larger issue in the economy we want to share what unions are really all about.

Stop Union Busting is geared at telling people what Unions really do, how they really function and what they are really meant to protect.

Copyright 2011 - Stop Union Busting