I've been considering joining a trade union after being made aware of the work that a large one here is actively trying to do for public service workers right now.
I'm absolutely not the most savvy with this sort of thing, so I'm curious to hear if others have joined a union, why/why not, and if yes how they feel about it now.
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I've been in a labor union for over forty years and generally it's been a positive experience.I joined because I figured I was going to be in my particular field of work for a long time and I thought it was something worth supporting not only for myself but for the other employees.My union negotiates our salaries,health insurance and pensions.They also set up rules concerning scheduling and seniority that my employer has to follow and will come in and try to settle disputes for employees that might have been terminated unfairly.The worst thing about the union is that sometimes they act as if they are more important than those they represent and sometimes they get a little too deep into politics.
I'm not currently in a union but think they're super important! When I was in uni I was part of an organization where we talked to the faculty about joining the union there. As a student I definitely had some professors that weren't great, but if they were interested in the union I would've liked for them to be a part of it anyway so they'd have more access to resources to help them do their job effectively by creating more manageable workloads, better pay, and people to easily talk to if they have grievances.
I think one of the biggest criticisms I hear about unions is that they can make it hard for people who aren't good at their job to get fired, which I totally agree can be frustrating if it's to the detriment of other workers, but I live in the U.S. where most people basically need to work to survive comfortably so I think job security is another really important aspect of good unions.
I'm not part of a union as there's none available to my field of work (that I know of). However most of my coworkers are part of a union and seem to have positive experiences with it and I usually encourage people to join. The union negotiates wages, benefits, allowances etc which can be good for most people. At least in my field of work, a lot of people don't realize that if they're not in the union that they have to negotiate allowances (nightshift allowance, stay away allowance etc) if they're not already in their contract. They're also there for support for any disputes, disciplinaries etc.
At least in the case here in NZ, I don't think unions make too much of a difference when it comes to termination as the employment rules here are more accommodating to the employee rather than the employer.
Unions can be good if you can get into one, but unfortunately they've been in a decline. At least in the US and where I am from. Lots of different reasons. Most times I hear about them now are from older people who got the job before they stopped offering it. It's worth checking in and weighing the options if one is available for you.
