Unions Causing More Issues

After reading the last blog it sparked something in my mind about unions. Throughout high school and even today, when I look for a job a union is something that I want to avoid. There were several jobs in high school that I would have enjoyed doing but I didn't want to belong to a union. For example, I thought that being a checker at a grocery store would be an okay job so I decided to check into it. Before I picked up an application I talked to one of my friends who was currently working at a local grocery store. His initial reaction to the thought of me wanting a checking job was not a positive one. He told me that he worked for a month before he saw any kind of paycheck. By the time the initial union membership fees and other fees were taken out it was a while before he actually got any money. Once the initial union dues were paid he had continual deductions taken out of each paycheck in addition to taxes and such. I was immediately turned off to the idea of working at a grocery store after this. The thought of money being taken away from me that wouldn't be at a different job sounded like a horrible idea. Needless to say, I never applied for the job.

Another instance that came to my mind was about a time that my sister-in-law's father's small business dealt with union issues. There was some work that needed to be done on the business, and seeing that it was small he decided to higher non-union workers. Somehow union officials got wind of this and had a fit. The day that the workers showed up to repair the business, union picketers also showed up. They were trying to convince the public not to use the business' services because they did not higher union workers. Being a small business it is just not practical to pay the additional fees of hiring union workers. Because this is such a prominent small business, no customers were lost because of the picketing. However, for some businesses this is not the case.

I have included a video from YouTube about unions taking money from paychecks and things that they fail to do. The video is an instructional video for new Walmart associates.