Non-union library employees here just got a pay raise!

I hear what you are saying and is not right but many non union jobs are like this too or worse. I use to work for a place where I did not get a raise for more than 4 years and upper management always made extra commission off the company profits plus there base pay. My sister has only had 1 raise in the last 5 years, and it was like a 50 cents cost of living raise. She has been with them for more than 15 years. At least she gets profit sharing at the end of each year though. Where I worked they did not even give us that, because it all went to the executives. The CEO of where I worked use to deliberately not give raises because it would come out of his commissions earnings. We had this Hispanic guy who was a great worker that we had hired like 6 months before. In the company manual it clearly stated that people are supposed to get mandatory raises after a certain time period as long as they are doing there job. It just did not say how much, so he gave the guy a 10 cent raise. That guy worked there for about 2 more weeks and quit. I can understand if a company is going through a rough time and just can't afford to give raises. If that is the case let your employees know and I am sure they will understand, may not like it, but will deal with it. When a company is clearly profitable and just hoarding money for the top people, it is not right. The Manuel labors are the backbone of your company. If you take care of them they will take care of you. National Geographic did a study about peoples incomes. They concluded that yes, people are more happy when they make more money, but only up to 75,000 a year. That is because at 75,000 a year you can live very comfortable and and do not have to worry about your finances on top of your daily routine worries. They have everything they need. They said people who make a million dollars a year or no more happy than people who make at least 75,000 a year. They think they our, but from the study they were clearly no more happy than people who made 75,000 a year. My point is if people would quit being so greedy I think this country would be a lot better place to live and the world for that matter. You only need so much in this life. Anything else is just flaunting your success in my opinion.

I thought unions were able to strong arm employers into giving them anything they wanted. Does your union ever negotiate, or did they sign a long term contract and can't until it's up? What kind of a union are you in? Personally, I prefer right to work, but I have mixed feelings about union states becoming RTW. It's nice having less competition when foreign companies come looking for somewhere to build.

A friend of mine is the manager of several warehouses and the employees just decided to disassociate with the Teamsters Unions. Guess what productivity went up, profits went up, sick days went down and the workers, thanks to evil management got a nice pay raise in addition to not having to pay Union Dues. That is how the Union Helps you. With out the Union these workers were forced to take a pay raise and on their own they worked harder or more efficiently. Just think the very idea of paying workers more because the company makes more profit. Taskr if it weren't for your Union Dues all those Union officals would have to get a real job and work is that what you want?

Yeah, I am forced into a Union or I guess I could quit my job and go somewhere else. It isn't a bad job the Union how ever likes to defend the non-workers (The unproductive don't show up kind) this is what has gotten me to the point where its like what happened to the whole Idea that Unions protected the hard working workers from the managers abusing them. That is what Unions are suppose to do but as I am sure even you have seen isn't the case. I think it is far better for both the Union and the Employee if they have the ability to join the Union if they choose that way the Union has to do more for its members to keep people joining. Competition is good for both parties involved. Union members would have a choice to choose to be union members so the Union gains members who choose to be members. Then the Members would get a Union that wants to get and create as many reasons as possible for you to join the Union. They would have to listen to their members complaints and actually work to keep the employees happy.

Unions do seem like they're doing more harm than good. I do think that there needs to be protective measures in place to prevent employers from treating their employees unfairly but it doesn't appear that unions are the answer to that. The best example recently is the Boeing plant that is being built in South Carolina, a right to work state. Boeing already has a plant in Washington State a union sate. And of course the union for the Boeing employees complained to the National Labor Relations Board and the NLRB tried to block Boeings new plant even though Boeing was just looking to expand and not move their Washington State plant to South Carolina. Ultimately the union settled with Boeing and Boeing has agreed to a new 4 year contract with the union but it just shows how ridiculous union complaints can be. Unions shouldn't be allowed to dictate where businesses can and cannot build factories but in this case it almost happened. Again, I'm all for protecting workers' rights, I just don't think unions are the way to do it.

My question is, who makes more after that raise, the union or non-union employees?

In California, it's not that bad, but I guess it is in other states. In California, they actually have gotten a raise in the last two or three years, and they have some great health care benefits.

To be honest, I can't give you any reasons why I think that being forced into a union is a good thing. I have always thought that the dues were as much as the difference in pay between union and non union workers. The fact that they go through lay-offs here 6 months out of the year kinda defeats the purpose of their higher pay scale for the same work that a non union worker makes. Unions are not highly promoted in my area. They have seemed to do far more damage to the companies here than good for the members. I have to say that I haven't had personal experiences with a union but I have had friends that were members who weren't very happy with their conditions. I don't think I would like to be forced into anything career wise. I hope they are able to compensate you as well as the others you mentioned. Do you have other choices where you live?

Just do it, damn-it, The union knows best! Right?