I have only been a member of one union in my working life. While employed at the Buffalo Sabres, merchandise workers organized to fight drastic pay cuts while the Sabres were enjoying some of their most profitable years.
These cuts happened before I was hired so I was in a difficult spot. I understood the frustration my colleagues must have endured, but I was thrilled with the salary I was offered when I was hired, not knowing that just a few years before the merchandise team had been making double that.
Working at the Sabres was my favorite job. I loved the atmosphere, I loved the hours and I loved my bosses.
I stood by my friends when they talked about mistreatment, even though I didn’t really feel it. I went to the union meetings and wore the buttons to work that they handed out.
I had a tough time accepting what our union leadership said, however. In every meeting, the union representative (not an employee of the Sabres) began by saying that our bosses didn’t care about us and thought of us as disposable commodities. I was always upset by that because I knew it to be false. My bosses were extremely flexible with me. I was in college at the time so if I had a night class, or even a big test the next day, they gave me the night off with no hesitation. Conversely, when I had school vacations they gave me extra hours if I wanted them and were more than accommodating with anything I needed. I felt appreciated there in a way that most jobs don’t offer.
I think that this is the crux of many labor disputes currently in our country.
In my limited experience, I have found that unions draw their strength by angering their membership. In the case of the Sabres, our leadership’s goal was to make us all think that the company was the enemy, a sentiment that a lot of my colleagues had a hard time accepting.
Similarly, rumors floating around the Oneida City School district have the intent to make the district out to be some sort of monster whose goal is to rip off all the employees just because it can.
Unions serve a very important purpose in our country. Historically, unions have transformed the way American business operates and given power to the worker who may not have the strength or the knowledge to fight big business on his or her own.
Unions have been responsible for minimum wage, overtime pay and a multitude of labor laws that this country has the privilege of enjoying.
It has been my opinion for quite sometime, however, that in some cases unions have abused the power they have earned over the years. In only rare cases anymore, unions fight true injustices on the part of businesses.
It is more often that unions use tactics to get whatever they can, at whatever cost to business.
A glaring example is the auto industry. The extremely strong auto workers unions have made it difficult for the American auto industry to compete with the global market. The salaries in many cases are inflated, not to mention that before any production decisions are made, they have to be cleared with the unions.
In many cases, unions fight for the little guy, but I have a hard time automatically taking the side of unions who in some cases have become bigger than the business they were created to regulate.
