The school bus drivers at our location want to form a union,  Is a union good or bad?
97069
What can a union offer school bus drivers? \n  (listed in no particular order)\n\n- protection from arbitrary firing\n- standard rules for pay raises\n- small pay increase that did cover cost of dues\n- gave the district a new reasons to "consider" a contractor for services (which would have resulted in no union jobs and a pay cut and loss of benifits, etc)\n- more rigid enforcement of rules - no exceptions\n- fosters an "us vs them" climate both in driver vs management & pro-union driver vs other drivers instead of a "we are in this together" feeling\n- gives the group in power (pro-union) all the power in the union. Those who were not 110% behind the union will have little voice. This is good or bad depending on which group you are in.\n\nBottom line - it's a crap shoot. It depends on what your specific issues are in your specific department.
351493
Joining a union is a contract, which minors are not allowed to go into without parent approval. So if they will allow her to join with a parent cosigning I would recommend it. Even if she moves on to another job later there will be a good mark on her resume for future positions with union employeers.
825925
There are good points and bad points. The only good thing here in McDonalds employees here have the opportunity to join a union and McDonalds hate it!!!
1060160
I am a teacher and I will be the first to admit that we are babysitters----not in a bad way though like you are thinking of.  We watch and care for our students as if they are our own.  Somedays we are thier teacher, counciler, nurse, friend, driver, caretaker, etc all at once.  Some of these students the only adults they can trust or look up to is thier teachers.  Beleive it or not there are alot more parents out there who would rather stick up for there kids and be there friends then be thier parents--and we are to try and teach and disipline them---if you think we are just overrated baby sitters-----i challenge you to become a teacher and see what all the hardwork is about in this feild----( and I will add without the pay and regonition we desearve---but thats not why i teach)  Also there are some poor teachers out there yes---but there are also poor doctors, mechanics, lawyers, tellers, casiers, etc---  Hope this anwers your question.
105099
Generally, the unions are made to represent the workers in any industrial unit. These unions represnt the voice of working class. The leader of these trade union represent the whole union. Any union member can go to his leader to complain if he has any problem. These unions take up the problems to the owners of their unit like wage hike, bonus, problem in the unit etc. These unions, if dissatisfied with the decisions of the authority may call for a strike. These strikes may be legal or illegal. Basically a trade union is an association of workers in any industrial unit.
1111712
Actually there are two heads to this coin.\n!. we have learned a hard lesson about our out of date unionization from more competetive non-unionized forign companies.\n[Automobiles for instance]\n2. Out sourcing has been disastrous in some ways because the employees from say India for example cannot speak enough English to communicate on the phone to US customers. BIG PROBLEM.
1045350
It all depends on what industry your in and country.\n\nBut if you are UK based:-\nUNISON - Health Care/Social Work/Nursing\nTransport and General Workers - Bus Drivers/Professional Drivers (the best one to go with)\nGMB\n\nOther industries have their own unions as well
1036651
Non-union. I was part of a union once. All they did was take union dues out of my paycheck and promote a 12th (count 'em - 12!) vice president. What the hell? Why do I need to put my hard-earned cash to some schmuck's 6-figure salary who's not doing crap for me? Why do you think more and more unions are going the way of the dinosaur? My dad was a union man for decades, too, until one of the execs at his union stole all the pension money. Unions suck! (Literally and figuratively.)
225102
Yes. Almost every city has a teachers union. Most of the teachers are government (city or municipality) workers.
150752
(1) Misuse of retirement funds.  (2) Unfair picketing or other strike tactics.  (3) Dishonest voting procedures.\n\nOh; were you talking about the government being the bad guys, and not the union?  Sorry.
571521
because it is the largest, and membership means that if employers mess with one small group, this massive union will do something about it, and people will definitely listen. also, they probably have pretty good benefits for their members.
256633
When anyone has too much power it is a bad thing.  Unions were formed in America before there was a lot of government regulation in the work force.  Companies had ALL the power, and treated their workers horribly.  People decided that the best way to counter that was to form unions.  Today, I believe some unions have too much power, and should be disbanded because of that.\n\nBTW - We see the same problem in health care right now.  The people have no power.  Somehow intervention needs to take place to balance that.
548630
Ok, this isn't a joke, but it happened on my schoolbus.\n\nWe had a Spanish bus driver, and we were trying to go somewhere.  A train began to pass in front of our bus.  After roughly five minutes of watching the never-ending train, our bus driver has had enough.\n\nThe bus driver decides to make an illegal U-turn.  My friend says, "Oh look, we're turning around".  I immedeately say, "This U-turn is about as legal as our bus driver".\n\nHad to be there.  Hard earned 2 points.\n\nAnd what's the person below me talking about?  \n\nThey're probably just mad because they're illegal, too.\n\nDang I modified this like three times.\n\nI feel like such an ass.\n\nFour times.\n\nOur jokes suck.
857836
Many years ago I helped draft  new legislation regarding how local school board members were elected because it was not fair to voters.   It limited the choices between candidates.  I also campaigned very hard, that same year, to make sure the current school board president did not get re-elected because he made a very biggoted comment  at a board meeting..\n\nWe were successful on both counts
70380
It depends on whether or not there is a union in your business. Another thing, are you staff or management? Either way, you would have to negotiate.
784466
That's what unions are for.  So, if you are in this situation, form a union.  Then 1/2 of your dues can fund a Democrat.
294428
1.  The teachers' union.  This causes the wrong sort of people to be retained as teachers just because they have seniority, while good teachers with low seniority are let go.  It also stifles creativity and superior teaching techniques, because the whole mentality of a union is to not show up the marginal worker.  Teachers are not factory workers!\n\n2.  Bureaucracy, and specifically federal bureaucracy.  They have their own agenda, and it runs toward the Politically Correct, to propaganda, and makes the individual student's needs the lowest priority.  The bureaucracy is inflexible, inefficient, and expensive.\n\nBasically, anything that interferes with a child's ability to learn what is interesting to him, what he needs for his life in the future, and what his parents want him to know, is bad for the child.  Most of the social conditioning is bad for the child.  And generally, the physical conditions are bad for the child.\n\nI understand the black tee shirt I saw on the bus when the high school kids got on:  "School prepares you for the real world, which also s**ks."