– In a perfect world there would be no need for unions.
– People would treat each other with respect, fairness and dignity in the work place.
– Businesses would offer employees fair wages, benefits and working conditions in exchange for a fair day’s work. 8 for 8 we call it.
– Corporate greed would not exist
– CEO’s would not be taking multimillion dollar bonuses while laying off hundreds and some times thousands of employees
and so on…..
After all, there are labor laws, attorneys and the US Dept of Labor to protect people from unfair labor practices and in a perfect world, if ever a person’s rights were violated at their job, that person could just call their attorney who could file a grievance with the Department of Labor and a representative from the department would contact the employer and resolve the issue within a day or so right? Voila, problem solved correct? So why in the world do we need unions to do the job that attorneys do and that we have laws to regulate that the U.S. Department of Labor enforces? Oh if life were only that perfect!
There ‘s an old saying that my brother sometimes refers to that goes something like this….the cleanliness of theory is no match for the mess of reality. What does that have to do with unions, worker’s right’s and the topic at hand? Well let’s think about it for a second, As a member of a union, you have union representatives that communicate daily with union members and employer(s). If there’s a problem on the job, there’s a process to follow. Typically, the member informs the shop steward, the shop steward calls the union rep (some are business agents, others presidents and/or business managers) and within a day or two in most cases, there is a resolution to the situation. It’s not always that cut and dry but basically you get the picture.
On the other hand, let’s look at a real scenario that actually occurred in a non-union work place not long ago. A dedicated, hard working woman from Philadelphia Pa. (with standard monthly/weekly living expenses including a car payment, utilities, food, a rent etc) gets in an auto accident on her way to work. After being taken to the hospital ER by ambulance, her boss via cell phone in the emergency room informs her to please take as much time as she needs to get better because her health is the most important thing and her job will be waiting for her when she recovers. Wow, the injured women really appreciated the support from her employer. In her time of extreme pain and anxiety, her car may have been totaled and she may be in physical pain, but at least she’s alive and still has a job right. All’s well that ends well right? Fast forward approximately 10 days later, the day after the female employee was released from her doctor’s care for treatment of a severe concussion and facial lacerations, upon returning to work with a doctor’s note, this employee was notified by the same boss who told her to “get well” that she was terminated for missing work. Keeping in mind that the woman got in the auto accident on her way to work and it was the same boss that instructed her to take as much time as she needed to recover and that her job would be waiting when she got back, what recourse did the woman have to get her job back?
First, she asked the boss why she was mislead and told to take the necessary time needed to get better before coming back to work? Her boss told her that it was an upper management decision and there was nothing could be done. Then she approached the human resources department and then ownership but still no help. Finally, after unsuccessfully exhausting all avenues to resolve the situation at her work, she packed her things and left the office alone and devastated. Literally no-one at her former place of work would help her.
What were her options?
Ultimately, in her case, over the next week or so, after contacting several attorneys about her situation, finally one took the case. They then contacted the Dept of Labor and filed a law suit against the employer and started the legal process to both get her job back all the while she was unemployed and falling farther and farther behind on her bills.
In the long run, it’s been over a year since the incident and this woman still has yet to receive justice from the Dept of Labor and the lawsuit is still pending, she’s lost her apartment and her ability to pay her bills, not to mention her dignity and self esteem.
The Bottom line is that although there are laws, attorneys and government agencies that are suppose to represent people who are unjustly treated by their employers, these solutions often take time and by the time the person ends up filing a lawsuit and/or complaint, going through the investigation and litigation, and obtaining justice if they are lucky, the person could be adversely effected both financially and emotionally in the process.
In the end, if you are not a member of a union, you may very well be at the mercy of a ruthless employer and be forced to do whatever necessary to keep your job or lose it. Without representation or collective bargaining, as an employee, you have very little immediate recourse! It is like the old Bruce Springsteen song says, when your alone, your alone, when your alone, you ain’t nothing but alone.
In closing folks, if you want to understand more about the need for the Labor Movement in America and around the world and the reason they are worth fighting for now more than ever, all you have to do is open your eyes and go to http://www.labourstart.org/ and look around the world at places who either don’t have them, are trying to organize them or are fighting to keep them. Don’t kid your self for one minute that in this day and age extreme work place violations don’t still happen everyday and it can’t happen to you, that only happens in a perfect world and god knows nothing in this world is perfect!
