Does anyone want to know why public employee unions are so "strong"?

[HardWorkingDem]

I'll tell you why - for one reason, it's because they follow and play by the rules. When opponents of public employee unions whine about how arbitrators seem to rule on the behalf of public employee unions it's because of this. Not only that, you have one side that consistently follows mutually agreed upon contracts while the other side consistently tries to find ways around abiding by a contract.

In other words, one side consistently does not play fair and when it comes time to face up to that, it is clearly seen.

On top of this, too often workers know their contract better than management.

It's not the fault of employee unions that management is consistently incompetent, nor should they be punished for it.

Sometime ago our management side brought in an expert regarding contractual issues. The expert told them to learn the contract and follow the contract and quit trying to undermine it and they would be more successful.

They still have not learned and want unions to enter an ass kicking contest with their legs tied together.

[Historic NY]

1. Because Public employees are also taxpayers & live in the community...

I was a local VP & a charter member of my local, there was always a quid pro quo in negotiations, I remember going 3yrs w/o a contract.

This goes way beyond paying dues..yes some goes to the front office, but a lot is spent on local members from clambakes to insurance plans.

I'm retired now but my union (PBA) makes sure I know when they have meetings and invites me to functions.

When times were tough I recall being given the PD budget and told to find ways to cut spending that would save jobs....imagine the union given carte blanche to cut the budget. With a trustee we were able to save 5 jobs from the block. I filled in on several misc. crap jobs for two years and I don't think some of the members ever knew. I went out on the limb not for them but the community......do the dissenters even know, of course not.

[SharonAnn]

2. Funny about the "expert". I found the same thing in one of my jobs.

I took over as manager of a department that shipped software products. We were basically a hardware company. When we were moved to a union building, the other managers told me horror stories of how awful it would be to have to work with the union there, especially because "shipping" was a union job.

I figured that since I was going to have to play by their rules, I'd find out what the rules were. So, I called the union leader, got a meeting with him and the stewards(?) and learned what their roles were and how the process worked. So, I got my people together with their people, we worked out a process on how to do what we needed to do and to do it in a way that met their union contract. We actually ended up working closely together and taking very good care of our customers.

And twice when something had to be "air freighted" after the Fed Ex truck had already been there, they closed their eyes to the fact that I took the package and drove it to the airport. There wasn't a way to work around those two emergencies, I did what I had to do, and they never "ratted" on me.

Seriously, these were some of the most dependable and hard-working people I've ever worked with. They made things runs smoothly and helped out wherever they could.

[HardWorkingDem]

3. Here's another thing that is going left unsaid...

When it comes to arbitration, many public employee unions may not have the deep pockets to go to arbitration as often as they like, so some have to pick and chose the most important ones. Being forced to do this makes them examine these issues very carefully and doing so often gives unions a better record for winning at arbitration.

On the flip side, since public employers don't really have to worry about tax payer dollars like many public employee unions do, they have a tendency to fight issues they know they can't win from the start.

To them, there is no accountability for losing at arbitration after they've made the decision to go that far.

[Imagevision]

4. I would say it's because they stand by and back each other...

[Gaedel]

5. Because managment can't close or move at will nt

[old mark]

6. I'm a retired ASFSCME steward in PA, and worked in a psychiatric hospital.

Our management had almost NO interest in working with the unions. They wanted an adversarial relationship-for reasons I have never understood-and our hospital had a reputation as the worst one in which to work in the entire system. One of the results was that many people quit after a year or so, and many others sued the hospital and the Dempartment of Public Welfare, and most of them were successful. They wasted so much money, time and effort "proving" they were in command, and ended up with a terrible atmosphere in which to work in an already terribly stressful situation. It was told to me by a state legislator that it was ass if they were at war with their own employees. We filed more grievances in a year than most other hospitals did ever, and many went to arbitration which we usually won.

One other result was that the unions were mostly strong because everyone knew that without us, things would have been very much worse than they were.

mark

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. So so true

My employer has no idea what's in our contract.

[HEyHEY]

8. They also can stack pro-union people on city council

Where I grew up getting the local city unions support in an election was coveted.

[B Calm]

9. Unions are as strong as the membership.