Reply #16: very good points

[mopinko]

as a woman and a former union carpenter, i can assure you that the historic purpose of exclusion is still operating. in spite of 30 years of concerted effort to breakdown the barriers, women still make up the same 2% of blue collar trades. this is not completely a function of the unions, but as the gatekeepers of who gets the good jobs, or works at all, they still hold a lot of sway.
but i think that corruption is a major factor in the dissatisfaction of workers. here in chicago, i can tell you, this is a big thing. i also worked in restaurants here, and i can tell you there is no more useless union on the planet than the chicago restaurant workers union. they are a wholly owned subsidiary of the mob. there are many, many mob owned eateries here. it is a great way to launder money, as well as treat your friends with nice parties. but especially because of that conflict, they do absolutely nothing for their members except take their money. they used to have a group health insurance that you could get into, but you paid you own premiums. there was a union pay raise schedule, which was widely ignored anyway, that applied to kitchen and hotel workers who did not get tips. it started out with minimum wage for most jobs, and barely moved from there. and tipped employees got half the minimum wage. federal law requires minimum wage be paid, and if you don't make it in tips, the employer was supposed to make it up. do they ever? i have never seen it. and this is supposed to be a good union/labor town.