I am never working a non-union job again if I can help it

[TwixVoy]

So I just started work at a union job. (AT&T as a technician) Previous jobs have always been non-union, and I've worked on both the management and non-management side.

DAMN I have never seen a work place so united before. I have never been in a work place in which people actually TALK about work issues so much instead of having to whisper them. It is a completely different atmosphere than previous non-union jobs I have had in which everyone at the work place had a "screw you I'm going to get mine" attitude.

Also I have never seen an employer be so damn DIRECT before. I may not like everything I have heard, but there was no human resources sugar coating BS going on. If scheduling was going to suck I was told flat out by HR "Be aware scheduling is going to suck".

In previous jobs HR has always been about sugar coating and spending 80% of their time BSing you playing mind games that nothing was going to suck. I actually don't mind if something is going to suck as long as you are going to be honest and upfront about it instead of lying and surprising me.

I was also told at every step of the hiring process clearly what was going on, what was going to happen, and where I stood with them with no BS.

Can't wait to see how things are after I've been here a little while. But already the hiring experience and first days have been a better experience than the same experience at any other employer I have had.

[KittyWampus]

1. Congratulations on the new job. Hope it goes well. I was in a Grocer's Union eons ago

At the time, made double time on Sundays :)

[stray cat]

2. unions can play games as well so don't be too gullible - but congrats!

[Warpy]

3. All my best jobs were in closed shops

and even after a union failed at my last job (the hospital spent many millions on union busters), morale improved and there was a sense of solidarity among all of us who had signed union cards.

Younger folks who get caught in "last hired, first fired" in closed shops tend to resent unions for their seniority rules. They don't get what those rules are all about until they turn 50.

Hang onto that job with all your might. A union job is the best one you'll ever have.

[mike_c]

4. solidarity....

:thumbsup:

[abumbyanyothername]

5. CWA is a great union

I grew up in a CWA household in the 60s and 70s.

Congratulations on the job.

[Ernesto]

6. When I finished my Vietnam "chore".....

I got a GI bill degree in Psychology,,, But then returned to my labor roots.
I'm now a well retired UNION Sheet Metal Worker. My pensions are OWNED by our membership, not by corporate masters!
Good Luck TwixVoy!

[Doctor_J]

7. Join a union while you can

They might be illegal within 10 years or so.

If you want to look at one biggest reason for the economic disaster the country is in, the destruction of unions by Reagan and the Bushes is probably it.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

8. You've got the wrong idea.

Take a non-union job... and unionize them. :evilgrin:

[Lars39]

10. There ya go!

:thumbsup:

[mwooldri]

9. Congrats at the job ;)

Alas my workplace is definitely not unionised and the word "union" is a dirty word. However (touch formica) I've been treated pretty well and work conditions are good, the management are open and it is written into the company culture that if there's anything wrong you are expected to speak out and there will be no retribution (even to the point there's a 3rd party you can go to if you don't trust management) - and if enough people do speak out then often things do happen for the better. And benefits are much better than my wife's job - also non union (e.g. I get 280 hours of vacation a year plus accrual of sick time at 4 hours a month; my wife just accrues 4 hours of "time off" which includes sick time every 2 weeks - her health plan sucks royally; mine isn't bad... - I get 6 weeks paid paternity leave, she gets none and they call it "disability". ).

So whilst I agree with the concept of unions and believe my workplace could benefit from a light touch union, not all union work places are bad.

Mark.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

11. To Each Their Own. Congrats On The Job.

[DireStrike]

12. Is your union a large one?

I guess an AT&T tech position would be a fairly large union right?

I'm not sure that large unions can maintain similar atmospheres in all their shops. My mom is an 1199 member at a small hospital. The employees are not particularly interested in workers' issues. Possibly because the management sucks. HR is mostly bad except for some of the older employees. From how she makes it sound, I think I find a more supportive atmosphere among colleagues at my part-time clothing store job.

I think your experience might have as much to do with your management and HR people as it does with your union. Stand-up managers along with a union to hold their feet to the fire when necessary probably produces the best results. But crappy managers, or a crappy union, can screw it up in any case.

[TwixVoy]

13. CWA pretty big

Represents more than just AT&T workers.

[TommyO]

15. I was going to ask which union

I was CWA many years ago when I started for AT&T, at the time I was young and didn't truly value what a union meant.

[raccoon]

14. Don't move south of the Mason-Dixon line, then.

I'm envious. Sounds like a good experience. As good as a work experience can be, that is. :-)

[eridani]

16. Please get active in your union also

When the membership is inactive, self-serving bureaucrats take over.

[Maru Kitteh]

17. It must be fuckin' nice.

Yeah, I'm jealous.

There are no union jobs here. :-(