You will never change the mentality of that managment, you will only make some waves that will die down after they find a reason to dismiss you from your employment, bite your tongue, swallow your pride untill a new- better job can be found, then leave without giving them any notice- about as much consideration as they would show you when dismissing you, jobs are scarce these days and as bad as it sounds it is still a paycheck

 

Ok your right unions do have their place, but thanks to the UA 540 PLUMBERS&STEAM FITTERS they really screwed me over good i served my apprenticeship 4 yrs &4yrs service they changed their retirement policy at the end of my stint to hours served instead of years served.Thanks UA ASSN.

 

I went down this road once -- waste of time and money. to quote: "Your employer has the right to promote, demote, hire, and fire any employee for good reason, bad reason, or no reason, unless the employee is in a protected class, or covered under an empoloyment contract." Since ia am assuming (dangerous, I Know) that hte original poster is a caucasian male, he doesn't fall under a protected class, and they can do what they want when they want. The definition of a Hostile Environment only applies to treatment and conduct toward protected classes involving sexual harassment, religious persecution, race, and now sexual orientation. If there is a good union contract at work that covered the employee, then the promotions and demotions, andprobably the job bidding/changes would not be messed around with. But my experience at three different shops was the union only saved the jobs or worked hard for those who were most vocal. The hard workers who slipped or were denied promotion, etc. were sacrificed to return the drunk or druggy to the lines, because they talked up how good the union is for saving their jobs, to anyone who is in earshot around the water cooler or the local bar after work. That gets more people on the union side, and convinces people to become more active in supporting the union.

My father-in-law swears that is only a problem in "right to work" states like Iowa, where employees have a choice to join or not. If every qualified employee is forced to join the union, then the union would be fighting equally for everyone instead of the ones best for advertising.

My experiences with Unions was NOT positive, and wasted a lot of my wages for dues that I really needed for my family!

 

No union!!
Just pick up and work somewhere else. Why would you want to "FORCE" something onto a bad employer? Just leave and coax the other "good" employees to go with you. In the end the employer will either straighten up or fail. I would rather see that than to fatten the pockets of a bunch of useless union reps whose job is nothing other than extortion.
I have a friend who is a classic example. For yrs he dogged his employees yet he couldn't figure out why he couldn't keep the good workers for any length of time yet the drug addicted high school drop outs stayed for just above minimum wage that he offered.
Several times I told him that if he would pay the good ones a little more and quite treating them all like morons his productivity and profits would go up. It took a while but he finally took my advice. He now gets more done with less people and has some long term "HAPPY" employees.
No need for unions.....just walk away and let em fail!!

 

The first day in the union I remarked that I was very pleased to get into the union (electrical).

"you just traded one set of problems for another", was the reply from a wise old co-worker.

I would find out throughout the subsequent years just how right-on this statement proved itself to be.

If you think how bad an idiot boss can treat you, just wait until the union higharchy has it's way with you (and your paycheck).

 

For those that are unionized but are getting screwed by union officers, reps or whatever you want to call them. You as a due's paying member have a contractual right to be represented. If you have a legit concern and approach a steward with it and they fail to act, you as a member have recourse against the union. If they tell you differently they are wrong.

 

Guess what, it's your life. Do not give them any power over what you want to do. Whether you stay or go, you get to decide your future. Some will say you at their mercy whether you stay or not, WRONG, it's your life, your future, you decide what you want to do. You don't need a union to protect you, stand on your own 2 feet and carve a path for yourself and your family. If you feel the best use of YOUR life is to get involved in a unionization, then do it but do it because it's what you want your life to be about.

Life is very short. Every day we don't live out our passions, every day we just suck it up, is a day lost. Hey I have good days and bad, most are in between but I always challenged myself by asking if I'm doing what I like.

Don't let the job dictate how you feel or where you're headed in life. Ask yourself where you want to be in 5 years, I doubt it's a your current job. But if you see yourself there, imagine how different it might be and start today to bring about those changes. It just might be that you are there for that specific reason.

 

That is a BINGO!!!!
Couldn't have expressed it any better than that.
I found that once I made that decision the bad to good days were reversed from before. My family has commented as to how much better I am to be around now that I left a job the I could not enjoy!! 20 yrs at that place and never understood how miserable I was until I left!! Now I can't imagine how I could be any happier than I am now!!

 

Heres some help for you http://org.teamster.org/oarf.htm
You live in one the most heavily unionized states in the country. It should be easy to go union. It sounds like you load trucks,drive a forklift,move material etc, this work sounds like teamster to me. Unions are not as bad as made out to be. My ol man was a teamster for 35 years. My union will also organize some shops so heres a link to them too. http://www.boilermakers.org/resources/forms/organize