Thread regarding Nike Inc. layoffs

JUST DO IT! But beware!!! if your fellow workers around you won't stand up with up, then you will be fired. I suggested Unionizing a few years ago. Manager caught wind... first on the CHOPPING BLOCK! Remember, they can just replace you with H1-B.

@5cpe I have worked at places a little better like 6% 401k match instead of 5%. Can you name these companies and what benefit is soo much better?

@1nk, have you ever worked for another Fortune 500 company? Nikes benefits are not close at all to the best offered

I don't see there being a "Nike" union... but I'm sure there are chapters of existing unions that Nike workers could join depending on the type of work they do. It's makes a lot of sense in this climate, where leadership is clearly disorganized and layoffs are happening regularly now. Workers need to be able to protect themselves from the further loss of benefits and jobs due to bad leadership. Right now, Nike only seems to listen to Wall St. when they should be listening to (and taking care of) their workers.

A union at Nike is a horrible idea.

First, the biggest thing unions provide is collective bargaining; typically around wages and benefits. That can work fine in industries where most employees are essentially doing the same job (e.g., pilots, teachers, factory workers). But for a company like Nike where there are literally thousands of job codes (because there are so many different professional functions), it would be impossible for a union to add value on wage issues. The competitive market sets those wages far more effectively and fairly than a union could.

And with benefits, what Nike currently offers is already near the top of what you’ll find in the Fortune 500.

So right there alone you’ve taken away the two primary reasons a union exist.

Now let’s talk about what else unions bring:

• Monthly dues for services of negligible worth. Go ask any union member if they think their monthly dues are worth what they get in return. Don’t be surprised when the vast majority say “No”.

• You know that bad manager you’d like to see gone? Well, the union is going to protect him or her just like it protects you! In fact, in most industries unions are the primary reason it’s impossible to get rid of bad employees. And it then becomes a race to the bottom when you know the union will have your back after you do something stupid that deserves you being fired.

A teacher of mine in high school was dismissed for s-xually harassing other teachers. Thankfully the union was there to ensure he eventually got his job back! Is that what you really want? Because unions take a “employer vs. employee” approach and that includes protecting the bad employees too.

• Unions aren’t just expensive for employees. It’s been empirically shown they decrease corporate profitability too. So with a union your annual bonuses will almost certainly be lower. That would be another hidden cost of a union.

• Don’t like corporate politics at Nike? Well then, you’re going to be REALLY unhappy with union politics. Because if you disagree with any position the union takes you’ll pay for it. Often in more shady and unethical ways than you’d ever experience from corporate politics. Just ask my uncle in Colorado, whose car was mysteriously set ablaze when he dared to publicly disagree with his local Teamsters union chapter. Yes that was an extreme occurrence and I’m not suggesting anything like that would happen with a more professional union. But the underlying point remains true: union politics are every bit as dirty or even MORE dirty than corporate politics.

• Unions can and do prevent companies from being nimble. That’s a huge problem for the ultra-competitive industry in which Nike exists. Imagine if most major decisions at Nike had to be vetted through the union first. In no time our non-union competitors would gain an advantage. This is just one reason why unionized companies tend to earn less profit, and also declare bankruptcy far more often than their non-union competitors. Not only do you end up having too many cooks in the kitchen, but those cooks often want a different dish altogether!

In other words OP, your idea of unionizing Nike doesn’t seem too well thought-out to me. You actually said yourself, “I don’t even know what a union does other than piss off rich people.”

So, you “don’t even know what a union does” yet you’re already raring to go and busy naming one. LOL! Sounds legit. Oh, and if you don’t like rich people, I hope you don’t ever take a close look at what union leaders in America make. I fear you’d be disappointed to learn that many of them are also “rich people”.

All of this is why when employees at professional companies like Google are offered the chance to unionize, most employees rightfully say “No thanks. I’m good.”

Unions have a place. Mostly in industries where - for a variety of reasons - employees don’t have many other options if they lose their employment at that company. Excluding retail, most jobs at Nike are “knowledge worker” jobs. And unions just aren’t a good solution for that type of work...which is precisely why so few companies like Nike have unions.

The idea of starting a union at Nike reminds me of an old saying: “Be careful what you wish for, because you may just get it.”

Not that it matters because there will never be a union at Nike. And thank god for that.

Hahaha love your last sentence. Too many acronym that people do not understand the information in power point presentation

google does not have much of a union...i think last count was 700 members out of 140,000 employees. I would call them more a non-company supported google organization who tries to use their collective voice to influence policy.

yes, do it!