I just saw a separate comment about this, so I’m curious - for those in global job roles that have early morning calls with Europe and evening calls with Asia 3Mers, who do most of your day-to-day work online, would you support a new union at 3M in response to the Return to Work mandate?
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Last weekend I went to the 3M shrine in Two Harbors. I lite a candle, knelt and prayed on the steps at midnight. I prayed that when Big Bill tours Cottage Grove with the Union, he sees the Light. And it will be Good.
Union dues are a set percent, with a cap. The only reason dues would go up is because your wages have been going UP every year. Every year. Not as much as everyone wants. Ask salaried and wage earners who are non-union what percent of a raise they got last year. The wages for local labor unions ARE higher, but the union wages for 3M workers are higher than the non-union 3M workers doing the same job. Check it out for yourself. Significantly higher. Most of non-union 3M trades are now being replaced with CBRE. Jobs lost. And paid even less than when they were 3M jobs.
No union member at 3M has been laid off. Not in the last 12 years. Even during Covid management tried to lay the union off. Who kept working? The union. People lose their jobs due to injury and management eliminates their job. Who gets them back? The union.
The majority of local trade unions get no vacation, no paid holidays (except Labor Day) and until Minnesota ESST, no paid sick time. Also, no guarantee of 40 hours a week. You are the mercy of the market. When things go bad, you don't work. Talk to some of the people working those big buck trade jobs. They get paid well, but have to be going all the time. They are supposed to be making their employer money. And employers expect it or you are gone down the road. Then how much of that big money are you making when you are laid off? Zero.
If every 3M employee went union it wouldn't be perfect, but it would be better.
Nope, I wouldn’t.
You said a "A union can't..." to quite a few things.
Actually, a union can do those things and doing those things is sort of the whole point of a union. A union can negotiate nearly anything about employment, from working conditions to vacation approvals to even the existence of mandatory OT or lack thereof.
If your union isn't doing those things for you, then I suggest you go talk with your local's president and ask what they are doing to earn your dues.
Back to @OP 's point, yes, 3M should be broadly unionizing, including traditionally 'white collar' workers.
How do you think a union is going to help you? A union can not prevent an employer from requiring employees to work on site or dictate minimum desk/cube/office requirements in the workplace. Our local union can't stop a supervisor/manager from denying someone's vacation request and it didn't stop the company from implementing mandatory overtime. Union members still get laid off when business is slow and the work environment has become toxic just like it has at many non-union workplaces. Workers' standard of living continues to decline while the amount withheld for union dues goes up, so there is no ROI. Turnover is higher than it has ever been at our site. The company struggles to hire replacement workers partially because union contract wages have fallen behind what some local employers are now paying for similar jobs. Older workers stick around for the pension and 5 weeks of vacation, but neither the company nor the union have given younger workers any incentive to work here.
https://usw.org/
There are no more "white collar" workers. There are only those in the ivory tower, and everyone else who is disposable.
I’d rather have rolls and 🍩 donuts at meetings.
Normally I don't believe that white collar workers need unions, but our leadership has turned into toxic sycophants who won't disagree no matter how d-mb the order, so I guess it might be worth it.