• @[email protected]
    3•2 years ago

    Does it depend on the union? Are some corrupt or useless? My only experience with a union was when working for a grocery store in 2005. They took a quarter of my minimum wage pay as dues. I got no benefits or salary increase, no health insurance. As far as I could tell they never did anything but collect money from workers.

    I tried to get off it so I could start making minimum wage again but they said it was impossible to get removed from as long as I worked for the company.

        • @[email protected]
          1•2 years ago

          Kroger, and I don’t remember union name since it was about 20 years ago. I was only making about $5 per hour and they were taking a dollar something if I remember right.

          It was definitely a substantial amount of our paychecks and we ended up quitting over it. Wasn’t a good job anyway though, and this was just my perspective at the time as a teenager.

          • @[email protected]
            1•2 years ago

            If you belonged to a union that brought you below minimum wage with dues, then something very wrong was going on. (disclaimer, I am not a lawyer, I just care about my rights A LOT) The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) defines the minimum wage and specifically prevents employers from deducting the costs of doing business from employee wages. Things like equipment, uniforms, cash drawer shortages, broken merchandise, etc. The FLAS does permit deductions for things like unemployment insurance, health savings accounts, etc., and does include union dues as exempt and able to be deducted as a general statement. That said, the two are not intrinsically linked. The FLSA generally states that minimum wage is the MINIMUM. I was not able to find an exhaustive list of exemptions, but what I did find was slim to say the least. I’m pretty sure that them reducing your wage below minimum with union dues, which were supposed to be voluntary as well, was illegal. I am more than open to being corrected though and I would love to have a referral to the FLSA section that codifies it.

            • @[email protected]
              1•2 years ago

              Would it have been illegal 20 years ago? It would have been just for the dues. I never had any interaction with them besides the union rep showing up at work with his sales pitch.

              To be fair I was an oblivious teenager, so it could have been that they did attempt to help, behind the scenes and not on an individual level. Maybe the company just told them no. The man who represented the union had made it sound like joining would give me a higher pay and benefits. I only waited a couple months before quitting.

              It left me with a bad first impression, but thinking back I had unrealistic expectations and didn’t really understand what I was paying for.

              I’m thinking unions are generally a good idea, but to do some research to make sure the particular one is effective and using the money wisely. Also that unfortunately the people who need union help the most are probably the least likely to be able to afford the dues. Is there anything to prevent them from becoming a middle man that takes as much in dues as they negotiate in pay increases?