You're better off in a Union

A friend in the UAW sent me this.  This alone explains why the bosses hate Unions so much.  Despite being saddled with a leadership at the highest levels whose policies are slowly, and not so slowly helping the employers erode the Union advantages shown below, especially for the future generations, it pays to be in a Union.

The employers spend hundreds of billions a year trying to destroy Unions.  They do it through hiring law firms, through their media in the print and on television.  Hollywood rarely makes movies about Unions without giving the impression  that they were built by the Mafia.  Their media portrays members as stupid beer drinking thugs and the leaders are corrupt gangsters who take advantage of our stupidity.  This is to confirm that it is our own fault we are where we are

Workers are terrorized on the job daily, especially non Union workers.  Being in a Union is a good thing.  This doesn't mean we don't have an internal struggle within our Unions.  The present leadership sees the Unions as employment agencies with themselves as the CEO's, seeing their  job to provide Labor for the bosses at the best price.  We will have to change this leadership, fight openly against their policies like the Team Concept that are so destructive.  But you're better off in a Union as the figures below prove.



The Union Advantage (How do you match up?)

Union workers earn more
Wages and benefits for the average union worker in the private sector totaled $37.02 per hour in September 2009, compared to $26.38 an hour for the typical non-union worker.

Wages and salaries higher for union workers …
In September, the average union worker in the private sector earned $23.00 per hour in wage and salary income, while the average non-union worker earned $19.03 per hour. That’s a union advantage of $3.97 per hour, or $8,258 per year for a full-time, full-year worker.

… But benefits are the biggest union advantage
Benefits, though, are where the biggest union advantage lies. The average union worker in the private sector receives $14.02 per hour toward their benefits package while their non-union counterpart receives only $7.34 per hour.

Retirement and health benefits more widespread for union workers
After years of service, workers deserve a secure retirement. Unfortunately, only 51 percent of non-union workers receive retirement benefits through their employer, through either a traditional pension or a 401(k) account. In stark contrast, 86 percent of union workers have employer-provided retirement benefits.
Only about half (52 percent) of non-union workers receive health care benefits through their employer. That compares with 79 percent of union workers.

Source:  Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation -- September 2009"     http://www.uaw.org/organize  > Union Advantage