this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2023
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You are completely misrepresenting the power dynamic between employer and employee. The entire reason unions exist is to attempt to correct that power imbalance.
I agree and disagree. For the average low paying job that doesn't require any skill or knowledge, a union is the only arguing power you have. However, if you are hard to replace because of skill/knowledge and you know it, the power balances back. You have the power to say no without consequences.
Obviously don't push it to where the cost of replacing you is worth it for your employer, but you have more power than most realize. Making yourself invaluable only increases your say in how things go. So getting the time you requested off is certainly doable.
I have seen plenty of companies can someone with specialized knowledge, no mater how much you are the only person to know something, you are still less important than your bosses vacation, or the department financing, and this is from tel-co development, where island knowledge is almost the norm
But for taking their requested vacations? I would highly doubt that for specialized employees. It is very costly to replace an employee like that. Unless the employer is an actual idiot (which can certainly be the case) they know they can't afford to lose you.
If you work for the kind of employer that fires the very critical person for a job without a great reason for doing so, do you really want to stay there? They probably aren't a great employer.
The point is, if it's an otherwise good job, and you don't want to have uproot and move your family to a different state again. If you want stability in your and your family's life. Maybe it doesn't make sense to individually attempt to bargain for yourself.
Maybe you bargain collectively with your coworkers, and get better conditions for EVERYBODY. And then you don't have to move again and force you children to meet new friends. Again.
It bums me out when I see people like you who would be a force of good in a union, then it turns out that they're 100% just in it for them (not even their family).
first off, they don't care about "being a good employer" they care about cost optimization, if they can get someone to do the job for cheaper, even if to a significantly lower standard they will do it
This just isn't how life works in reality, and (no offense, but) unfortunately it's bullshit anti-union propaganda that you're pushing whether you realize it or not.
I am in a highly specialized STEM field, and I'm in a union, and that union has been nothing but amazing for myself and my colleagues. In fact, we are in the process of negotiating a great new contract that would never have even been on the table sans union.
Without collective bargaining, everyone is much worse off. You just take what contract they give you or walk. Great way to build a career. Don't buy the hyper-individualist, "they'll all just bring you down," bullshit rhetoric.
There's a reason management is (nearly) always dead set against it, to the point where they'll spend millions convincing working class folks to vote against their interests, and it isn't out of the kindness of their hearts.
I agree, I would rather have a Union.