- Joined
- Apr 21, 2001
- Location
- Las Vegas, NV
Avatar28 said:It was sort of implied between the lines that if you went around trying to get one started it would be a serious CLM (career limiting move).
If you're good at what you do for the company, organize and actually get people to sign up, the union can then stand behind you in these fights (and often fight the battle for you behind the scenes). If you've already been a trouble maker or have trouble showing up to work on time, please don't be the organizer. lol
The great thing about organizing is that it doesn't take long and really doesn't have to be done at work. Simply emailing your coworkers at their home address from your home address, telling them the benefits and giving them the details for signing up is all that's required. Once you pay your first dues you are now 'unionized' as it's been explained to me. Yes, there's slightly more to it, but that's the general idea.
The reason I know all this is when I first heard I was being laid off because Bank of America/EDS outsourced my job to Canada, I contacted "Techs Unite". They're one of the few tech unions around, and growing quite fast. Because the pay was so good early on most programmers and support techs didn't think unions were necessary, but now the tech budgets are being tightened by everyone. Companies that used to treat their employees VERY well and saw them as investments now see their infrastructure as disposable.
You can learn more by contacting Techs Unite. Here's a link to their site. Good people. FYI, I never did organize. Couldn't get enough interest, and it turns out EDS/Bank of America did the right thing and paid the severence packages as promised (my main concern), so it would have been moot to organize anyway. If I had to do it again I probably WOULD organize, only because there isn't a good set of checks and balances in place to protect the worker. Without a union behind you there's little hope in being protected by the currently business-centric worker protection legislation. Depending on the employer is a lost cause IMO. Aside from a bad spell of public relations, employers don't have much reason to care anymore.
http://www.techsunite.org/
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