James on Nostr: It does seem like the union workers overall get more. Insurance and retirement are ...
It does seem like the union workers overall get more. Insurance and retirement are extremely valuable benefits. Those non union workers still have to get their own insurance and contribute to their own retirement. If you factor that in, they are for sure taking home less after those two expenses. Even with a slightly higher take home in a paycheck, I suspect non union workers earning only 2/3rds aren’t going to catch up long term to the union guys—on average.
I’m sensitive to the situation and I’m not at all trying to argue. We’re all just trying to make it. As a worker I’m choosing to be union because it is my best shot. If I was an employer of a small business I wouldn’t be able to get those guys and still be competitive unless I had some crazy value proposition to customers. The idea that unions only hire low skilled workers is a myth though. Union workers in Hollywood are extremely skilled and often brilliant. Same with good teachers. The biggest 4D chess move is getting middle class people to dislike another middle class person’s hustle given their limited available options.
I’m sensitive to the situation and I’m not at all trying to argue. We’re all just trying to make it. As a worker I’m choosing to be union because it is my best shot. If I was an employer of a small business I wouldn’t be able to get those guys and still be competitive unless I had some crazy value proposition to customers. The idea that unions only hire low skilled workers is a myth though. Union workers in Hollywood are extremely skilled and often brilliant. Same with good teachers. The biggest 4D chess move is getting middle class people to dislike another middle class person’s hustle given their limited available options.