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Kaiden Brandenburger

Composition IV

Mr. Rudebusch

8 January 2018

Does Being in a Union Help or Hurt You?

In today's society, are electrician unions still relevant or are they becoming obsolete?

Unions are a group of people like yourself with the same goals in mind. They want better wages

and more security in their workplace. When I was job, shadowing at Muth Electric they had

plenty of safety measures to make sure that I would not get hurt and I wouldn’t hurt anyone else.

I will go over some of these later in the essay. However, there are still plenty of ups and downs

of being in an electrician union. In addition, when you are first starting to become an electrician

you can be a part of a paid apprentice program through a union. Through this essay, I will go

over reason why you should join an electrician union despite some of the downsides. In the end,

it is better to be in an electrician union when you are working commercially but there still is stuff

you miss out on.

When you are in a union, you get paid more than when you are not a part of these unions.

Tami Luhby, the senior writer for CnnMoney and a teacher at Columbia's Graduate School of

Journalism, explains how much more: “The typical union worker made $970 a week in 2014,

compared to $763 for non-union workers, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics

data.” That's on average 200 dollars more a week. It just depends on what you negotiate with

your employer when making this union. As soon as the new contract with your employer is made

you start receiving the benefits listed in that contract. It cost 200 dollars a year to be a part of

these unions, but you are making 200 dollars more a week, so from a math standpoint it just
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makes sense to be a part of a union. Also when you are in a union they will reduce your hours so

you are not overworked. When you working under an electrician union when you work more

than a 8 hour shift you have to be paid overtime or if you work more than 40 hours a week you

will be paid overtime. You will also be paid an extra 1.5% for working on Saturdays and double

for Sundays.

In a union, you will get more and better benefits than when not in a union. When you are

in an electrician union, you will get health insurance, which in this job field is very important.

Think about it: if you somehow got shocked why working now it’s covered. You will also get

vision, medical, and dental insurance. When in a union you can't get fired for no reason. This

include religion, race, and age. According to Larry Keller, a lecturer in business law and ethics at

the Scheller College of business, “Nonunion employees are typically hired at will, meaning they

can be fired for no reason.” So being in a union, you are gaining security making so you can’t

just be fired. When in an electrician union you getter a better retirement account so they can

retire a lot sooner than nonunion electricians. You even have the option for benefits for your

spouse. There is a disabled pension for if you get injured. You will get the proper training and

education through a electrician union. The person of your choosing will get death benefits for

when you die so they don’t have to worry about how to sustain a living right after you pass.

These unions usually know that if they make their employees happy they are making it easier on

the company because when workers are happy they’re less resignations getting put in and less

training they have to pay for and when you have new people they are more likely to make

mistakes than workers who have been doing this for a while.

Union members are protected by OSHA: the Occupational Safety and Health

Association. If you feel like there is unsafe thing at your work, you can contact OSHA and they
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will have someone come and declare it unsafe or it is safe. If the workplace is unsafe, the

employer will have to pay the fines and if it’s an intentionally unsafe place the fines sky rocket.

Unions will sometimes say they will contact OSHA for an inspection to scare the employer into

getting the workplace safe for all employees. If that doesn’t do the trick the union or any

employee can call and have a inspection done. When I was on the jobsite, you could really tell

how safe it is before I even got to the site I had someone telling me what I can and can’t do. I had

to wear gloves, hard hat and eye protecting. I couldn't touch ladders, power tools, and the scissor

lift. The organization of Connect U.S. in their article stated, “Organizations like labor unions aim

to ensure that workers are given fair compensation for their work. Employees who are members

of a labor union are given the voice and support to demand for higher wages, a safe working

environment and not work more than eight hours without overtime pay.”

Unions protect you from a bad employer. When you are in an electrician union, you don’t have

to worry about your boss treating you unfairly or taking advantage of you. One con is that you

don’t get as good of a personal connection with employer, which isn’t always a bad thing. These

bosses could fire you for no reason except if it is because of discrimination. When you are being

paid better, getting better benefits, and being secure, your workers will be more productive

because they are happier and this will benefit the business significantly.

Unions were originally made for working class citizens and to help them in there

workplace. In History.com’s article, they start out by saying “The labor movement in the United

States grew out of the need to protect the common interest of workers.” The labor movement had

a few things that were key parts like child labor laws and also health benefits. “The result, as

early labor leaders saw it, was to raise up two distinct classes, the rich and the poor”

(History.com). It is being made to take care the workers and give them protection from their
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employers and it has done a good job doing that and will continue to do exactly that. Whether

that is job site security or just so they aren’t fired for no reason. “On their face, these reform

movements might have seemed at odds with trade unionism, aiming as they did at the

cooperative commonwealth rather than a higher wage, appealing broadly to all producers rather

than strictly to wageworkers, and eschewing the trade union reliance on the strike and

boycott”(History.com).

This shows that unions are very useful in helping the people with job security, payment,

and also helps with their hours to make so they are not overworked. Not every company should

work under a union, but in some cases, it makes sense to be a part of one. Now that you know

that for electricians, unions are better, here is how to get started. To join a union, you need to

start by finding an umbrella corporation. An umbrella corporation is an employer to contractors,

they will help you get started, and then you need to talk to your coworkers about your idea to

become part of a union. From there, you need to build an organizing committee and get

information about your workplace. You then will find and adopt a, issues program. Then you

will hold an election and then negotiate a contract with your employer. There are a couple more

steps than that but those are the basics of it. Then you can get back working making more,

getting more benefits, and being as secure as you can be at your workplace.
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Work cited

“A Brief History of Unions.” The Labor Movement from Industrial Revolution to Now,

UnionsPlus, www.unionplus.org/page/brief-history-unions.

Keller, Larry. “The Pros And Cons Of Union Jobs.” Bankrate, Bankrate.com, 2 Oct. 2017,

www.bankrate.com/finance/personal-finance/pros-cons-union-jobs-1.aspx.

“List of 9 Key Pros and Cons of Labor Unions.” ConnectUS, 30 July 2015,

connectusfund.org/list-of-9-key-pros-and-cons-of-labor-unions.

Luhby , Tami. “Want a Raise? Join a Union.” CNNMoney, Cable News Network, 24 Jan. 2015,

money.cnn.com/2015/02/24/news/economy/union-wages/index.html.

Maciel, Kara, et al. “Unions Leverage OSHA and Other Dept. of Labor Enforcement as an

Organizing Tactic.” The OSHA Defense Report, 29 June 2017,

oshadefensereport.com/2017/06/13/unions-leverage-osha-and-other-dept-of-labor-

enforce

ment-as-an-organizing-tactic/.

Parkhurst, Jacob Shamsian and Stephen. “Can You Really Kill Someone by Dropping a Penny

off the Empire State Building?” Business Insider, Business Insider, 21 Dec. 2015,

www.businessinsider.com/drop-penny-off-empire-state-building-2015-12.

Pollard, Brian. “Today's Unions Do More Harm than Good.” The Southern Gazette, 30 Sept.

2017,

www.southerngazette.ca/opinion/letter-to-the-editor/todays-unions-do-more-harm-than-g

ood-90831/.

Summers , Lawrence. “Why We Need Unions.” SIRS® Issues Researcher, 4 Sept. 2017,

sks.sirs.com/webapp/article?artno=398137&type=ART.
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web@stevepiercy.com. “Local 234International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.”

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers - Home, www.ibew234.org/.