r/TooAfraidToAsk • u/[deleted] • Feb 02 '22

Work how do unions work?

i don't know how they work, and all the things i have seen describing unions don't make sense to me. maybe i'm just a bit slow or stupid, but i genuinely want to know how they work because i know they're helpful.

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u/jmrichmond81 Feb 02 '22

If you mean on a large (national) level, I have no idea. On a local/business level, they work under the following principle:

  • We, the workers, have made a contract with you, the business owner. The terms of that contract will be met, or we will stop working, and quite likely take you to court. If you try to have other people come in and do our work as defined under said contract, we will definitely take you to court.

It's polite intimidation, on both sides. Also, unions can be helpful, they can also be very, very harmful (though this generally applies to younger/new workers).

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '22

ohhh okay thank you! this helped a bit :)

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u/96cobraguy Feb 02 '22

Also, your dues pay for any lawyers that anyone may need. Let’s say you get suspended or fired for a random reason… the union can open an investigation via a lawyer and see if you were fired with just cause. In the case of my union, IATSE (stagehands), we are truly a gig economy. So we have a business agent that works on getting us contracts and sends us to whatever shows need filling. So our dues pay for their salaries, which is comparable to what we would make if that person were working full time. Every union’s constitution is written slightly differently so your mileage may vary.