Conversations in an elevator and why you SHOULD join the Union

Last week, while waiting for the elevator in the parking garage, I over heard a conversation that made me want to give one of those "You should join the Union because..." soap box standing, contract thumping speeches.

A little background, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, most employees are covered under a contract. The exception to this is certain Managers and other confidential and non-union covered positions. There are two types of members in the groups covered by Unions, Full dues paying members and fair share fee payers. Fair share fee payers (and even management and non covered employees until recently) get all the benefits of Union Membership, pay raises, contractual rights and Union representation just like the full dues paying Members. What they don't get to do is participate in meetings, vote on the contract, run for Union Offices or be Stewards. They also don't get the Members only discounts.

Enough background. The two gentleman I over heard were discussing the recent vote that kept them from being subject to rolling furloughs. (A rolling furlough is one day over a period of time off with out pay.) One gentleman said to the other, "I was a Union member but I got out at the last Contract because I don't want to run for a Union office, I didn't go to meetings and I am just not interested in being involved." (Yes there is still a hole in my tongue where I bit it). The other gentleman said he didn't join because it just seemed like a waste of his hard earned money.

EXCUSE ME? I wanted so badly to explain to them that they are exactly the kind of people that make it VERY hard for me to negotiate better benefits and pay raises when I go to the bargaining table. Don't they know that the Gov knows EXACTLY how many full dues paying Members we have, where we are strong and where we are?

Here is the speech, share it with all the "Non-members" you know. In PA we kept you working 37.5 hours a week, you got a raise, you have one of the best benefits packages in the country, you ONLY pay 1% of you health care plans (medical, dental, eye glasses, mental health AND hearing aids). But, here is the bear bones, do you, guys in a elevator, think for one minute, you could take this contract, that protects you from abuse, long hours, gives you vacation, sick leave, provides for seniority, and benefits and walk over to the Gov's office and negotiate anything better for yourself, NO you could not. THAT IS WHY YOU SHOULD BE A FULL DUES PAYING MEMBER, that and that alone. To keep what you have, the more Full dues paying members the louder my voice at the bargaining table. The louder my voice, the more he has to listen.

Especially in the field I am in, IT. We work long hours for people who don't often understand it isn't all magic. It's hard work, tedious, time consuming, attention to detail to get everyones email to appear flawlessly, to make sure you database is backed up every day, to make sure you can do you work in a smooth manner with as few glitches as possible. We don't often get to work a 9-5 schedule. We often get called late at night or early in the morning, on weekends, and holidays to make sure that you get timely, continuous service from your State Government. We have to work in teams, across platforms, in a variety of conditions with lots of people to assure that you get your email. Often, our concerns aren't addressed at the negotiating table because so few of us are full dues paying members.

If you have a Union, fighting hard to keep what you have JOIN IT. Do not sit on the side lines whining what your Union isn't doing enough for you, add you voice to the voices of you co-workers and help your Union do more for you, make it stronger, louder and harder to ignore at the bargaining table.