The basic structure and function of a labor union
The union organizes workers in several hospitals, including janitors, clerks, various skilled workers, and some nurses. As members of the union, we pay dues to the union, and more than ten years ago, I had to pay $400-500 a year in dues, which increased when I moved on to a higher-paying job. This union is quite large, with tens of thousands of members. With the dues, plus the various fees the hospitals pay to the union, the union is quite wealthy. In Manhattan, the union bought its own office building. A few years ago, when one of the hospitals had a cash flow problem, the union loaned the hospital millions of dollars to help it get by. The unions have union leaders, lawyers, financial experts, and of course they don't work for the workers for nothing, they're salaried too. These union workers negotiated with the hospital on behalf of their members every few years to get benefits for the workers. For example, they negotiate with the hospitals the duties of each job, the wages for different jobs, overtime pay, the hospitals' rules for firing workers; holidays, personal leave, sick leave, and paid vacation for union members. The union also requires hospitals to contribute a certain amount of money for the union to purchase health insurance, disability insurance, and retirement plans for workers. Lawyers are experts at signing contracts, and all of these regulations are written with the stroke of a lawyer's pen, leaving no room for error to maximize the protection of members' interests. The financial expert knows the hospital's finances like the back of his hand, and he has also done market research to find out the market value of the wages of various types of workers, and he also knows the annual inflation rate and the cost of living index. With the hospital to talk about workers' salary increase, a large number of figures on the negotiation table, the reasons for the increase in salary, as if the salary is not to be increased. Of course, the hospitals are no pushovers; they also have lawyers and financial experts. At the negotiation table, both sides are each making strange moves, each for their own masters, each with their own reasons and claims. On one side, the price was sky-high, and on the other side, it was down to the ground to pay back the money. In the end, everyone let a little, finally reached an agreement, the contract was signed.
Not every negotiation resulted in a wage increase for us workers, depending on the specific situation. One year, the hospital's income was bad and it couldn't keep up with expenses. The hospital negotiated with the union for downsizing and laying off some members. The union, knowing the hospital's finances and its difficulties, suggested not to increase wages and to cut the positions vacated by natural attrition (retirement, etc.) That is to say, if there are 10 workers in a department and one worker retires, there will only be nine jobs in that department, and the remaining nine workers will have to fulfill the workload of 10 people. The trade unions have even suggested that we are willing to reduce wages if necessary. Workers have to rely on their jobs to make ends meet, and everyone can still survive with less pay. When one worker loses his job, a family's source of livelihood is gone and life becomes a problem, which is not what we want to see.
The pros and cons of labor unions
It is probably human nature to abuse one's power. Incidents have been heard of officials who have the power and authority to use their power to oppress the common people. Members of labor unions are usually from the working class, with low levels of education, professional knowledge, and wages, making them a vulnerable group in society. When bullied by their superiors, most of them can only swallow their grievances. In the face of rich and powerful officials, not many of them are able to argue on their own merits, and even if they do, their chances of winning are not high. However, when there is oppression, there will be resistance. When the people are bullied, when they are unhappy and have nowhere to complain, they will do something violent to vent their anger, which affects the stability of the society. The leaders of the trade unions, the royal professionals - lawyers and accountants - are the elites of society, familiar with the law, knowledgeable about finance, and masters of negotiation. It is certainly better to have them provide professional services for members than to fight with officials on their own. When members pay dues, it's almost like buying insurance. Everyone pays dues to keep the union afloat, and when a member needs help, the union provides professional services. With labor unions as the backing of the workers, the big and small officials would not dare to bully people easily. In this way, trade unions are playing a role in balancing the various strata of society, easing social conflicts and promoting social stability.
But it is not only the officials who abuse their power, the disadvantaged also abuse the rights they have. For example, trade unions and hospital authorities have set down some work regulations to explain the scope of work of workers. Some trade unionists then use these regulations as a reason to refuse to do any more work, showing a total lack of team spirit. For example, an operating room has just finished an operation and needs a cleaning worker to do the cleaning before the next operation can start. If the janitor is on a break, he refuses to do the cleaning on the grounds that, according to the union rules, I have the right to finish my break before I work. As a result, the doctors, and the nurses just waited until he was rested before dragging his feet and coming in slowly to sweep and mop the floor. This affects the turnaround time of the operating room and wastes the hospital's manpower and resources. I myself have seen several lazy workers, under the umbrella of the labor unions, avoiding laziness when they can. Thankfully, these lazy people are not the mainstream of American society. The vast majority of Americans are still able to work diligently enough for the national output to be maintained.
My job as a clerk was to send out bills to insurance companies and patients so that the hospital could generate revenue. After mastering the basics of the job, I realized that many of my coworkers were muddling through, and many bills were piling up in their drawers that were never sent out, as was the case with my predecessors. They were high school graduates who were fine with general tasks, and when there was a dispute between an insurance company and a patient, they didn't know how to handle those bills and didn't want to use their brains to figure out how to deal with them, and they just built up a backlog. I figured out how to deal with those bad bills, and in doing so, I increased the hospital's revenue. However, the system of the trade union is equal pay for equal work. As my colleagues and I have the same position, our salaries are the same, and there is no relationship with our individual performance and contribution. This practice is not conducive to employee motivation.
Not every hospital worker is a union member. I have asked friends who work in non-unionized hospitals why they choose to work in non-unionized hospitals. The reasons are multiple. Under the protection of the union, members are relatively unmotivated to work and can produce less profit, which limits the growth of their wages, and they have to pay dues, which is another expense. Lazy members are protected by labor unions, and it is difficult for hospitals to dismiss them. However, they occupy jobs and do not work well, and other colleagues have to do more work to complete the job. In the long run, conflicts between coworkers arise. If you work in a non-unionized hospital and perform well, your salary will be higher (just a little bit more, symbolically, too much will cause vicious competition), and you will have a more positive attitude towards your work. Hospitals don't want unionized workers, so naturally they want leaders at all levels to treat workers fairly (relatively speaking, of course) and deal with conflicts within the department appropriately. Hospital politics must also be relatively enlightened, so that workers can have channels to reflect their situation to their superiors and to punish abusers of power in a timely manner. Therefore, the working conditions in non-unionized hospitals are not worse than those in unionized hospitals, and they willingly stay and work on there.