Union Membership
Unions will usually charge you a membership fee to join them. The fee isn't mandatory. By law, union membership dues are optional. As a worker, you do not have to be in the union.
Union jobs almost always pay higher than non union jobs. In addition, the working conditions are much better than other similar jobs. The unions claim that the reason for higher wages is that they have done some collective bargaining for you.
It is true that unions made large improvements for the status of workers. However, it is also true that they now do very little collective bargaining. The majority of the union dues go to lobbyists to try and influence legislation. It needs done because all the major corporations have their people in Washington looking out for their self interests. If there were no unions, there would not be professionals looking out for the common workers.
Unions have come under scrutiny simply because they pay their top people obscene amounts of money – just like any other corporation. The union leaders have cushy jobs that require them to do very little. Some people think that unions are a necessary evil and others think that good paying jobs are that way because the unions only exist in large and profitable companies. For example, you won't find a union at fast food restaurants or in small construction companies.
Whatever the case may be, most people agree that unions have made large improvements in the lives of workers. What isn't agreed upon, is whether their existence still has merit.
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