Everything has pretty much been addressed in here, so I’ll just say that I worked for Bell Atlantic>Verizon and the workers are part of the Telecommunications Union and I must say, that is one of the better unions I ever was part of so far. They really fight for the workers’ rights, benefits and other plans. Good stuff.
I’ve done a lot of opera with union orchestras. Generally good orchestras.
I’ve done a few with non-union orchestras. BAAAAD orchestras.
So, for orchestras at least, you go with a union orchestra because the non-union players suck.
A lot also depends on the climate and administration of the workplaces that have unions, naturally.
I worked for about eleven years at a college that had unions for classified staff and faculty, but everyone was pretty miserable and still is. Negotiations are slow and difficult, lots of bad blood, low morale, low pay, and plenty of angry people who hate their working conditions and can’t wait to get out. Some just up and leave.
My other campus, where I work currently, has a completely different situation. Lots of active union membership, negotiations usually go well or at least not too badly, many happy employees who love it there and stay for many years. Good relationship with management, good reputation for the college and, I believe, better instructors for the students.
Good answers here.
Let me add one real life example of “why”
BIG Developer is throwing up a $75Million Building on a schedule that needs to be up and ready for inspection in 9 months and he has a chocie:
Spend 30% extra on labor and have Plumbers, Electricians, Steamfitters and HVAC journeyworkers with guaranteed experience and qualifications and knowing that the (proverbial or not) Union Hall will send in comparable replacements when someone no shows or gets another job or gets hurt
or
Save that labor money and take your chances with the dude who shows up at the worksite with the resume he typed on his son-in-law’s laptop & whatever your subcontractor’s foreman can pick up in front of the 7-11 each day.
It really isn’t hard with this scenario to see why paying extra for labor in the short term makes economic sense
Bear in mind that the current status quo reflects a point of stability between forces pushing for increased legal regulation (usually consumer/employee groups) and those pushing for reduced regulation (usually employer groups). If unions disappeared from the US tomorrow, I would expect OSHA and those federal laws to look radically different in ten years or so - an not in a way that would do you any favours as an employee. On the other hand, if all the employer groups were to disappear, ten years from now the US wouldn’t be a very good place to employ anyone.
As slaphead said, there’s a constant push from employers to erode such benefits. You don’t have a 40-hour-week just because unions pushed for them 60 years ago, but because a lot of people continue to enforce it every day.