I have a graduate degree from a well known university, and I’m not even smelling 3/4’s of the money union workers earn? What’s up with THAT? Please explain this to me, I need to understand that I didn’t waste my time studying?
Are there particular union jobs that you are referring to? Many Supermarket cashiers are unionized making, oh, 6 or 7 dollars an hour. Depending on your degree (Was it basket weaving?) I would think that you could beat that.
At the university where I work, custodians are unionized making low 20’s. Some technology jobs (such as my own) are unionized and make 25-35k.
Your question seems to be meaningless without details.
There are 2 ways to reply.
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You live up to your name :rolleyes:
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If you’d like to give some relevant information, you might get a different response. What job do you have? What are you comparing it to?
Some general points for you:
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People get paid more as they get experience. So a High School student who has worked for 3 years might earn more than a University graduate who just joined the firm.
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different jobs have different progressions. A degree can often put you on a ladder of opportunity which is beyond anything the High School guy can expect.
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some jobs are independent of qualifications and unions. You have to work hard (instead of moaning).
Finally, I didn’t know graduates couldn’t join the union!
I don’t want to sound cold or crass(classic opening line…:rolleyes:) but I have friends who are equally accredited as you that own multi-mullion dollar corporations. They are intelligent, creative, hard-working and most importantly, inspired. I think it would also be naive to suggest that they may have had a bit of good fortune, and I’m not talking about opportunities that are unavailable to the average Joe, like family and friends in high places.
I am meaning to suggest that if it were in your heart to succeed, you most certainly would. I want to avoid sounding like Anthony Robbins, and if I do, I most humbly apologize(because I can’t stand that guy). I also don’t want to suggest that you aren’t a hard worker, because of course you wouldn’t be griping about your pay check if you were a slacker…or would you?
Prioritize your life, focus your desire, and remember that little steps can take you a long way.
I work for a huge company, let’s say we make drugs. The union workers are earning $100/hr. The union workers follow the orders I give them and they are earning more than me. Does that make sense?
Oh, and the type of union workers i’m referring to are the operators, machinists, even people that clean the toilets here.
Eh, if they’re paying the toilet dude $100 an hour, you need to find a new job, quick-like.
Let me get this straight.
The toilet cleaners earn $100/hour.
So for a 40 hour week they earn $4,000.
In a 48 week year they earn $192,000.
I suppose there’s no chance you made a mistake?
If not, what is the number of the company’s Personnel section?
People who work in accounting can definitely sympathize with you.
I remember working as an accounting clerk doing job cost accounting. I saw how much union laborers were paid, and it was a lot more than I was being paid as a clerk. Yes, the guy who cleaned out the garbage cans earned more than I did.
Most graduates fresh out of college find it difficult to command large salaries because they lack experience. They shouldn’t feel bad because most employees with experience find it difficult to rise in a company because they lack education.
High paying union labor tends to be dirty, dangerous work. As a clerk, I would envy those union employees with high wages, but then I was thankful to be in a job where there wasn’t a danger of me losing a limb.
Well my boss has a Ph.D, and he isn’t even earning as much as my “co-workers”. These guys own yachts, huge homes and drive really nice cars, and I KID YOU NOT! The intern that we have in our department is considering life as a union worker, screw university, she wants the money.
Many (but not all) unionized workers are tradesmen. That is, they have a highly marketable skill and can do things like build, repair, & demolish things with their hands. These kinds of skills have a universal demand, and seem to have immunity to economic hiccups. The economy could tank right now and I’d still have a paycheck for the next three years because of my contract.
By contrast, all of the middle managers around me have no real skills except pushing papers around & micromanagement. They are easily laid off & replaced at a moments notice. There always seems to be a large pool of middle managers looking for jobs, so it might be something of a supply and demand issue. Conversely, skilled tradesmen are hard to come by. When we can get our hands on a tech who really knows his craft, it’s a rare & beautiful thing. Even if all that tech knows how to do is climb a pole and splice cable, that’s a skill which is more valuable than ten middle managers (at least in my line of work).
A trend I have noticed that may also have something to do with this: techs we hire who end up being less skilled than the interviewer was led to believe are eventually “promoted” to middle management positions.
So, what is your marketable skill that you don’t feel you’re getting paid enough for?
Friedo: LOL!
To address the OP: Union workers are paid so much–because. Just because.
I’d have to give you the entire history of the labor union movement, all 200 years of it, in order for you to truly understand.
Here’s the Cliffs Notes version:
Evil factory owners.
Tiny children being chewed up by enormous machines.
Coal miners.
Black lung.
You load 16 tons, whaddaya get?
Wobblies.
Scabs.
Management enforcers breaking heads.
Shooting into a crowd of unarmed demonstrators.
The United Auto Workers.
The AFL-CIO.
The National Association of Letter Carriers.
“There has never been a layoff at the Post Office.”
The father of my children has a good secure job.
On the first Monday in September, many of us pause for a moment and give thanks for all the people who came before us who stood shoulder to shoulder and had their heads broken by Management enforcers, so that we could have unions.
If you want more details, allow me to give you a link to my favorite search engine.
http://www.google.com
I’m a scientist/pharmacist.
Yes it makes sense, depending on the job. It may have nothing to do with unions. To wit: in my last job, I was not unionized but I was still a tradesman. I fixed broken stuff (to put it simply). I made about 1.5 to 2.5 times what my supervisor made (depending on the work load). Why? Because I had the skills to keep the company profitable. They could fire the manager and be even more profitable (since they wouldn’t be paying his salary any more), and I would still go right on fixing stuff. What skills did the manager have? He just kept ten or 15 people from goofing off, taking long lunches, etc. Why does somebody with that kind of job description need to be paid big bux?
I don’t know if it’s worth continuing with this, since we only have one (unconfirmed) fact.
Still, anything to stamp out ignorance.
You effectively said that a toilet cleaner earns $192,000 a year at your company. This is, by any definition, unskilled labour. It’s also more than the British Prime Minister earns. (I know we’re not as rich as the USA, but we do have one of the world’s top 5 largest economies.)
Can you confirm this fact?
You said that your “co-workers” own yachts. Do you mean the union guys, or the graduates? Do you mean model yachts, small sailing yachts or Americas Cup yachts?
If you don’t know why I’m asking these questions, it may explain why you don’t get paid much. 
Well, I don’t just manage people, and I don’t take lunch. I get into work at 7:00am and leave at 20:00 in the evening. I don’t get paid overtime, but the union members do. These guys won’t work a minute over the hour without getting paid for it. If there is a deadline that needs to be met, it doesn’t bother them, they have nothing to lose.
Union Workers get paid ~ $100/hr. The Union Workers own the yachts. And overtime is 1.5 times as much.
Glee, I earn enough money, but not as much as I would like to. Get it?
There are many Prime Ministers that don’t earn much, but they get perks.
I’m not the only one in my company complaining about my salary. We wouldn’t complain about it if we didn’t have the union’s salary to compare it to.
“my salary” should be our salary.
I’ll be looking for a cite here, GIS. I’m unaware of any union job in normal industry (to except things like professional athletes) where pre-overtime pay is anything close to $100/hr, even among machinists, who are in short supply right now.
I’m also unaware of scientists/pharmacists who routinely interact with machinists.
And I’ve never met a machinist whose boss would let him use his valuable time cleaning a toilet.
I suspect you may be exaggerating to try to make some kind of point.
Yes, I understand what you’re complaining about. If we were in a bar, I would buy you a drink and sympathise in a general way.
But here in the SDMB, we like a few facts.
You claim that a toilet cleaner in the USA earns more than the Prime Minister of Britain. (The equivalent of your President).
I don’t believe you.
You imply that all union workers earn exactly the same pay.
I don’t believe you.
Just give some facts, and I’ll be satisfied. Otherwise it’s just another urban legend.