“They have declined to the point of irrelevance in most workplaces,” says Peter Cappelli, Wharton management professor and director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources. And rather than focusing on expansion, unions are simply trying to minimize the ground they are losing every year, he notes. “They are having a hard time hanging onto whatever [contract] arrangements they have.”
By STAFF, Knowledge@Wharton
The Fiscal Times FREE Newsletter

The statistics on union membership tell the story. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2011 11.8 percent of wage and salary workers in the U.S. were members of a union, or 14.8 million people. That is down from 17.7 million people, or 20.1 percent of workers, in 1983. But those membership ranks include public sector workers. In the private sector, the decline has been even starker with just 6.9 percent of workers, or 7.2 million people, belonging to unions, down from about one third in the 1950s. “[Unions] can’t be seen as the voice of a significant group,” says Wharton management and legal studies professor Janice Bellace. “Even when they may be voicing an opinion that would be supported by a majority of working people, it is easy to say they are a small group, a special interest.”

1. Why do temps pay union dues?
This is a closed shop and we do not allow scabs to work in the membership, we are governed by the UWUA National and the AFL-CIO a UNION organization not a home for scab labor.

Article 1 section 5
As a condition of employment in the unit, all employees employed in the unit on or after the effective date of this Agreement who are not members,shall,at the expiration of thirty days after being employed,become members of the union and all members of the union shall maintain their membership.

Article 1 section 6.
During the term of this Agreement, the company will deduct from compensation due each employee in the unit, who has authorized such deductions in writing and delivered such authorization to the company, the following.
a. On the first pay day of each month, the monthly Union dues in the amount established by the union Constitution.
b. on the second pay day of each month for the first six months from the date of employment, one installment equal to one-sixth of the union initiation fee in the amount established by the Union constitution not to excess of $180.00 in payment of such initiation fee, if any,then owed by such employee.

Why did we hire temps?
The Union Executive board was approached by the company to give ISI and DNP work to contractors because we do not have enough members to complete the work. The union board has continually told the membership we are one of the last stand alone gas companies in the entire country to not have contractors in the house. We used old language to keep the contractors out.Fact 1. we are receiving a minimum 30 more regular hires. Fact 2. every single temp OA signed a affidavit letting them know upon accepting the position it was for a 18 month contract with NO GUARANTEE OF REGULAR EMPLOYMENT. Fact 3.unless by mutual agreement between the union and the company to extend the 18 months the agreement is to be terminated. Every temp has been talked to by myself as well as other officers and stewards about the position. THIS IS NOT A HIRING HALL WE DO NOT HIRE ANYONE IT IS THE COMPANY WHO HIRES! I as well as the entire executive board is working to be creative and find any way if possible to do more. This also was told to the whole TEMP OA group many times. So the board and senior membership would appreciate the truth and facts be told by those who care enough to do their homework.

First of all the purpose of hiring the temporary OA’s was so that the company would not hire more contractors. Isn’t this what you wanted? Isn’t this is what you asked for? We did our part to make sure that this would not happen. We saved jobs and most of you have been working countless hours of overtime. If the contractors where here, you know very well that this would not be the case.

We also keep hearing “well the temporary OA’s are paying Union Dues”. Well, yeah they have to. This is a closed shop. Which means that  you have to be in a union here to be employed.  Also if they didn’t pay union dues the AFL-CIO would come down hard on us like a boot on an ant. We would then be considered as allowing scabs to work here and this is not a scab city.  Please understand that this is something we must adhere to. So the reason that they are paying dues are not only for fair representation purposes but because its THE LAW.

Finally, WE DO NOT HIRE! We are not a hiring union. Only the company hires employees here. There are some that may have a personal interest in who gets hired and they have come to us asking why their buddy wasn’t asked to be a permanent employee. We cant do anything about this. When the temporary OA’s where hired, they knew that they would be here for up to 18 months. We have given them an opportunity to have employment when finding a job is scarce. They have the opportunity to leave if something better comes along. Again I must express strenuously that we have no, none, ní decision in hiring employees here. Our purpose for enforcing the temporary OA’s position was so that there would not be any contractors here doing our work.

If you feel that anything I have said here is unfair, please feel free to comment and let your voice be heard. If you choose to comment, stand strong and  proudly state your name, shop, and your position at the shop. If not, I will delete your comment because you have chosen not to stand by what you feel.

In Fraternity and fraternity yours

Jason J.L. Carter