Unions lead employees into believing that if a union is elected in, then the union will negotiate with the company to get employees better wages, benefits, and working conditions. But that is not the whole truth. Yes, companies are required to bargain in 'good faith' if a union is elected, but they do not have to agree to anything just because the union wants it, especially if it is not in the best interest of the company.
Bargaining can take weeks, months and even years, before employees even see a contract. Even then unions have been known to agree to clauses not in the best interest of the employees in order to gain recognition and other clauses. And because neither side has to agree to any of the opposition's suggestions, no contract is settled on at all in some cases.
Did you know?*
- Only 25% of the time was the contract negotiated in the first year.
- Only 75% of the time did the parties ever even reach a contract.
- 25% of the time, the parties never even reached an agreement.
- And strikes occurred in 9% of first contract negotiations.
*According to a MIT study the above figures were compiled regarding first contract negotiations, using 1,000 randomly collected first contract negotiations.
LESS Than You Bargained For
The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that:
" …collective bargaining is potentially hazardous for employees and that as a result of such negotiations employees might possibly wind up with less after unionization than before."There are no quick fixes and when it's all over, you could even end up with LESS than what you have right now.
