• thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    30
    ·
    2 days ago

    my tech department recently unionized, its great

    one of the best things about it is enforcing the “other duties as required” and setting a hard limit on what that means, management has to accept it and they hate that shit

    • Victor@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      19 hours ago

      management has to accept it

      Do they have to accept it by law? I’m realizing I don’t really understand how unions work. What is it that actually transfers the power from the company to the workers just by unionizing?

      • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        15 hours ago

        The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is where the power is, its a legally binding agreement between the Union and the Employer. The unions have lawyers that have crafted the language and there is a lot of back and forth until its agreed upon and then its binding for both parties.

        When you get a union job, the position is represented by the union and the employer has agreed to the CBA. So as the union employee, if I feel that I am be asked to do something outside of my job description, I can request the union to audit the work which puts management under the microscope and well they don’t usually like that so they will create a cold war and force policy adherence to the letter. In the end everyone is usually more clear about what is acceptable and what is not.

        But the real power is that if its not in your job description, you can really say no and they cant do anything about it. The “other duties and responsibilities” should never be more then 8 hours in 2 weeks. If it does, it needs to be included as part of your job description. And the union has a death grip on that description with the CBA.

        • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          13 hours ago

          oh yeah the first sentence should have included that the country that the agreement is in, recognizes it and binds both parties to it. So its a 3 party agreement in a sense, with the 3rd party being the courts of the country with laws recognizing the agreement.

          The CBA will have a part in it about about strikes. I have been in a few unions that agreed in the CBA that we would not walk out strike, but we would do things like everyone wearing the same shirt or during lunch hour, gathering in the street in front of the workplace. It has a good optic and imo most of the time, the people directly in charge of you don’t want to make waves with the union. its a good balance of power that is beneficial to everyone

        • Lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          12 hours ago

          but in the US, a corporation is legally required to

          For now, until Trump decides to make unions illegal