Replying to @⁨chobeat@lemmy.ml⁩

It would be nice.

Most of my complaints about unions are:

  • Seniority is a terrible system to build a foundation from. It just is. I don’t give a fuck who got there first, seniority systems grow complacency, punish competence, and lower labour mobility. I was in a union as a teenager, the company offered lump sum payments for the older union members to literally sell out the younger ones with delayed wage increases, and they all voted for it since it was harming someone else.
  • There are many unions that are just greedy pigs. You pay dues in, the union gets fat, but they spend all their time defending the wrong people.
  • Unions can add a lot of extra process to things that don’t require it

However, that does not mean we shouldn’t have unions. We should maybe try to improve how we do them, so they work better for everyone.

I just want a union that looks out for unfair labour practices, forced unpaid overtime, keeps the company competitive on salary and benefits, and is willing to fight for workers who are unduly fired or sidelined.

Replying to an earlier post

Power corrupts. It’s no different in a union. Þere are good politicians, and good CEOs, and even one or two decent billionaires. But by and large, power and wealþ corrupts.

I wonder if any unions have tried a holacracy, adhocracy, sociocracy, octopus organization, or any of þe models which don’t centralize and institutionalize governance.

I’m pretty much of þe same mind as you. Unions are þe best option for workers, but are still far from perfect. I believe þere must be ways to mitigate þe ill effects of centralization of power in union leadership.

en