this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2026
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It's always better to have a union
Absolutely.
My union contract doesn't specify a minimum wage, so they are forced to have the negotiation anyway.
As a union representative I often get questions like why the union doesn't raise the wage or require a minimum wage. (Mostly from non members). It just doesn't work like that in this line of work. The union contract gives them the right for negotiation, not a minimum figure, because we don't want to get the fucking minimum. We gave them the right to ask for more. Use it. If they don't know how to, I suggest they join the union and learn how to do it.
Unfortunately my work is too atomized to really organize (remote company/management, all workers operate independently at different job sites). Definitely want to move to a job that has or can be unionized.
I've heard from friends that a lot of older unions are setup in such a way that make negotiating and even making amendments within the union incredibly difficult, limiting their power against corporate.
I've heard Secrets of a Successful Organizer is a great book on the subject I've been meaning to read
I know that trouble only too well.
Office jobs are difficult because workers don't really share the floor the same way that people in shops or logistics etc.. Office workers don't really give a shit about what happens on the other side of their closed office door, and "other departments" are generally considered to be obstacles rather than co-workers. It's difficult to be unionize. It needs an ambassador who can cross all the closed doors and preferably also management.
In my case that's me, because I work in a role that requires me to get in touch with everyone across the organization in my daily job. I never actually ran for the post. It was more like looking around the table and choosing who could do that.
The union was very helpful in guiding us through the process, and the courses on organizing is time well spent.
However I do also know of the troubles internally in unions. Our union is a democracy, but it has more hierarchical layers than that of the government of the country. It's based on both location, sectors and what not. Plenty of old geezers keep claiming a chair on some board because they know damn well that they won't get hired anywhere else afterwards, and don't dare do anything but status quo.
I voluntarily joined the local board to get this cleared out. Small steps at a time, because it is a democracy, but we are slowly getting closer to making the democracy more direct. I might even lose my own seat because of it, but that's fine with me. I just want it done.
Unions are facing a hard generational change, because there seems to missing a lot of people in between the old and the young to make a smoother transition. Again I'm sort of in the middle, being gen-x, and I'm always voting for the younger ones.
I can only encourage young people to participate and change the unions from within to reflect the young members better if they don't think the union is doing good enough. In a lot of ways it's more efficient than trying to make a political party change how they vote on a law.
From a selfish point of view, it's been very interesting. I've learned many things and been able to influence actual changes for many people.