Amazon's anti-union site for its Alabama warehouse
That very first * is the first major point for unions.<p>Many unions protect part time workers, or protect workers from being excluded from a fair share of benefits based on their inputs.<p>The reason for this is that there’s no incentive to push hours down until no one gets benefits. Which is not uncommon, unfortunately. Many companies tout incredible benefits with a significant portion of their workforce having no entitlement to it because of arbitrary suppression of their shifts.<p>I don’t believe unions are universally perfect. When they’re well run and union members participate and have a voice, they can be quite amazing. My partner’s union makes my cosy software job seem like it’s missing something. Sure she pays huge dues, but she’s also given protections and benefits I couldn’t even dream of.<p>I net about 4x as much as her on paper, but if you figured in the cumulative value of her union agreement, it would be much more than her dues. Collective bargaining is no joke. She has life insurance that would cost me an arm and a leg, a great pension plan, incredible leave options, very generous extended health&#x2F;vision&#x2F;dental benefits... It’s a long list.<p>I could say my money is better but it’s nowhere near as secure and dependable, and although it looks so much better paper, I’d be spending a huge amount to get the same benefits privately.<p>I think she gets something like 6 weeks of leave per year, too. If I don’t work, I don’t get paid, period.