OFFICE WORK

Let's say you work in an office, or a call center. People in your office occasionally get up to go to the bathroom, or get a cup of coffee. People read their newspaper or do knitting when there is time between calls. Sounds like a normal office, right?

Enter the Union. The Union contract says that you should have one unpaid 1-hour lunch break and two paid 15-minute "rest breaks" during your 8-hour work day. Enter Middle Management. Manager Joe Blow says all the other time during the day is "my time," so no more bathroom breaks, coffee breaks, newspaper breaks, or knitting breaks other than the prescribed 15 minutes. "I'm sorry," he says, "the Union has tied my hands."

As it turns out, state law prescribes "one unpaid 1-hour lunch break and two paid 15-minute "rest breaks" during an 8-hour work day." Manager Joe Blow is using the Union as his excuse to force the unnatural flow of the workday into his vision, tying the employees to their chairs for 7.5 hours a day. (See a later post on ergonomics for why "extra breaktime" is necessary.)

The result:
... Without a Union, people quit the dead-end job and move on. Since they are probably not paid much, it is for their own good. Manager Joe Blow is promoted and goes on to destroy other parts of the company.
... With a Union, a grievance is filed. The company denies the grievance, steps 2 and 3 are taken and finally, after about a year and a half, an Arbitrator says that Joe Blow is an idiot and perhaps he awards a small amount of back pay for all employees. Because the employees are paid fairly well, some people have moved on and some have stayed.
... So the customers have made out better with the Union since they had some experienced people to help them for longer. The company has lost some money with the Union, but hopefully better customer service has actually helped the company.