HOW can Kroger's force employees to pay union dues and they dont pay a union wage?
So an employee that was hired at .10 over minimum wage, forced to join a union and pay union dues, which means they would therefore make less than minimum wage and be forced to strike so the big dogs could get more money... what is the union doing for them besides taking their money?
SOOOOO No benefits, Less money, must strike to support the man, same bs as every other minimum wage job.
You might as well be a Christian screaming at the Romans. Your position, strongly as I support it, is in conflict with two groups of people on this forum:
A) Long-timers for who the union, wages and benefits made sense......and B) Newbies who're as senselessly union loyal as a porch leashed house mutt.
It's difficult to win an argument with a smart person; damn near impossible to with an ignorant person.
I'm gonna again use my favorite example of The Good Dope Days of Kroger and the UFCW; high school buddy, 'Mike'.
Mike started Kroger in his senior year, stayed with it, got married, had a family....and proceeded to very nicely support that whole picture for many fine years. Seriously, back then it was the ideal job if you didn't qualify for better avenues. Mike had a full ride, too: 80% med/dental/vision/prescription coverage, sick, vac., paid everything. All the perks. And full time? Hell, Mike almost killed himself some years; he was putting in 100-plus hours some weeks! Real sh!t.
Bought the family house, cars and college funds through Kroger and the UFCW. Last I heard, he'd gotten early retirement and the buncha 'em moved down to Fla. All thanks to Kroger....and the UFCW.
Soooo........what's the current model for all that looking like for today's prospective new hirees? Not as good, is it? It's SAD, man. Nobody would love to see things turn back around more than me, 'cause EVERYONE benefits when the work force is strong.
As someone who is older, but new to Kroger, I honestly don't have time to wait for some lump (and argue all you want, most the older timers at my store are lazy as hell, and they really ain't at old in age to justify being that slow,they don't more than 20% of the work the whole 8 hrs they are there) to retire, move or or be fired for being useless (the longer they are there the less likely that is to happen). The union as it is at Kroger is bloody useless to anyone currently wishing to work at Kroger, might as well drop it, the old timers have theirs now, so no harm to them; but might save us newer workers some money and our bodies from killing ourselves so the ones at the top can sit in the back and take breaks all day long.
I would whole heartedly agree! The union is primarily there to keep people who should be fired from losing their jobs. I am however a union employee and only joined because I was never informed that I didn't have to. Until fairly recently and being at top pay for a clerk, my "pay raise" every year for about twenty years was $0.25/hour/year at a time when the then-current cost of living was $0.35/hour/year. The long running joke was that at some point in time the minimum wage would equal my hourly pay! My advice would be if you don't have to join a union, don't!
As someone who is older, but new to Kroger, I honestly don't have time to wait for some lump (and argue all you want, most the older timers at my store are lazy as hell, and they really ain't at old in age to justify being that slow,they don't more than 20% of the work the whole 8 hrs they are there) to retire, move or or be fired for being useless (the longer they are there the less likely that is to happen). The union as it is at Kroger is bloody useless to anyone currently wishing to work at Kroger, might as well drop it, the old timers have theirs now, so no harm to them; but might save us newer workers some money and our bodies from killing ourselves so the ones at the top can sit in the back and take breaks all day long.
You need a non union job where in your first month you can take somebody's job that's been there for over 25 years. That way you won't have to wait or work your way to the top. Good luck!
