What exactly is a labor union? I have an opportunity to train

>>18537859
Labor Unions are where groups of people act as a singular unit. The bargain collectively, and are represented by people who will negotiate on their behalf (in return, you pay a small portion of your paycheck). They typically also protect you regarding legal issues and the like, at least so far as your job is concerned.

There are good unions and there are bad unions, but if you get in one, you usually become a part of a work force that values nepotism over qualifications. This is both good and bad. You don't want to have to work for 20 years just for some 18 year old to come in and offer to do it for a penny less than you and get axed, but on the other hand, there are some really worthless people that get protected by it, as well.

>>18537887
Interesting. So is it one of those opportunities I shouldn't pass up? I don't have much else going on in my life and I've heard I'd be paid well

>>18537859
To add to this: >>18537887
I would like to demonstrate how unions can be good and can be bad.

Labor unions helped miners earn real money, instead of a fake currency that the mine owners issued (that you couldn't spend anywhere else but the town, which they also owned and rented to you). They also get people health benefits and decent pay where there wasn't that before. But, labor unions also caused the implosion of the US auto industry and closed Hostess Snacks because neither side could come to an agreement during a time of strife (Hostess asked everyone to take a pay cut one year, which they did. Then the CEO got a huge bonus for achieving this, and the next year, they asked the union to take another pay cut, and they refused).

>>18537896
That is entirely up to you. There are perks, and there are negatives to both joining a union, and to abstaining. If they strike, you are expected to go without work or pay until the strike ends, instead spending all day, every day, protesting to give the strike visibility, and to intimidate "scabs," people who will work when the strike is on (whether they are part of the union or not).

Personally, I wouldn't join a union if given the choice, but that presumes that I can afford to be picky and my own personal values.

>>18537896
I will say that a skilled trade is one of the better paying honest careers that one can obtain, and certain jobs require you to join the union (working for a railway is this way, as far as I know - if you won't join, you can't be hired).

What you are being offered is a good way to become trained in a job that pays well and can not be exported, whatever your opinion of unions are.

>>18537859
Aside from decent money and possibly constant work they will teach you the correct way to build things. Go for it - have fun!

>>18537904
During a strike the union will pay you a stipend out of it's savings.

>>18537859

a labor union has the ultimate goal of being an organization that has a monopoly of all the available workers so it can 'force' its terms of employment on the employer.

They oftentimes will have petitioned to have the force of law to MAKE you join in certain industries. In other words, you don't have a choice, you have to join the union because the union went to court and uses the government to force the company to only hire members of the union.

and like >>18537887 said:

>you usually become a part of a work force that values nepotism over qualifications.

For some people who can't perform in a competitive environment, this is the only way they will be able to have any hope at a stable income that is not a purely entry level job.

The problem is, if you are someone who can get by on your merits, you are going to see people who are utterly terrible at their job escape any consequences of being terrible, including being so bad that people get hurt or die because of their incompetence.

Obviously I have a bias based on what I just put, but in the modern era, a labor union has revealed many bad things in their operation that people back in the day had no idea a union would be able to do, including the government unions being able to vote to increase their own pay like a politician.

Unions are a socialist ploy to break the entrepreneurial spirit of free men and enslave them to a life of serfdom. Everyone needs to negotiate the price of their own labor individually for each job. Stay away of unions and anyone promoting them.