Who will bear the operating expenses of trade unions in the United States?

As a domestic university graduate, I can't even find the lowest job because I don't know English after coming to the United States. After many twists and turns, I finally found a job as a clerk in a hospital and became a trade union member. Now I will talk about the basic situation of American trade unions in combination with my own experience.

The basic structure and functions of trade unions

The trade union organized workers in several hospitals, including cleaners, clerks, various skilled workers and some nurses. As trade union members, we must pay our dues to the trade union. More than ten years ago, the annual membership fee was 400-500 yuan. Later, when I changed to a job with a higher salary, the membership fee went up. This trade union is quite large, with tens of thousands of members. Membership dues, plus various fees paid by the hospital to the trade union, the trade union is still quite rich. In Manhattan, the union bought its own office building. A few years ago, a hospital had insufficient capital turnover, and the trade union also borrowed millions to tide over the difficulties. Trade unions include trade union leaders, lawyers and financial experts. Of course, they don't work for free, but they are also paid classes. Every few years, these union workers negotiate with the hospital on behalf of their members to fight for the welfare of the workers. For example, they have worked out with the hospital the job responsibilities of each type of work, the wages of different types of work, overtime wages, and the provisions for the hospital to dismiss employees; Vacation, personal leave, sick leave and paid leave of trade union members. The trade union also asked the hospital to provide certain funds for the trade union to buy medical insurance, disability insurance and retirement plans for employees. Lawyers are experts in signing contracts. With a stroke of a pen, these regulations are watertight and protect the interests of members to the greatest extent. Financial experts know the hospital's finances like the back of their hands, and have also done market research, knowing the market value of salaries of various posts, as well as the annual inflation rate and living index. When talking with the hospital about workers' salary increase, a lot of figures were placed on the negotiating table to explain the reasons for the salary increase, as if it were going to be a salary increase. Of course, hospitals are not fuel-efficient lights. They also have lawyers and financial experts. At the negotiating table, both sides have their own tricks, masters, reasons and arguments. On the one hand, it is asking for money all over the sky, on the other hand, it is paying back the money. Finally, everyone compromised a little, and finally reached an agreement and signed a contract.

Not every time we negotiate, we workers can get a raise, but according to the specific actual situation. One year, the hospital's income was not good and it was unable to maintain its expenses. The hospital negotiated with the trade union to streamline staff and dismiss some members. The trade union understands the financial revenue and expenditure of the hospital and the difficulties of the hospital. It is recommended that natural attrition (retirement, etc.) vacate the position. ) it should be a pay cut without a raise. That is to say, if a department has 10 workers and one worker retires, there will be only nine jobs in this department, and the remaining nine workers will have to complete the workload of 10 workers. The trade union even offered to reduce wages if necessary. Workers have to work to make a living, and everyone can survive with a small salary. When a worker loses his job, the source of his family's life will be gone, and life will become a problem, which is not what everyone wants to see.

Advantages and disadvantages of trade unions

Abuse of power is probably human nature. Officials have the right to use their power to oppress the people. Trade union members are generally working class, with low education level, professional knowledge and wages, and are vulnerable groups in society. Being bullied by superiors, most people can only submit to humiliation. In the face of officials with deep pockets, not many people can argue with each other, and even if there are, the chances of winning are not high. However, there will be resistance if there is oppression. When people are bullied, unhappy and have nowhere to complain, they will do some violent things to vent and affect social stability. Trade union leaders and court professionals-lawyers and accountants-are elites of society, who are familiar with law and finance and are also experts in negotiation. It is certainly better to let them provide professional services to parliamentarians than to fight with officials alone. Membership dues are almost equivalent to buying insurance. Everyone pays to maintain the union's expenses, and the union will provide professional services to any member who needs help. With the trade union as the backing of workers, big officials and small officials dare not bully others easily. In this way, trade unions have played a role in balancing all social strata, easing social contradictions and promoting social stability.

However, it is not only officials who abuse power, but also vulnerable groups who abuse power. For example, trade unions and hospitals have formulated some work regulations to explain the scope of workers' work. Some union members use these regulations as an excuse to refuse to do any more work. They have no team spirit at all. For example, an operating room has just finished an operation and needs a cleaner to clean it before starting the next operation. If the cleaner is resting, he will refuse to do cleaning, on the grounds that the trade union stipulates that I have the right to work after rest. As a result, doctors and nurses just waited for him to rest before dragging their feet and sweeping the floor slowly. This affects the turnaround time of the operating room and wastes the manpower and material resources of the hospital. I have seen many lazy workers myself. Under the umbrella of the trade union, you can hide if you can, and you can be lazy if you can. Fortunately, these lazy people are not the mainstream of American society. The vast majority of Americans can still work hard and maintain their national output.

My clerical job is to send bills to insurance companies and patients, so that the hospital can have income. After mastering the basic work, I found that many colleagues' work was in a fog, and many bills were piled up in drawers and never sent out at all, as was my predecessor. They all graduated from high school and can handle ordinary jobs. When there is a dispute between insurance companies and patients, they don't know how to deal with those bills, and they don't want to think about how to deal with them, so there is a backlog. I tried to deal with these bad debts, which increased the income of the hospital. However, the trade union system is equal pay for equal work. I have the same position as my colleagues and the same salary, which has nothing to do with my personal performance and contribution. This practice is not conducive to mobilizing the enthusiasm of employees.

Not every hospital worker is a member of a trade union. I once asked my friends who worked in non-Union Medical College Hospital why they chose to work in non-Union Medical College Hospital. There are many reasons. Under the protection of trade unions, members' work enthusiasm is relatively low, and the profits they can generate are relatively low, which limits the growth of members' wages and members have to pay fees, which is another expense. Lazy members are protected by trade unions, so it is difficult for hospitals to dismiss them. However, they occupy jobs and can't do well, and other colleagues have to do more work to finish the work. In the long run, there are contradictions between colleagues. If you do well in non-Union Medical College Hospital, your salary will be higher (more is good, symbolic, and more will lead to vicious competition), and people will have a positive attitude towards work. The hospital doesn't want workers to join the union. Naturally, leaders at all levels should treat workers fairly (relative, of course) and properly position themselves in the contradiction of science room. The politics of hospitals should also be relatively open-minded, and employees can also have channels to reflect the situation to their superiors and punish hooligans who abuse their powers in time. Therefore, the working conditions of non-trade union hospitals are not worse than those of trade union hospitals, and they are willing to stay and work there.