For extra delicious context, going point by point through this post, my job is unionized and I:
work 37.5 hours a week with full benefits
have a 45 minute lunch break and two fifteen minute breaks a day (the breaks are technically unpaid, hence the 37.5 weekly amount)
My benefits include health insurance, dental and vision insurance, life insurance, access to free legal counsel, access to a Health Advocates service that will help me navigate the health system, guaranteed paid sick days and vacation days that roll over year to year, federal holidays off, parental and bereavement leave, overtime pay, free telehealth, continuing education scholarships, a retirement account my employer pays into, and a full pension once I have spent 10 years in this job
Guaranteed pay increases at set intervals - I make about $12k more per year now than I did when I started six and a half years ago
when Management started replacing union positions with 'seasonal' employees, the union fought back. Also, when Management tried to mass layoff all the existing seasonal employees at the beginning of the pandemic shutdown, the union fought for them to continue to be paid, even though they weren't union members (that only worked for a while, but it did get them several more months of pay, and coming back from shutdown all positions are now union ones)
For that matter, when my job shut down for six months at the beginning of the pandemic, I had full job security and kept my pay and my benefits
For extra extra context, my union contract is considered ehhhhhhhh fine I guess but it could be a lot stronger, isn't it sad that unions don't have as much power as they used to
