Comment on Unions as a 21st Century Anti-Fascist Force
alvvayson@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days ago
I fully agree.
Also, one thing that Unions always have trouble with is that there is no individual benefit to joining a union, only a cost, so you get a prisoners dilemma type situation.
Even in Scandinavian countries, union membership is on the decline.
Personally, I think the solution should be that union dues are paid by a small tax, making it ‘free’ to join a union. And the unions can provide free benefits to their members, such as legal advice and representation. This will make it attractive to join a union.
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
A nice idea, but kinda putting the cart before the horse when talking about unions as a safeguard against the fascist government which presently levies taxes.
alvvayson@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days ago
Nothing in this world is free. The US tax rate isn’t high. The issue is, you don’t get a good value back.
You can’t have strong unions without money for unions.
Organizing people costs money.
Union dues tend to be in the $10-50 per month range, while unions easily increase wages by hundreds a month through collective bargaining.
Most of the unions costs are fixed, so if everyone is a member the average due can easily be on the lower end ($10-20).
If you have a problem with that, then that’s exactly why you don’t have strong unions.
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
I think we might be talking past each other here. I support unions, and obviously unions need money to support members during strikes, account other things. I just don’t know how taxes factor into it when fighting an administration which is definitely not going to sponsor government funded unions. I’m not really quite sure of your point.
alvvayson@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 days ago
I’m talking about long-term non-US centric policy.
I don’t mean to imply that this is a priority for the short term in the US.