Essay On Public Employee Unions

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Public Employee Unions Drew Svorinic Northern Arizona University When some people think of a union they see guys and gals in the Detroit automotive industry working 12-hour shifts or the people loading and unloading massive cargo ships, what they don’t see are the 51% of all union members being public employees but only 37.6% of government works are unionized. ("Ban government employee," 2009) This is the first time in the history of unions that government employees outnumber the private sector employees who are associated with unions. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the 2009 union membership rate was 12.3% compared to 2008’s 12.4%. The BLS also stated that more public sector employees (7.9 million) belonged to a…show more content…
These unions were there to help support those workers in a very stressful and physically demanding job. Unions are the organization that communicates and negotiates with the large corporation about specific topics such as wages. Unions use a tool called collective bargaining. The process of collective bargaining begins with employees represented by the union meet with cooperate members to discuss specific items about the employees environment. The benefits of a union are helping workers secure improvements in their workplace such as safety and wage increases. Union may also be able to prevent layoffs or pay cuts by the threat of a walkout or strike which will then shut down all…show more content…
We see the big picture and gladly accept the responsibility of guarding and nurturing it — not because we expect to be recognized for our sacrifice, but because we know the job needs to be done. That’s why we’re in the public service — to keep our families safe and make our communities strong.” (About afscme) The AFSCME covers many areas such as budget and tax, environment, health & safety, health care, pension, privatization, and women. They represent over 100,000 law enforcement officers, emergency medical service workers, fire fighters, and correction officers
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