@VOTAQuestionseconomy11yrs ago

Do you believe labor unions help or hurt the economy?

Labor unions represent workers in many industries in the United States. Their role is to bargain over wages, benefits, working conditions for their membership. Larger unions also typically engage in lobbying activities and electioneering at the state and federal level.

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Answer Overview

Response rates from 14 Belgian voters.

57% Help	43% Hurt
29% Help	43% Hurt
29% Help, in theory but have recently become corrupt and should have their powers limited	0% Hurt, I support some private unions but am strongly against public unions
0% Help, but ban their ability to make political donations

Historical Support

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Historical Importance

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Latest News

Stay up-to-date on the most recent “Labor Unions” news articles, updated frequently.

@VOTA submitted…1yr1Y

Gaza War Opens Divisions In Left-Wing Unions

Since last fall, many rank-and-file union members have been outspoken in their criticism of Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attacks, in which Hamas-led militants killed more than 1,000 people and took about 250 hostages. The leaders of many national unions have appeared more cautious, at times emphasizing the precipitating role of Hamas.The leaders, who are generally elected, may reflect the views of most of the 10 percent of U.S. workers who belong to unions. But that percentage has been dwindling for decades. By contrast, the portion of the labor movement that has been growing rapidly in recent years — Starbucks baristas, REI workers, graduate students, medical residents — skews young and to the left, precisely the demographic that cares most about the war in Gaza.“Insofar as the new energy is about those young people — and it mostly is — part of what comes with that is Gaza being a high priority,” said Ruth Milkman, a sociologist who studies labor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.Members of teachers’ unions have also parted company with their parent union. At the American Federation of Teachers convention this summer, when some members sought to amend the resolution on Gaza so it would call for a suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel, the convention’s chair did not allow the motion to go forward.

@SomberPony from Minnesota submitted…12mos12MO

Boeing Union Goes on Strike, Halting 737 Production

Boeing biggest labor union went on strike, halting production of its best-selling jets and dealing the latest blow to the struggling aerospace giant. Thousands of machinists who build Boeing’s 737, 777 and 767 jets walked off the job shortly after midnight Pacific time Friday, after rejecting a labor deal struck between the union’s leaders and Boeing’s executives. The contract offered 25% wage increases over four years. Union leaders of the 33,000-member International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers chapter said about 94% of their members voted to reject the contract and 96% voted to go on strike. The officials said they would seek to return to the negotiating table with the company.The strike will deal a financial blow when Boeing is bleeding cash and piling up debt following January’s Alaska Airlines accident in which a door plug blew off a 737 MAX jetliner in midair. A prolonged stoppage threatens to further strain the industry’s supply chain and exacerbate jet shortages for airlines. Boeing shares fell roughly 4% in premarket trading.

@VOTA submitted…9mos9MO

Volkswagen Faces Explosive Strikes Over Plant Closures and Job Cuts

Tens of thousands of Volkswagen workers will participate Monday in strikes at plants across Germany, labor union IG Metall said, marking the largest walkouts at the carmaker’s domestic operations since 2018.The walkouts, which are planned to last several hours, follow weeks of collective bargaining negotiations during which VW refused to rule out mass layoffs and potential plant closures in its home market — drastic measures the company says are necessary to prop up its fortunes amid competition from China and weaker European demand.A so-called “peace obligation” between workers and the company, which prohibited industrial action, expired on Saturday, allowing strikes to take place from Sunday at virtually all of Volkswagen’s German factories.“If necessary, this will become the toughest wage dispute Volkswagen has ever seen,” IG Metall’s chief negotiator Thorsten Groeger said in a statement Sunday. “How long and intense this dispute will be is Volkswagen’s responsibility at the negotiating table.”“Volkswagen has set our collective bargaining agreements on fire, and instead of extinguishing this fire during three rounds of negotiations, the management board keeps throwing open barrels of gasoline onto it,” he added.The walkouts will be the first large-scale strikes that Volkswagen has faced since 2018, according to IG Metall, when 50,000 workers idled plants over pay. Although the work stoppages will last only a few hours, it is possible that 24-hour warning strikes could be called later this year. Indefinite strikes could also be called as a last resort, but only after members have been consulted again, IG Metall said.The strikes represent a fresh headache for Europe’s largest automaker, which saw operating profit for the first nine months of the year tumble by a fifth from the previous year, as its flagship brand struggled. Vehicle sales also slipped on particularly weak demand in China, where it is losing market share to Chinese electric vehicle brands.

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