"Why am I getting reprimanded?"
"Because you ran a unit test..."
"What is wrong with that?"
"It's Brian's job to press that key, not yours. You violated Union rules"
- "Sorry, I need to talk with he Union first to see what my options."
- "Hi, we decided that you need to come to work all the weekends in March and we still have to decide if we will pay for the overtime and how much".
- "Mmm... Well, let me ask the Union, but I think that this is not going to happen... I actually had lots of plans for the weekends in March."
- "Hi, you are fired. Not because you are a bad professional but because you ask too many questions and because you don't show yourself submissive in front of me".
- "Mmm... I am afraid that you will need to have a long conversation with the lawyers of the Union first".
That's what Unions are for in many countries.
1. employer is allowed to unilaterally change contract with employee?
2. employer is allowed not to pay for overtime?
3. employer can fire somebody at a whim?
In my country all three are forbidden by law, and I haven't talked about unions yet.
If you need a union to push back for you, well, sorry but most likely you're not keeping up with the average for your profession.
If, instead, you're engaged in a collective labor action, your employer cannot retaliate by firing you.
Do you remember 2004?
There's nothing intrinsic about unions that would cause that rule to exist.
Why can't there be another way than the way our grandparents' unionized?