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Comment by forkandwait | Hacker News Reader

You know, I don't support unions as automatically as I used to. From my amateur interest in Toyota and industrial management, one of the major problems with unions isn't wages but inflexible work rules, seniority attached to certain very minutely defined jobs and no accompanying cross training/ rotation, and general bad attitude.

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I've never worked for one, but it wasn't an ideological thing. If you worked with people for more than 6 months or so, you'd get your team broken up. If management found out that you were friends with a group of coworkers and were getting together outside of work, you'd get reassigned so none of you were working together. It was the harassment to prevent people from unionizing that that made it a bad working environment.

Yeah, that is sort of weird if it is like that. I don't have any personal experience at all, not even secondhand... but I know Toyota rotates people around all the time according to the books I am reading about them (which do have rose colored viewpoints). I hate to say it, but I have worked with production factory workers who would whine about anything -- having to do inventory, learn a new skill, meet a new person; I am a bit cynical about their complaints. Does "getting reassigned" == "harassment" ? maybe...

This was pretty specifically anti-union behavior, although obviously nothing was done that would generate any paper trail. I am sure there was some exaggeration due to human nature, but it is basically an open secret that large non-union shops will do just about anything to prevent unions from forming.

It may be different for line employees, the people I knew worked skilled trades, electrician, hvac, etc.

Interesting. I am not sure I blame them for fighting the unions, honestly, but there you go.

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