Archived Target's Anti Union Video

[commiecorvus]

A barrier between me & my supervisors? Yeh, it's called indifference (theirs).
Buying into an 'insurance benefit' vs having them eliminated. Check.
Dues going to support candidates you may or may not like vs your CEO donating to a PAC that promotes a controversial candidate causing guests to harass workers who had no say in the matter & aren't allowed to talk to the media. Check that.
Old-timers who've worked there for decades looking out for their own paycheck vs old-timers getting coached out the door because they were making too much. 'kay.
Yep, unions in retail would be veddy, veddy bad.

this

And this again

 

[FrontEndKnowItAll]

I worked at a unionized grocery store... started at 8.55 and was making 14.25 in two years. I had great health, vision, and dental insurance that was payed for with my union dues. I was guaranteed 26 hours per week no matter what. I started with one weeks paid vacation, then at 1 years it was 2 weeks, 2 years was 3 weeks, and 4 years was full five weeks. Plus at 1 year you got 3 personal days (6 hours each) then at 2 years you got 5 personal days.

Only draw back about it was that vacation had to be taken in full weeks, but, that wasn't really an inconvenience.

Union dues were 2 hours every other pay period... So for under $30 per month I got paid $5 more per hour than places such as Target or WalMart, had guaranteed minimum hours, tons of vacation time, and very good health insurance.

As far as a barrier between supervisors and employees I think that depends more on the supervisors and employees than it does the union. I loved my boss, he would routinely invite us to his house for a bonfire, dinner, bowling night, baseball games, etc. I wasn't fond of the Store Manager, but, that was because he was a lazy ass! Not because he wasn't a member of the union!

The way I see it I made $6-800 more per month and it only cost me $28.50/month +$60 annual fee. I was pension and 401k eligible (very comparable to Targets).



Not that I am saying that unions are the grace of god, I am just saying that in the 4 years that I worked for one I didn't have any problems, I was paid well, I had good benefits, the dues were more than reasonable for what I got in return, and it offered a sense of security.

The major drawback I saw was that regardless of you being a good employee or a poor employee every one got the same raises! That and in the past you had to be promoted based on seniority so an Assistant Department Manager of mine told me that he only got the job because they wanted to promote the guy that was hired a week after him, but, because of his seniority they ended up promoting both of them just to get the one that they wanted... That has since changed and I haven't heard of any situation like that out side of that incident (which was in the mid 1970s)

In the years I worked there there were more positions created that look similar to what we see at Target. They made a position called "Retail Specialist" and that is what they are using to replace Assistant Department Managers and even a few Department Managers at slower stores.

The only people that were not union in my grocery store were:
*Assistant Store Manager - Front End (ETL-GE)
*Assistant Store Manager - Grocery (SrETL - Merch/Food)
*Store Manager (ETL-HR)
*General Manager (STL)

Otherwise all department managers (TLs) were a part of the union.

 

[spikegrouchy]

I worked at a unionized grocery store... started at 8.55 and was making 14.25 in two years. I had great health, vision, and dental insurance that was payed for with my union dues. I was guaranteed 26 hours per week no matter what. I started with one weeks paid vacation, then at 1 years it was 2 weeks, 2 years was 3 weeks, and 4 years was full five weeks....Union dues were 2 hours every other pay period... So for under $30 per month I got paid $5 more per hour than places such as Target or WalMart, had guaranteed minimum hours, tons of vacation time, and very good health insurance...

Not that I am saying that unions are the grace of god, I am just saying that in the 4 years that I worked for one I didn't have any problems, I was paid well, I had good benefits, the dues were more than reasonable for what I got in return, and it offered a sense of security...all department managers (TLs) were a part of the union.

Now that's what I call benefits!

But alas, Target would never permit a union store to exist. If a store ever got a union vote and won...Spot would close the store and re-open a new one down the road. Corporate would say that closing the store had "nothing to do with it being a union store, but because of Guest demand Target is opening a new, state of the art design just minutes from the old store...blah, blah, blah...!"

 

[StateofTarget]

Now that's what I call benefits!

But alas, Target would never permit a union store to exist. If a store ever got a union vote and won...Spot would close the store and re-open a new one down the road. Corporate would say that closing the store had "nothing to do with it being a union store, but because of Guest demand Target is opening a new, state of the art design just minutes from the old store...blah, blah, blah...!"

Honestly, I believe the best way to handle the situation at Target (if someone really wants better pay and benefits badly) is to go to a totally different field that is already union or get a degree and go in to a professional job.

A union at Target would not work because 80% of TMs are teenagers. They have no loyalty to the store (for the long term, anyway) and don't plan on staying. Therefore they (as "the union") really wouldn't care to try improve anything.

 

[Miguel]

They all do it

We all have seen them, some have seen an older version and some an updated version. When you have orientation at Target you are forced to watch a bunch of pointless videos, one of them being "Target Anti-Union" video. Which is determined to S fear into us TM's of unions, and while unions can be sketchy, the video that Target puts out every so often is full of BS!

here is the link to one the videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVqOxmb34yc

Tell me your thoughts

Having worked for all the big retail places, walmart, kmart, target, Sears, Walgreens, etc, I can tell you that almost all of them offer a similar video. While some people don't like paying the union dues, some feel it's worth it to have the job protection, better benefits, wages, pensions, bigger 401k contributions, safety, etc. I guess it just depends on your preference of those two =)

 

[talan123]

That's why some unions require that you be on the job for a year or two before you can collect full benefits/pay.

I have to admit that Target's upper management makes the need for a union necessary. It takes a special kind of level of something to give the discounts we gave this year during december 2011 and only have a an increase of 1.6% The complete lack of communication from top to bottom of this company is just a disgrace.

 

[Miguel]

Having worked for many businesses and corporations, I can honestly say that it's the same everywhere, meaning all upper management and corporations have high levels of confidentiality regarding full policy decisions and information, so to piggyback on your comment, they are ALL disgraceful about being transparent and open/honest about how/why things are handled the way they are.

 

[nib]

Yes, Virginia can sure be a difficult state, they have a Repub governor and both houses, all very anti union

I worked in a grocery store chain while a member of a union, and we got annual guaranteed cost of living raises of $0.25. Pretty nice, and I'm impressed that they managed to accomplish that in Virginia, where the conservative hegemony has neutered unions.

 

[nib]

what a shame employers force such things on their employees.

We all have seen them, some have seen an older version and some an updated version. When you have orientation at Target you are forced to watch a bunch of pointless videos, one of them being "Target Anti-Union" video. Which is determined to S fear into us TM's of unions, and while unions can be sketchy, the video that Target puts out every so often is full of BS!

here is the link to one the videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVqOxmb34yc

Tell me your thoughts