Archived Unionize

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bikebryan said:
Wow. I don't know how to say this nicely so I'll just be blunt: life is NOT FAIR and never will be. You can't legislate or mandate fairness and all the unions in the world can NOT change that in the workplace. In fact Unions can remove fairness in the workplace. Is it fair if the harder worker is passed over for promotion because they have less seniority than the lazy @ss slacker? NO, but that is often what happens in Union shops. So much for your fairness.
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Unions can change the workplace, they are the whole reason we have the whole child labor laws and such.

I'm not sure about unionization but I do know that Target cannot continue like this. Burnout is rising, more and more team members are questioning every decision for good reason, and guests are no longer being helped. Every comment we receive is about lack of team members on the floor. I think one thing that would be nice would be a minimum number of team members on the salesfloor at all times (say two who are capable of answering backup calls).

Really anything that would add stability to the workplace would be an improvement. Wal-Mart found out the hard way that going against the employees every time made headlines which reduced their brand into nothingness. Analysts are starting to worry about the same thing at Target.
 
Miguel said:
Well said Greatteam! You've got the RICH wanting to pay NO taxes, especially if it funds the poor who are homeless, without food, without any prospects in life. They want to get rid of food stamps, welfare, medicaid, assisted living, but what are the people making 7$/hour supposed to do? First off, we need to make 10$/hour the MINIMUM wage in this county. 2nd, we need an amendment that makes it MANDATORY that ALL employers give their employees COST OF LIVING increases! If not, you'll see employers continue to give their employees 5 cents or 10 cents or sometimes NO raise at all! You put in an entire YEAR of your life at a company, and they have the audacity to give their employees little to NO raise, yet the CEO's and officers and VP's get MILLIONS of dollars in Salary, and more in Bonuses and Deferred Compensation and the list goes ON and ON!
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First of all, a part-time retail job isn't designed to be able to sustain someone forever! Its PART-TIME... as in you just work some hours so theoretically you should only be able to pay some of your bills! If you work a full-time job you should be able to pay your bills IN FULL! Sure, the job *could* be full-time as a TM, but its not set up to be and therefore you can't expect it to get you by easily... If you want something that can sustain your living arrangements, find something that will pay you like a full-time job (TL or above or somewhere else)....
 
bikebryan said:
Wow. I don't know how to say this nicely so I'll just be blunt: life is NOT FAIR and never will be. You can't legislate or mandate fairness and all the unions in the world can NOT change that in the workplace. In fact Unions can remove fairness in the workplace. Is it fair if the harder worker is passed over for promotion because they have less seniority than the lazy @ss slacker? NO, but that is often what happens in Union shops. So much for your fairness.
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My mom always said that life isn't fair so people have to be.
Or at the very least have to try to be.
Corporations are not people (despite what the Supreme Court and some elephant presidential candidates would like us to believe).
Which is fine, they serve one function to make a profit for the shareholders.
Spot does not have a conscience and is never going to be fair.
Unions are people.
At least they are made up of people and when there are things wrong with them, the people can get together and change them by voting (yes, there is corruption, laziness and stupidity, nothing is perfect)
I would argue that part of the reason that Spot has gone so far downhill in the past few years in term of the treatment of TM's is that unions have been weakened.
 
Here are THE FACTS: Unions make work enviroments SAFER, they make employees get paid MORE, they make the benefits BETTER and LESS expensive, and they give you LOST of JOB PROTECTIONS!
 
Just to be clear, life is supposed to GET BETTER, GET FAIRER in a "civilized" society. We are supposed to LEARN from past mistakes and be PROGRESSIVE, meaning make the standard of living BETTER for future generations. Which means making the LOW income jobs paid MORE, making the OVERpaid employees make LESS, give BETTER health insurance coverage and make that coverage available to EVERYONE. That is why Europe is SO much BETTER than our country, because they have DEVELOPED and LEARNED from history, which is why health insurance is FREE, College is FREE, retirement is MUCH higher paid social security, getting sick/disabled is FREE and you are PROTECTED COMPLETELY during such events. Nursing homes are FREE! Their minimum wage is MUCH higher than our country. Let's face it, our country STINKS compared to MOST countries in EUROPE. SOCIALISM is PERFECT. I guess the problem with some of those posting on here can only be explained "sour grapes" would be my guess. You are mad that things weren't better when YOU were being paid 7$/hr. Let's all try to GET ALONG =) BE NICE 🙂 and CARE about one another by being EMPATHETIC to the POOR and LOW income people, and UNinsured. EVERY deserves to have a decent standard of living, owning a vehicle for transporation, owning some type of home, having cable tv/internet, and getting atleast ONE "vacation" per year, even if it's a "poor man's vacation" like camping, etc. Have a GREAT evening everyone =)
 
Well said! I won't believe corporations are people (i.e. "Citizens United" and Mitt Romney!)
 
Miguel said:
Here are THE FACTS: Unions make work enviroments SAFER, they make employees get paid MORE, they make the benefits BETTER and LESS expensive, and they give you LOST of JOB PROTECTIONS!
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I am willing to put money down that you work for a union and not spot...
I don't think I would unionize.
 
I am quite curious as to what position Miguel actually has.
 
Miguel said:
Here are THE FACTS: Unions make work enviroments SAFER, they make employees get paid MORE, they make the benefits BETTER and LESS expensive, and they give you LOST of JOB PROTECTIONS!
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Strange. I work in a Union shop. We will have no raises in the next three years, new standards none of us agree with have been put in place by management, and benefits cost more than ever. So much for all your "facts."
 
Red11 said:
Wouldn't suprise me a bit if we didn't have several Union people on here trying to stir things up.
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I don't think any of the people doing the stirring 'work' for a union.
I've been a TM for a while and have always been pro union as anybody who follows me on this site can tell you.
It's when the company does something particularly nasty like cut peoples benefits that the blenders turns to frappe.
 
bikebryan said:
Strange. I work in a Union shop. We will have no raises in the next three years, new standards none of us agree with have been put in place by management, and benefits cost more than ever. So much for all your "facts."
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Exactly, unionizing isn't the answer anyways, as Target won't let it ever happen. Now Talen's slowdown idea has some interesting possibilities, maybe some organized call in sick days.
 
commiecorvus said:
I don't think any of the people doing the stirring 'work' for a union.
I've been a TM for a while and have always been pro union as anybody who follows me on this site can tell you.
It's when the company does something particularly nasty like cut peoples benefits that the blenders turns to frappe.
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You may not be but that is exactly the thing Unions would do, and I have no doubt some on here are.
 
bikebryan said:
Strange. I work in a Union shop. We will have no raises in the next three years, new standards none of us agree with have been put in place by management, and benefits cost more than ever. So much for all your "facts."
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Yea, I always try to point out to people that unions aren't magic.
If you have a weak union or the people in the union aren't willing to take the steps necessary to fight and win, then the company will take advantage of the worker.
It all comes down to the people, you have to believe in what you are doing.
There was a time when it seemed like Target believed in its TM's so a union wasn't really necessary.
I'd say that has clearly changed.
 
My research seems to show that unions have lost alot of the power over the years due to legislation against unions and also legislation that makes it ok for being to not participate in the union. The fewer people that participate in the union, the power and influence the union is going to have. Also, the less the union members hold their union accountable, meaning fight as a team instead act as if it's everybody for themselves. Our culture has unfortunately really gone that way which helps businesses and corporations because they prey on people's weakness to get greedy, and many seem to think they will be able to better negotiate their own raise or promotion. Unfortunately, due to the high degree of politics in the workplace, in many cases its the people who have friends in high places that generally get the promotions, big raises, etc. I've heard some arguing that they feel that unions only reward those with seniority, which isn't actually true, but at the same time, isn't it more appropriate that people who are the oldest and have the most experience get the best pay, etc, because they only have so many years left before they retire.
 
I'm not all for unions but i'm also not apposed to them, this is soemthing I believe I need to experience for myself to determine if its beneficial. But I will say this, I agree 1000000% that Target Corp. needs a wakeup call/slap in the face, they are getting too comfortable cutting cost and making money sadly a Union is the only option the tm's have to voice their opinion, hotlines,emails they all have failed sofar. They need to actually listen!
 
VonGrauten said:
I'm going to put this out there because it needs to be said.

First off I'm a former Target employee I left four months ago and am doing considerably better.

Secondly, the fact that Target is making billions but can't afford a livable wage for all of its employees is reprehensible. Also the fact that you work yourself to the bone and they give you a great review only to give you 12 cents more an hour is an insult. Your skills and experience deserve more. Without you the stores cease to function.

From what I've read and observed if the continuing tread continues it will get worse, much much worse.

The largest rumor I've heard is that a college degree will be require for Team Leads going forward. If that's true it doesn't matter how hard you work anymore. Requiring that for an hourly lead position is WRONG and you the employees should stand up for yourselves.

I'd like to see we started to see stores S imagine how quickly Target would fold. It starts with one store, then another and another. Unionize demand a say in the company you work so hard for. Don't let the people on the top **** on your hard work.

Although I know this will never happen it would be nice if it did.
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Target can be better. But unions are not going to help. Unions in the retail business world usually don't work to well. I support unions but they do work better in more labor intensive workplaces, such as mines and factories.

Unions will probably get you $1-2 per extra hour. But you will end up paying it back to the union for fees. I have seen Grocery stores pay people about $10 an hour, but you end up only getting $7 of it goes to dues.

Unions will make sure the stores are run even in stricter manner. If you are salesfloor, you will not be pull anything from the back room. It will be the backroom TMs responsibility. You will not be able to clock in until exactly the start of your scheduled shift. There would probably be no backup for the front lanes. Salesfloor would just maintain the salesfloor.

No cross training. You will be in one department until another area has an opening. Strict equipment usage.

Double the amount of reviews and safety checks.
 
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