My union experience

When I worked for UPS, I was required to belong to the Teamsters Union - Local 431 I think. What I remember about my union membership:

I paid a $150 initiation fee for the great honor to call myself a Teamster. That was a lot of money in 1978, heck it’s still a lot of money.

I had to pay monthly dues. UPS had to take the money out my check, just like Social Security, so that I never saw it. I don’t recall how much they took, but it was enough that I remember being upset the week they took the money out for monthly dues.

I remember my dad, a self-employed painting contractor, telling me, “I never thought I’d live to see the day a son of mine would be paying union dues.”

My “leadership vote” was diluted about four times. That is I voted for a guy, who voted for another guy, who voted for still another guy, who finally voted for my union representative.

We went on strike for two weeks one summer. The first week of the strike I received no union help. The second week I received a whopping $50 from the union. I had to drive to union headquarters and fill out a ream of paperwork and stand in line for an hour. The woman who “gave” me a bit of my money back counted it out as carefully as if it were her own then made me sign for it. Apparently, there was no way for the union to make the payments to its membership at the strike site were we were all assigned times to walk the picket line.

One night I was leaving to go do my picket duty and my dad asked me where I was going. Picket duty I replied. He just shook his head and refined his earlier comment to, “I never thought I’d live to see the day a son of mine would be walking a picket line.” To which I replied, “Hey this is the Teamsters Union, there’s only one union bigger – the Soviet Union and they are about as ruthless.” Teamsters slashed several sets of tires in the parking lot and other wise harassed everyone going in and out of the building.

When the strike ended, the mighty Teamsters had gotten its membership a $.25 an hour raise. The union rep came to me told me I should vote to accept the offer. I told him, “I would have made about $400 bucks the two weeks we were out on strike. I’ll have to work 1,600 hours at $.25 an hour to make up that $400.” The figures went right over the union reps head. He was convinced the union had brought UPS to its knees.

When I left UPS, I went to the union office to get a withdrawal card. I paid $25 for the right to rejoin the union without those pesky initiation fees.

As a guy who wanted to show up on time, do my job and get paid, I had little use for the union. The one time in three years I did have a problem with management the union rep came to the meeting and sat back silent while I got my butt chewed. After the meeting he offered me this bit of insight, “Be careful. They are watching you now.” To which I replied, “Ya think?”

Happy Labor Day to all my Teamster brothers.