[Histonet] Re: Histonet Digest, Vol 99, Issue 22

[Edwards, Richard E.]

I have been a Trade Union(TU) member for all my working life, primarily because I believed in the  TU concept of workers coming together to further their goals and as a counterbalance against exploitative employers, latterly I view  TU membership  more as an insurance policy should I need it against my  employer, somewhere to  get advice and legal help from should it become necessary.The trouble  with merit based salaries is the  subjectiveness of their assessments,  for example if an employee has a personality clash or whatever with his line manager then he  is unlikely to be correctly awarded financially.
                    
                                               Richard  Edwards

                                                 Leicester U.K.

                                              

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Amos Brooks
Sent: 17 February 2012 22:02
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Re: Histonet Digest, Vol 99, Issue 22

Hi,
     My lab is in a university with a union. I do not find it helpful at
all. The union is great at protecting people from the university firing
them weather justly or not. It keeps all salaries the same weather one tech
works harder than another or not. It prevents techs from getting a job
based on their skills. Salaries are uniform and not merit based. Annual
reviews are not even merit based. I really feel that I can make a better
argument for my compensation on my own without having to negotiate for the
whole university. If a tech gets a better offer elsewhere the department
can't counter-offer for the tech without the whole university expecting the
same.
     Why stay? I really enjoy the work I am doing and there are certain
benefits that I know I can't get elsewhere. Is that because of the union?
Perhaps to some extent, but these benefits existed before the union
started. If there were no union and there was a vote to have one start up,
I would vote NO. I don't expect everyone would agree with me, but that is
my observation.

Amos

On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 10:55 AM, <histonet-request <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
> wrote:

> Message: 21
> Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:53:50 -0600
> From: "Pam Bakken" <Pam.Bakken <@t> childrensmn.org>
> Subject: [Histonet] Union positions?
> To: <histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
> Message-ID: <4F3E23AE02000000000570D5 <@t> vcgwia1.childrenshc.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Trying to put together some numbers, any and all responses to these
> questions would be greatly appreciated.  How many HT's are in union
> positions?  If you were applying for a position, how much of a factor would
> it be if it was a union position?
>
> Thanks in advance for your help!
>
_______________________________________________
Histonet mailing list
Histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet