Agreements........

Before you even know things are greed upon and finalized.  Arguments are a waste of time.  Employers lead you on, thinking that you (the employee) are  working on a resolution and meanwhile the problem had long been settled.

My Great Grand Father came to the United States in 1906  looking for a better future.  He went to work in Indiana doing odd jobs and then finding work building the railroad.  Work conditions were brutal and this led him to organize the labor force and demand rights.  Workers had to know what they were supposed to do and how many hours was their work day.  In addition, workers have to know what their work duties are.  If you are hired to do a particular job, your responsibility does not grow with pay staying flat.

Around 1925 he returned to Greece with his small fortune and brought transportation to the island where he lived (Cephalonia). His kind heart and business savvy (street smarts) led him build a large fortune but sadly the onset of world war two brought struggle.  Unemployment and hunger brought my father to this country at the end of World War II.

                

My father visited his uncle in Indiana but farming was not  his cup of tea.  Next stop was  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania the city that my Paternal Grandfather's brother had settled in the early 1900's.  He was in the restaurant business at the time early 1950's.  My father worked hard doing dishes serving diners cleaning.  The restaurant business is an excellent place to be if do not speak the language of the host country. A few months later my father finds employment in a local Pittsburgh hotel.  This hotel was a unionized shop.  When a person works for a business that is unionized every employee has a specific task.  More people get to work in ideal conditions.  With more people working the economy is in a better balance.

With duties defined work is no longer slavery.  Morale is up and production is better when every worker knows that they have to do a specific task and not every single thing that needs to be done.  When every one who signs a contract follows the outline there are no problems.  Sometimes management tries to trim budgets and attempts to consolidate positions to save pay and benefits.  For a minimal payout or the promise of overtime, certain employees will choose to betray the agreement.  When either side of the bargaining table begins to give in to previously negotiated contracts, signals the beginning of the end. 

Production maximization is good as long as workers rights are respected according the agreements settled on by the relative parties.

We live in a Free Society, where employers and employees can spell out their demands and iron them out in  an agreement.  Before unions and agreements, people worked in horrible conditions that resembled slavery.