Why Would You Join a Union?

From the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report, I found that the number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions is about 14.4 million. ("Bureau of labor," 2013) If you ask me, why would I join a union? The first reason why I choose to join a union is that the union can protect my rights. As we know, union is an important organization for employees. Employees can solve problems at work more effectively as a group. Through forming a union and negotiating a contract, employees can secure the things they like about their job, and they can make changes in areas that need improvement. (“Why form a union?”). And the union represent employees’ rights and negotiate with their company to help employees gain benefits. Being a union member, I have a chance to provide my own thinking about the work. In a union, people who actually do the work have a say in how the things operate. Instead of simply deal with decisions come from managers, union member will have a strong voice in the policies and decisions. It means that union member have a chance to solve real problem. So union member have a voice on the job. ("Why join a union") The third reason is that I can get better pay after I join the union. Generally speaking, union jobs pay significantly more than non-union jobs. From top to bottom, industry to industry, region to region, union wages are roughly 15 percent higher than non-union wages. (MACARAY, 2008) According to a January 2011 Bureau of Labor Statistics report, workers who belong to a union typically earn higher pay than non-union workers doing the same kind of job. The median weekly earnings of union workers are 28 percent higher than non-union workers. ("The union advantage") Except earn more money than non-union employees, I also can get some other benefits. Unions often have a strong benefits package which they are able to extract from the employer. ("Top reasons why people join unions," 2007) Union contract will provide union members medical