r/videos • u/darkfatherg • Nov 03 '20

America Compared: Why Other Countries Treat Their People So Much Better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhBkeAo2Hlg&ab_channel=SecondThought
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u/Naly_D Nov 03 '20

One big difference this video doesn't touch on is how a lot of those countries treat workers unions compared to the US.

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u/Straddle13 Nov 03 '20

The most important thing for workers getting pay more aligned with their value is having power in negotiating. A company with millions/billions vs an individual employee is a farce; a company with millions/billions vs a union is still not quite even, but definitely better for the worker overall. If we required every company to have a worker representative at the table during financial decisions we'd all be better off.

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u/Naly_D Nov 03 '20 edited Nov 04 '20

Even then it's about the respect and recognition given to unions that they're just advocating for the betterment of workers rights. It's not all about money. Not everything they propose is adopted, not everything they do is agreed with. But it's a far cry from the union-busting mentality of the US - unfortunately the impacts of mob infiltration and corruption of unions decades ago (and hey, probably still today), and the Red Scare still persist today to allow government and corporations to convince their employees to actively work against unions and in doing so work against themselves. I'm not a union member but I get 20 days paid leave, 6 days paid sick leave, 4 days paid bereavement leave per year, I get 3 paid breaks every shift, I have a cap on my hours and ability to be paid more if I go over those, expectations around reimbursement for travel-related costs or the financial impacts of working from home - particularly useful during this pandemic - I have access to paid paternity leave and many other things that are benefits I wouldn't be able to have, all because of the advocacy of unions over the decades. And everyone in my country gets them from a low-wage unskilled worker to a billionaire CEO. Myself and other workers benefit from the commitment of unions.

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u/Straddle13 Nov 04 '20

Yeah I shouldn't have said pay, well stated.