-----Original Message----- From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Date: Tuesday, April 20, 1999 12:20 PM Subject: Re: Service Industry Unions
>Jennifer A Young wrote:
>
>>The article
>>mentioned that unions have historically shunned "the young, low-wage
workers
>>that staff the retail sector".
>
>Because they're very difficult to organize and because low-wage workers
>can't pay big dues. That last point is rarely talked about, but several
>people have told me that the UAW has shied away from organizing relatively
>low-wage workers in the auto parts industry because there's no financial
>payoff. On the other hand, some unions, like HERE and the SEIU, are giving
>it the old college try.
>
>Doug
Dear Doug,
I am no economist, and I am not an expert on unions- yet. Please bear with me, I am openminded and I just want to learn.
I have no answer to the difficultly in organizing these folks yet, and I know the process of organizing in the scope of a unified national campaign is going to cost money in the beginning.
I called my local UAW and they gave me their union dues pay structure. The friendly fellow I spoke to said they assess two hours pay per month, and only if the individual has worked fourty hours. Folks on sick leave do not have to pay dues for that period. So, I want to look at this hypothetically. I worked in a McDonald's fairly recently that had over 75 employees. I am sure many were part-time, and I do not want to complicate this too much yet. Let's say an average restuarant has 50 employees that would potentially pay union dues. The average hourly wage in this model will be $6.00 per hour. Each employee will then pay $12 per month in union dues. That would be $600 dollars a month or $7200 per year in union dues for that store alone. I counted at least 60 McDonald's stores in the Indianapolis Yellow Pages. That could mean $432,000 dollars in union dues per year from McDonald's in this city alone. I do not know how many McDonald's stores are in the US, but Liza's article said there were 23,500 worldwide. That would mean $1,692,000,000 per year world wide in potential union dues from McDonald's employees. Other resturants and retailers have not even been included yet. How much finacial payoff do the unions want? I know this is a best case scenario that is not feasible in the eyes of practical people, but I see potential.
Doug, on an unrelated note, I am wondering how I can personally e-mail folks on this list. I see no e-mail addresses for individuals posted. Since, we are supposed to limited to three messages a day, it might be more conservitive if I e-mailed someone personally to give a one line reply.
Peace, Jennifer