[Aurornis]

Unions strike primarily for collective bargaining purposes.

They use the bargaining to set contract terms that restrict how people can be fired.

A union member who gets in trouble can leverage union resources and representation to protect themselves.

One of my family members did a term as a union rep. He was getting really frustrated with some of the little claims that union members wanted to use the union to protect themselves from, but it was part of the job. Fortunately for him there wasn’t a serious incident like this to deal with during his term.

[pbhjpbhj]

I'm in a union. My dad has been a union rep (different union), so I know a bit.

There is no way my colleagues would go out on strike to protect me if I stole anything. And that's absolutely right. Nor would I expect my union to go into bat for me, after anything like that was proven; nor for anything immoral.

Mad.

Unions are there to make sure you're treated fairly, not to shield members from consequences when they act immorally/illegally.

[fn-mote]

I agree with you on moral grounds, but I have some stories.

> Nor would I expect my union to go into bat for me, after anything like that was proven

Sure, but one of the jobs of the rep is to prevent it from being proven that you are guilty.

Also, there would be no need to strike, because the union has negotiated the bureaucratic processes that will be followed when you do something wrong. Following the usually slow process will let you look for ways to escape, including the company not properly filing paperwork within the allotted time.

Source: union steward's stories.

[jagged-chisel]

> … claims that union members wanted to use the union to protect themselves from ...

One could argue that as litigious as US society has become, it makes sense to find out what resources are available when you’re the target of a grievance.

Further, since we are also a society of specialists, one should consult a specialist when one is the target of aforementioned grievances.

[Aurornis]

It wasn't really that complicated. It was a lot of stories about someone getting caught doing something like time card fraud or even unarguable sexual harassment and then desperately trying to avoid consequences for their own actions.