A Trade Union (Labour union) ... is a continuous association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment."[1]
Over the last three hundred years, trade unions have developed into a number of forms, influenced by differing political and economic regimes. The immediate objectives and activities of trade unions vary, but may include:

• Provision of benefits to members: Early trade unions, like Friendly Societies, often provided a range of benefits to insure members against unemployment, ill health, old age and funeral expenses. In many developed countries, these functions have been assumed by the state; however, the provision of professional training, legal advice, and representation for members is still an important benefit of trade union membership.
• Collective bargaining: Where trade unions are able to operate openly and are recognised by employers, they may negotiate with employers over wages and working conditions.
• Industrial action: Trade unions may organize strikes or resistance to lockouts in furtherance of particular goals.
• Political activity: Trade unions may promote legislation favourable to the interests of their members or workers as a whole. To this end they may pursue campaigns, undertake lobbying, or financially support individual candidates or parties (such as the Labour Party in Britain for public officeHistory

Beginning in the eighteenth century, much of Western society (with most changes occurring earliest in Britain) witnessed a transformation from an agrarian culture with craft-based production to a culture shaped by the first industrial revolution. Some of the changes brought on by this new order, such as new work methods and downward pressure on traditional wage structures,[2] sparked rising alarm in the crafts and guilds of the time, who feared encroachment on their established jobs.
Additionally, the rapid expansion of the industrial society was to draw women, children, rural workers, and immigrants to the work force in larger numbers and in new roles. This pool of unskilled and semi-skilled labour spontaneously organised in fits and starts throughout its beginnings,[1] and would later be an important arena for the development of trade unions.

[edit] Origins and early history

Trade unions have sometimes been seen as successors to the guilds of Medieval Europe, though the relationship between the two is disputed. [3] Medieval guilds existed to protect and enhance their members' livelihoods through controlling the instructional capital of artisanship and the progression of members from apprentice to craftsman, journeyman, and eventually to master and grandmaster of their craft. They also facilitated mobility by providing accommodation for guild members travelling in search of work. Guilds exhibited some aspects of the modern trade union, but also some aspects of professional associations and modern corporations.
Additionally, guilds, like some craft unions today, were highly restrictive in their membership and only included artisans who practiced a specific trade. Many modern labour unions tend to be expansionistic, and frequently seek to incorporate widely disparate kinds of workers to increase the leverage of the union as a whole. A labour union in 2006 might include workers from only one trade or craft, or might combine several or all the workers in one company or industry.
Since the publication of the History of Trade Unionism (1894) by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, the predominant historical view is that a trade union "is a continuous association of wage earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment." [1] A modern definition by the Australian Bureau of Statistics states that a trade union is "an organisation consisting predominantly of employees, the principal activities of which include the negotiation of rates of pay and conditions of employment for its members." [4]
Yet historian R.A. Leeson, in United we Stand (1971), said:
"Two conflicting views of the trade-union movement strove for ascendancy in the nineteenth century: one the defensive-restrictive guild-craft tradition passed down through journeymen's clubs and friendly societies,...the other the aggressive-expansionist drive to unite all 'labouring men and women' for a 'different order of things'..." Recent historical research by Dr Bob James in Craft, Trade or Mystery (2001) puts forward that trade unions are part of a broader movement of benefit societies, which includes medieval guilds, Freemasons, Oddfellows, friendly societies and other Fraternal organisations.
The 18th centuryeconomistAdam Smith noted the imbalance in the rights of workers in regards to owners (or "masters"). In The Wealth of Nations, Book I, chapter 8, Smith wrote:
We rarely hear, it has been said, of the combinations of masters, though frequently of those of workmen. But whoever imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world as of the subject.

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Life is good, the water is sweet. The ground keeps moving beneath my feet.

Shouldnt this be politics Med?

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Marijuana: Nature's Way Of Saying High

And what's more political than corporations VS unions?

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Life is good, the water is sweet. The ground keeps moving beneath my feet.

I'm not in favor of Unions, I have belonged to 5 of them in my life time and neither has really done a damned thing for me except take my dues.

I have belonged to:

Baker & Confectionairs AFL/CIO
Paper & Printing Specialties AFL/CIO
Carpenter's Union AFL/CIO
International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 408
Petrochemical Worker's AFL/CIO

I'm Sorry Med I can't back you on this one because I believe in the "Right to Work" instead of you have to join the Union to work here.

You see I can give you examples where these unions have failed me as a member.

When I was a Teamster, The shop I was working at Closed it's doors, I figured I would go down to the Union Hall and get some casual labor. I went there and there were Jobs posted, But the Dispatcer told me in not so many words that I wasn't getting out of the Union Hall for any work unless I was to give him a bribe. The story was pretty much the same at each shop.
With that kind of corruption, I figure why should I give them my money.

About the only thing my Teamster card ever done for me was that I got into Hunt's Point NY loading docks without having to pay a Union Rep $50.00 to ride in with me.

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The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it. United State Constitution, Art. I Sec. 9 Par. 2

"Dissent is the Highest form of Patriotism" -- Howard Zinn

The title of the thread is "Unions, the saviors of the workers."

Unions never saved me anything. Never got me a raise, shorter hours or benefits. Why? ... because I've never belonged to a union and never will. Unions, through collective barganing, promote mediocracy. They insist upon promotions based upon seniority, not merit. They make it way too hard to dismiss an employee for cause. They take the union dues and contribute to political parties in spite of their member's political persuasions.

Each individual worker is his/her own saviour in the work place. By always being in the top 20% of the work force performance wise, the worker ensures that he/she will have job security and top wages. It is the employee's responsibility to make himself/herself too valuable to the employer to be laid off, or to be under paid.

Vi

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Liberals are people that will believe anything twice.

I'm sorry you didn't have any luck with unions. Every job I ever had that paid above the average wage was a union job with the following exceptions: My own business, and commission jobs like mechanics where you got 50% of the net on parts and labor, No benefits! That lasted for a few years untill the shop owners got Greedy and cut the split to 60-40, then they took away all the split on parts and they further wanted to cut the split to 65-35 It was at that time I went and got a teamster job that paid 22.00 an hr. with full benefits I worked my last 5-1/2 years there and retired. For that 5 years I get 500.00 a month retirement and a retiree medical plan, (not the best, but liveable). My only regret is I didn't go there when I first had a chance, I would be getting about a grand now! I also was in the carpenters and got squat, Good wages back in the '70's but the retirement thing sucked. I was also in IBEW for nine years, my ignorance let me quit before getting tenure at ten years or I'd be getting a small retirement from them also. I have some disagreements with some union tenets, but overall, they have helped me more than harmed me!

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Life is good, the water is sweet. The ground keeps moving beneath my feet.

And what happens to the other 80% that through no fault of their own, can't achieve the 20% rating. Bye Bye suckers. With your logic, only 20% of the work force deserves a job. You think welfare is bad now? You are ........................................crazy!

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Life is good, the water is sweet. The ground keeps moving beneath my feet.

I would say that Unions also give an unfair advantage to some more than others. I also was in the United Auto Worker's Union, But there was nothing they could do about the GM plant closing in South Gate California.

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The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it. United State Constitution, Art. I Sec. 9 Par. 2

"Dissent is the Highest form of Patriotism" -- Howard Zinn

I beleive that I PMed you my number... I'd like to discuss something with you.

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The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it. United State Constitution, Art. I Sec. 9 Par. 2

"Dissent is the Highest form of Patriotism" -- Howard Zinn

Like I said, I'm sorry you had a bad experience with unions, They have Been good for me. The unions are not as strong as they once were. Most of the union jobs have been outsourced or taken by illegals for half price. When my teamster union was locked out, they had insufficient funding for a strike so the workers were forced to accept managements deal to return to work (they brought in scabs). The international did nothing to help us, so I saw that as a weakness in unionization. They don't have the hammer they once had. Right wing legislation has emasculated them. If things don't turn around, I see a very bleak future for the working American "Middle Class"! As Vi says, If your not in the top 20% of productivity (and ass kissing) your history!

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Life is good, the water is sweet. The ground keeps moving beneath my feet.