Not the most reliable source, I know, but I think this is a good thing.
Anyone know any more about this or is involved?
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I heard rumors about this, I donât know much but the more unions in the world, the better.
Power to the people 
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In theory, but what a lot of unions now do in many states is strong-arm people into membership and force them to pay dues to fund social and political causes they are patently against. This is the reason why the concept of Right to Work is so important, because it forces the union to come up with a product that workers actually want (as they do not have to choose between joining and being fired from their job). Right to Work states still have plenty of unions at many facilities so it was never the aim to bust them.
Union bosses can also be every bit as greedy as the executives they claim to fight, so the idea that unions should just form for the sake of it is not always a good thing. What unions need to do is go back to their roots as bulwarks against genuine worker abuse (proven, not perceived) and dangerous conditions (since many have since become monsters due to mission creep).
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Is there actually any evidence that this is not what the majority of unions currently are? It seems presumptuous to say that most unions are morally corrupt without providing anything to back it up.
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Chats response to pros and cons of unions.
Pros of Unions:
- Higher Wages and Benefits: Studies have shown that unionized workers generally receive higher wages and better benefits compared to their non-unionized counterparts.
- Better Working Conditions: Unions often negotiate for safer workplaces and reasonable hours, leading to improved conditions for their members.
- Collective Bargaining Power: Unions allow workers to negotiate with employers as a collective unit, which often results in better terms and conditions than an individual could achieve on their own.
- Protection from Unfair Treatment: Through collective bargaining agreements, unions can offer protection against unjust firings, discrimination, or other forms of unfair treatment.
- Voice in the Workplace: Unions provide workers with a mechanism to voice their concerns and issues to management, fostering a dialogue between employees and employers.
- Enhanced Job Security: Unionized jobs often have more clearly defined terms of employment, reducing arbitrary or capricious terminations.
- Training and Education: Some unions provide training and education opportunities to their members, ensuring that they remain competitive in the job market.
Cons of Unions:
- Cost: Union members often pay dues, which can be a significant expense for some workers.
- Potential for Strikes: Strikes, while sometimes necessary for achieving worker demands, can lead to lost wages for workers and economic disruption.
- Less Individual Flexibility: Unionized workplaces often have rules and regulations that might limit individual flexibility, such as restrictions on negotiating individual contracts.
- Potential for Bureaucracy: Larger unions can sometimes become bureaucratic, making it challenging to address individual concerns or adapt to changing workplace needs swiftly.
- Risk of Job Loss: If unions push too hard during negotiations, companies might decide to relocate, automate, or outsource jobs, leading to potential job losses.
- Political Activity: Some union members may disagree with the political positions or endorsements made by their union leadership.
- Seniority Systems: In many unions, promotions and layoffs are determined by seniority. While this protects longer-serving employees, it can sometimes overlook merit or capability.
- Possible Decline in Competitiveness: Some argue that stringent union demands can make businesses less competitive, especially when competing with non-unionized businesses domestically or internationally.
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I live in the Deep South, Iâve heard every possible anti-union argument imaginable. Coincidentally(?), thereâs a direct correlation between union membership, worker happiness and satisfaction, worker longevity, and overall state poverty / GDP. I live in a state with one of the lowest union memberships that also, according to a recent study, is the worst state for worker happiness in the country, and (many studies can back this up) is in the bottom 5 of poorest states.
So⌠power to the people 
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Iâm fairly new here, so I hope Iâm not coming across as too forward already, but I have lurked around this site long before being active here and I canât help but wonder if you have some Blender art or something that you like to do whenever you get frustrated by modern American society? Iâm not going to comment on your opinions, other than you REALLY shouldnât be so afraid of liberals causing the country to slide into Soviet-style communismâyou should visit a country like Cuba, Venezuela or Brazil (under its current President) to learn that the United States arguably doesnât even have a strong, truly-leftist movement like those communist nations, just a lot of still-pro-business/capitalism center-left people that simply want to make sure people make money in direct proportion to how hard they work.
But as much I find your excessive fears of those of us that refuse to even own sharp kitchen knives (let alone guns) amusing, have you considered expressing your frustrations with a Blender animation or render or something instead of just typing it down all the time only for the mods to keep shooting down all your claims? A lot of artists hold radical opinions (myself included) and find it therapeutic to release our frustrations with modern society in our art, and people may even be more open to our opinions if it is packaged in a product that is entertaining first and foremost. At the very least, games like Disco Elysium have taught me that extreme political opinions of the creators can make for some very original and fascinating storytelling, even if I still donât agree with any of their points by the end credits. We artists have the privilege of releasing our frustrations in a way that creates rather than destroysâIâd like to know if youâve ever submitted some art here on BlenderArtists that I may like to see (regardless whether I âagreeâ with it), rather than just essentially trying to talk to a brick wall, the âbrick wallâ in this case being an old-fashioned forum that doesnât get nearly the traffic of a typical billionaire-owned social media website.
Sorry for my own rant, but I hope I can allay your fears about the people you donât agree with a bitâvery, very few people of any ideology would resort to violence in an attempt to prove their point, or even be all that willing to start arguments, because being angry or sad alone is too tiring for most of us. Also, more unions are indeed a good thing, even if like literally everything else in the world, theyâre not perfect or âsilver bulletâ solutions. I genuinely think we will start getting some decent and possibly even original storytelling again from Hollywood if we shift a smidgen of the power back to artist-types and have more âcreator-drivenâ entertainment instead of âcommittee-drivenâ or âshareholder-drivenâ content. At the very, very least, weâd get more reboots and adaptations made by people with genuine respect for the source material and its fans.
I would think you would be happy that the people unionizing and striking against studios like Disney have proven once and for all that they are not at all run by âprogressiveâ CEOs who give two cents (pun not intended) to their own workers, let alone stuff like race, gender and the environment, and they are only pretending to be âprogressiveâ on such issues for our money and loyalty.
in order to see art that has been posted by any user, just click on their Avatar, and then âportfolioâ within that popup to see.
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I suspect it was that easy, though I suppose my point with my own rant is that it honestly scares me sometimes when a regular here is worrying about problems that most of us see as greatly overblown in their news sources, or probably arenât even problems that exist at all and theyâre just risking stomach over nothing. Especially after the drama with that Michael Joseph guy, he posted a lot of concerning comments under Cartoon Brew articles in addition to here and I hope heâs okay, either getting the professional help he needs or at least expressing his frustrations through the writing he said he wanted to get good at.
Likewise, I know I canât control how strangers on the Internet handle their own personal issues, but I hope to at least remind them on art-centric sites such as this that they have the best kind of coping mechanism there is as artists, and one that the rest of the population doesnât get to enjoyâthe ability to turn their anger and depression at the injustices of the world into art that they and hopefully others can enjoy. The most immediate example that comes to mind is the convoluted, stomach-wrenching, but strangely-inspiring anime classic End of Evangelion, made during the worst of Hideaki Annoâs depressive episodes. Of course, thatâs just my opinion and they can take it or leave it.
AND FOSS software like Blender makes it easier than ever to express such feelings in our digital art without worrying about a subscription fee, Unity-inspired rug pull tactics or even whether the company behind the rentware could potentially censor the stuff we make with it if they deem it problematic or not âadvertiser-friendly.â
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Iâm neither for, nor against, unions, but hearing the demands of the UAWâs made me cringe a bit⌠32-hour work week with 40 hours pay, 46% pay raise over the next (x) years? I can understand their point of view â CEOs are making millions while the folks who do all the work can barely squeeze by, wanting better health care, etc. But when the demands will bankrupt the business, something is wrong there, and it seems the union is unwilling to compromise. If the company approaches bankruptcy, the first thing theyâll do is lay off a large portion of the workforce. Thatâs not conducive for either party. I even heard that one company made a counter offer and still hasnât heard from the head of the Union.
From an outside perspective, I have been wondering for years as to why they are not unionizing.
There were so many reports about the horrible working conditions they were facing in so many places that it appeared to be an industry problem, which in my view could only be improved with this kind of step.
I seriously hope for the people involved they are able to follow through and at the end of it get reasonable working conditions.
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Youâve got it the other way around. Hollywood is bleeding dry VFX companies and driving them into bankruptcy. Hollywood can easily afford to meet VFX union demands by redistributing profits in a fairer way.
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I agree with you, but the auto workers situation is a bit different from the Hollywood one; the auto workers want pay raises and other demands that could potentially bankrupt the companyâs they work for. The Hollywood folks, in addition to higher pay, want a piece of the streaming pie, as well as assurances that AI isnât going to take their jobs⌠none of those things will bankrupt the film industry as far as I know.
Iâm not saying that the auto workers demands are wrong, or that their situation is worse than those of the film workers, just putting out some observations.
The streaming pie is at the core of the problem.
Did you know that Amazon and Disney refuse to give out the actual numbers of profit they make from their streaming services.
There is a huge problem here that they try to hide from the workers as well as from the investors and that is the fact that streaming isnât bringing in as much money as they would like.
They destroyed the old business model of media distribution in an attempt to gain more money and now they have realized that there isnât as much profit.
The genie is out of the bottle and wont ever go back.
Hollywood is now facing a situation where they have to produce media that the people actually like and love and pay money for on top of a situation where many customers reject anything that is tainted by one sided partisan messaging.
Both factors together are a solid threat to their bottom line.
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There was also the recent case of the Teamsters union single-handedly extorting the Yellow Trucking Co, into bankruptcy after more than a century in business (to mention just one case of union mission creep and becoming monsters). Many unions become monsters because all of their initial goals were achieved many decades ago.
Though the VFX artists have in fact had major issues with long hours and the infamous crunch period (which I would think has only gotten worse because of how streaming services need a constant feed of new content to remain profitable), so a union to represent the artists at this point may actually be needed.
These days, I tend to be skeptical of science in general because its goal these days is to push narratives and agendas instead of being truthful. A lot of scientists are really just activists and revolutionaries in white coats and are a far cry from the well-known figures of the past. How many of these studies for instance were commissioned by the Unions themselves?
What they want is not really that important.
Individual workers are stakeholders too, but they donât get a voice unless they unite (unfortunately).
On the other hand small shareholders oftentimes donât get a voice either. Do you know what they do to get one, they unite.
It is necessary to get a voice in order to have negotiations. If no negotiations can take place, it is very one sided, isnât it?
I agree with you to a certain extent, but itâs not universally true⌠if it was, every company would have union representation. I work for a large company with no unions; all employees have a voice and are encouraged to speak up when problems arise, offer suggestions for improving how work is done, and blow the whistle when something isnât right. I know this type of environment isnât always possible, especially in the blue-collar sector, but I believe that sometimes unions can get in the way of making a business viable. I whole-heartedly believe that all workers should be represented and protected, but if itâs at the cost of the business itself, how can that be conducive?
I am convinced, just like you, that unions are not always needed.
If the business is only viable when workers donât have a voice, the question is whether such a business can be considered economical to begin with.
I am sure there are unions which are taking it too far. From what I have seen, that is the exception. After all, the union members are interested to keep their jobs too, so they always have the opportunity to intervene with their union if they believe the union is taking it too far.
Edit: I donât buy the argument that some unions take it too far when whole industries work under unacceptable conditions.
Workers are a part of the economy, they are an essential stakeholder. I very often hear from people who are against unions that the economy will sort it out. And my take on that is that workers are a part of the economy and as such, they are allowed to have a voice too. Let the economy sort it out, with a voice from all stakeholders.
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For reference, in Germany there exist a law that regulates the maximum amount of work a person is allowed to work.
48 hours per week is the maximum.
It can be bumped up to 60 temporarily, but only if there is a balance.
It must average out to 8 hours per day over 6 months, meaning a person is entitled to free days in exchange for over-hours if the workload exceeds a certain amount.
I think this is a law that should be adopted by every country.
I donât have to fear crunch nor a choleric boss who wants to work me to death if I have the legal leverage to sue him for when he is going to far.
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Maybe I should have reworded what I said to something like, "I believe that all workers should be represented and protected, but if union demands are so unreasonable that it forces a company into bankruptcy, how can that be conducive to either party?
I wish we had a similar system in the US. Studies have shown that 4-day workweeks are better for worker morale and overall well-being, as well as higher productivity. Some companies here allow a 9/80 schedule (4 days one week, then 5 days the next, with 80 hours worked in those 2 weeks), but the only thing that does is give someone every other Friday off⌠theyâre still working the same amount of hours.
I know in Europe if someone suggests working more than 32 hours in week, protests erupt. Or when the retirement age is adjusted, folks burn down the capital city. Over here, some of our political leaders are suggesting raising the retirement age to 70 (currently 67) in order to keep the retirement funds from running out. All they really need to do is fund the dang thing just like they fund their pet projects and over-fund the military.