The union debate thread (Split from BC Teachers thread)

[SiRV]

Originally Posted by dignatas

how are the nurses salary compared to the teachers? Since revscene is saying that they nurses and teachers are being underpaid.

Not sure about teachers, but nurses are paid 30$/hr starting now and cap off at around 40$/hr on their LEVEL 1 (just standard ward nurse with 8-9 years of experience). They also have pretty sweet benefits being in the govt sector, med/dent and good pension also, probably comparable to teachers.

Also if you guys do a search on vancouversun.com/pay you'll notice that a huge majority of the people on there under the health-services are nurses.. standard ward nurses pulling over 100-200k/year on massive OT.

[sdubfid]

I have worked in union and non union positions. There are pros and cons to both for the employer but it all depends on the non-union company.

Pros-
-The union had set pay increases with the collective agreement.
-They also paid for my schooling and paid my wages while I was at school.
-collective agreement also stated at least 4 journeymen for every apprentice.
-tool allowance
-all overtime double pay
-meal pay
-pension
-full benefits

Cons-
-so many politics (working as a welder or fabricator you are stuck to those duties only even though you can do other things)
There were many instances where I twiddled my thumbs for 4 hours while I waited for an electrician to supply and plug in worklights, very frustrating
-doesn't matter if you are a good or bad worker you get paid the same.
-set wage limits