• Add Yours badge

If You've Worked Somewhere With A Union, We Want To Know What It Was Like

Unions are having a moment, so we wanna hear about the good and the bad.

With more and more workers unionizing at companies like Starbucks, the New York Times, and REI, labor unions are really having a big moment in the US.

Starbucks union rally in Seattle

But even with the resurgence of unions during the pandemic, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that in 2021 only about 10.3% of workers belonged to a union. However, researchers at MIT say that 48% of Americans would join a union if they could.

So if you've been in a union or tried to unionize your workplace, we'd love to hear about your experiences, both the good and the bad.

Maybe you work in a trade and your job has been unionized for a long time. All in all, you think the union dues are reasonable because your union gets you great wages and good benefits. From time to time, you get annoyed because it's a little harder to fire bad workers, but for the most part you're really happy to be in a union.

Construction workers taking a break on a jobsite

Or perhaps you work in a restaurant or retail store where workers are trying to start the process of unionizing. It's kind of tense at work because management keeps calling meetings to try and talk you out of voting for the union. You like the ideas you've heard from organizers so far, but you're still a little on the fence.

Janitors on strike in Los Angeles

Or maybe you used to work for a unionized company, but you witnessed some corruption and shady dealings. It seemed like seniority mattered to the union more than the work you were putting in when it came time for raises or promotions. And you weren't sure if paying the union dues was really worth it.

Longshore workers holding signs that say fair contract now

Tell us all about your experiences with unions in the comments or via this anonymous Google form, and you could be featured in an upcoming BuzzFeed Community post.

And for more stories about work and money, check out the rest of our personal finance posts