Union

I always loved construction. This is what I learned in school, this is what I was aiming for as a career. My father and his brothers were all engineers rand related to different types of construction. Since this was in my blood, that was what I was aiming for. Coming to this country changed my plans a little bit but after four years of different jobs I did land a job in building construction.

Granted, it was a low level job but still I was able to get my feet wet. I was an assistant to a field engineer, but it gave me a chance to learn the ropes. After this job I moved around to different construction sites gaining more experience. I was brave enough to sell myself as a field engineer and I must say that I was not bad.

But construction had the bad habit that if that particular company did not have a job immediately after yours was finished, they had to let people go. And more than once I fell into that category. Being a field engineer did not provide stellar pay, but it was more than being a dishwasher, which I was at the beginning of my life here.  

Since every larger construction job had at least one field engineer unionization came into the picture. Larger companies signed up, smaller ones did not. Unwillingly I became a member. My salary was increased, I got benefits I did not have before, so things were looking up. But not for long.

I was the engineer on a very nice and interesting job in the 1964-1965 World's Fair in New York. I worked there for almost two years. The company liked me and kept me busy. But this eventually came to an end. Towards the end of the project when the construction was in its last stages and the number of employees were reduced, I was told that I was too expensive to keep.

The union did not help me to get a new job, I had to think for myself, and I did. After a few short term jobs, I found my new home with an engineering company where I stayed for 40 years. This was not the construction I had planned for myself, it was design but eventually I did wind up for many years being involved with construction. As they say, "all's well that ends well".

But this whole thing made me being disenchanted with unions. As far as I am concerned it did not do anything to make my life better to reach the American dream. It forced me to go out on the street looking for work which I did. I did succeed on my own to a point without any of their help. Actually, unions do not want you to advance. That is not their policy. Companies rarely promote members because it upsets the apple cart.

So it is hopefully understood why I am not a big proponent of unions. I am not against them, I would support them but within reason. As far as I am concerned there are work categories that should be unionized but there are some that should not be. I will not go into details now, just wanted to open up about my feelings. It is personal and based on my own experience.