Unions

Now for all of you people out there that do not know me, I am a member of the IBEW. In other words I am a union electrician. Just a little while ago I got a phone call from my union rep telling me that he found me a job. The job starts either Thursday or Friday. Now when I first got the call I was excited until I started to think about it. You see, I am currently laid off and in my contract it states that after 60 days I am eligible for $200.00 extra a week for unemployment. This job is temporary. It is supposed to take just long enough to make me have to start all over again with the waiting period. The other aggravating thing is is that the hassle and aggravation of having to resubmit all of my information and wait for everyone to tell me that I am eligible for benefits, but it is going to take an insane amount of time for me to collect any money so I can pay my bills. The only thing really good about the union is the retirement package. Pass that I would love to be non union again. Don't get me wrong unions have their place and in some places and environments thank God they are there. But unions also cause a lot of problems on top of the good that they do. The biggest problem with the unions are the fact that they are primarily there just to take your money. To explain this further; 5% of my pay goes to the union to pay for dues and then as if this was not enough you also pay $77.70 every three months to stay in the union.