Have unions outlived their real usefulness?

I started a new job recently and the place at which I work is unionized. I haven't had a lot of experience with working with unions in my career. My field doesn't have a lot of unionized places. I have had, lets call them less than desirable interactions with some employees at this place.
I'll start with maybe the four most detestable words I can think of...

"That's not my job"

Now that answer came from me asking a simple question, "can you get rid of those boxes for me?" The only reason i asked because the guy is a janitor and I thought that he was responsible for that. Silly me. That is someone on the next shifts responsibility and well, he can't very well do someone else work now can he.

Also, because I said... "You're kidding right?" this fellow now has decided to try and make things miserable for me. Which is failing because well, there isn't much he can do that bothers me really. And he is shooting himself in the foot because there are plenty of witnesses to his antics and some one notified the head of his department at the site.

So I guess what I am getting at is this...

Have unions gotten to invasive? I understand that some jobs need unions and I also recognize the good that unions have helped with over the years but do janitors really need a union? Is there work so highly skilled that they need protection? What about a Walmart? Should people who work at Walmart be unionized and have the ability to strike? where does it end and it is really necessary when it comes to organizing workers? In this time, are unions still necessary for the majority of people?

This is a subject near and dear to my heart. As you know I'm a union activist; wish I didn't have to be one but until all employers treat employees with dignity and respect we'll have to be around. See, here's the truth of the matter if employers always treated their people right there would be no unions. It's an unfortunate reality that unions are necessary to protect worker rights. I don't want to even think what would happen at my workplace without the union. My job as a steward is to protect the employee and enforce the contract and believe me managers make sure I always have something to do. For example the Supt decided that all employees have to have a monthly eval in addition to the yearly, don't ask me why, so the Sgt's in due course wrote them and most of us are doing what we're paid to do, how we're supposed to. The Sgt's are happy and expressed that; the Associate sent them back saying "Oh no this isn't right; you HAVE to find negative things to say about everybody." Really? Seriously?

Now on the reverse of that if an employee has screwed up I'm not going to try and get them found innocent; I'll not lie for anyone but if they are a good solid employee who had a brain fart then I will recommend they admit wrong doing and then I'll try to mitigate the consequences. Notice I said mitigate not eliminate. On the other hand if the employee lies in the meeting and I know they are lying I will call a caucus and tell them straight up tell the truth or you are on your own. However, without this protection the favored would be treated much much differently then the not so favored.

I've only had a limited experience with a union and I wish I would have had one to join.

I got a job at a brand new Target store and before they opened they had everyone come in and learn the regulations and what to do. We watched one video about how bad unions were and that we shouldn't join them. I shouldn't be quoted but I might have had to sign a paper saying I wouldn't join one.

Anyway, I was a minor working at the time...doing 3 - 9:45 shifts. Target's policy is that you can only have a 30 minute lunch break for working 7 hours. All my shifts I only had 15 minute breaks, and I would drive down the street to get fast food. One day they called me (on the walkie talkie, the fast food was less than a mile down the road) freaking out that I had left. I got back and the managers were telling me how I wasn't allowed to do this. So the next day I went into work I asked my supervisor, "can the minors who work here get an extra 15 minutes to work so we can actually have a break, I mean we work right through dinner time!". To shorten the story, I started getting less hours until it was one day a week, every other week.

I wish I would have a union in that case. No one else spoke up about how completely unfair it was to keep us 15 minutes away from having a full break that we can actually leave and go get something else to eat.

actually the more workers get screwed over the more they will come back. corporations and companys always want more profits, the ones that cannot improve sales, will cut costs. it's pretty simple, but unions will have to come back on a global scale in manufacturing. there are alot of chinese and indian people that are willing to work for next to nothing. actually the middle class in this country will become poorer, because the power(wealthy) are in control. the middle class have alot of money that the wealthy want, and they are systematically taken it from them, it's only a matter of time.

Im on both sides of the fence on this one.

I think that the unions are great because they help to give the workers power over the company they work for. Without this power the company would pay much cheaper wages and no one would get benefits (except the highest up). However, the unions can also be bad because it protects horrible workers, and drives the cost way up in the services the company provides.

My brother is a carpenter in the union and it is unreal what some people can get away with just because they are protected. Foreman who dont even have some basic carpentry skills screwing up multimillion dollar jobs and not getting fired, some workers hiding in the supply shed to avoid work, people coming into work drunk or on prescription drugs.

Dont get me wrong, there are many hardworking people in the union who deserve everything they get and not every worker is like the example above. But some of these behaviors are fairly common, and in a non union job they would get fired for not only costing the company money but endangering other workers lives.

Its just too bad that we live in a society where workers are so underpaid that we even need unions to make things fair.

See I can understand the aspect of trying to protect workers rights and I vaguely referred to that in my OP. It just seems to me that everyone thinks they deserve a union. Sure the folks in third world countries have a need for some form of protection. But we don't live in the third world and working conditions are not that bad.

Workers, unionized or not won't stand sweat shop conditions, even in this economic climate, and there are laws in place to deal with those things. You might have to accept a lower wage for the same job but it's a job. Recently, unionized parking lot attendants where on strike in my city. Why in the name of all thats sane does a person that sits in a booth all day taking money need a union?

I get that some one who works in the conditions my fellow staffer above needs a union to help protect the workers. It's a dangerous job and needs some form of organization to keep things fair. But again, how far is too far? Why does a parking lot attendant need a union?

I see the need for a governmental unions so that ALL employees are treated equally, otherwise, chaos would reign and the good ol' boy system would be worse than it is. It is so much easier to bargain wages and benefits for thousands at one one time instead of one at a time, several thousand times. Yes, it would happen if you give the brain dead politicians at State and local level a chance to screw the employee. I don't see the need for the outlandish wages paid to these union leaders as they are already on the clock with their employer. It's complicated about being a union leader, but hey, no one chose you until you chose yourself to get involved.

As for trade and craft unions, once again the ease of negotiation with a group instead of individuals. I just pass costs on with my jobs. I have to bid against rat companies at times.

GAOTU789, the box issue you brought up is funny to someone who doesn't understand jurisdiction. You may have talked to a lead janitor, and it could be the job of a laborer to move those boxes. You see this all the time within a construction site as some trades do specific things that appear to be the work of other trades. Plumbers and pipe fitters can have an issue over something as simple as the material the pipe is made of. Ductile iron pipe is plumbers, cast iron can be plumbers or pipe fitters, black iron pipe is pipe fitters. Wire is electricians, unless it is less than 100 V then it can be control wiring open to plumbers, pipe fitters, or electricians; depending on the system. Anything with the fire suppression system goes with the sprinkler fitters. Concrete work, call in the carpenters.

The key to a union setting is to get along with everyone. You can cause them trouble, they can file a complaint. Your new, they're off probation.