Why should their be a "level" playing field?
there should be a level playing field to prevent the employee from being exploited
before unionism was pervasive, employees were obliged to do whatever the employer required - or leave
on its face, that seems reasonable, but it's actually exploitative (or has the potential to be)
you likely won't have to look around too far today to find someone who spent their career working for some company, only to be terminated (at will, since they were not working under union contract terms). the employer terminates them to hire a younger, cheaper employee ... and to avoid having to pay the retirement benefits to the employee who had spent his career working for the company but was just before becoming vested in that retirement plan
by this time, the terminated older employee likely has a difficult time getting a similar job elsewhere and may not have enough working years remaining to qualify for a retirement package
this is something the younger workers who are opposed to unionization should contemplate
They do not have the responsibility of the risk of property or investments at the job they work for.
they have invested their years of service. that is something they cannot recover. they have denied themselves the ability to work elsewhere to accumulate a better salary and benefits
Why should new employees be automatically grandfathered into the union?
the workplace is what is found to be a union activity, if the election has determined that was the decision of the majority of the rank and file. all non management employees are then covered by the union contract, whether the employee pays union dues or not. the union must represent the non dues paying bargaining unit members just as it represents the interests of the dues paying union members. the only thing the employee gets by paying dues that they do not otherwise enjoy at a bargaining unit location, is the ability to vote in the union elections (and to be an officer of the union). please note that option to pay union dues or not exists only in the right-to-work states
Why shouldn't they have to vote for representation?
as was noted above, it is the workplace that was elected to be represented by the union. employees who are added or who replace exiting workers are automatically union represented employees (bargaining unit members)
in the federal sector where i gained my experience, a contractor's employees may have voted to become unionized. if at the end of that contractor's contract period, if another contractor wins the follow on contract, that new contractor inherits a unionized workplace
the contractor and all employees may be different than what was there previously, but the work site remains a unionized bargaining unit
just as elections can be conducted to bring a union in to represent a work place, an election can be held (again with a 30% showing of employees) to de-certify a union. in that situation 50% of the employees plus one will be enough to end the union representation at the work site
Why shouldn't the employer be able to fire them if their demands are to high?
the employer does not have to agree to anything. it must freely engage/participate in negotiations. there will often be an impasse of the parties. when agreement is not reached the federal impasses panel comes in to divide the baby. whichever party's position was most reasonable at the time of the impasse, as determined by the impasse panel, becomes the contract terms. so, if the union over reached, the employer's position would be found most legitimate and thus directed to be adopted. if the employer was the less reasonable party, the impasse panel would direct that the terms proposed by the union at the time of impasse would then be binding on the parties
that aspect is little understood. if you seek too much and have to go to impasse, you will likely be the losing party
You two, and any one else, do not attack other posters, and if you feel some one is trolling, report the post, do not comment on it in thread. Take your personal issues to a more appropriate section of the board, ie the basement.