I joined the Union (AFSCME) this afternoon. Ultimately it came down to a lack of trust in the bosses. $1.10 a day for a little extra protection does not seem like that much.

The management of my department, and especially of my division, has managed to alienate a lot of the employees in the last year. One of my colleagues explained his decision to join the union by “It’s worth a buck a day to give Z— [the division manager] heartburn!”

No idea whether I will in fact be unionized–a majority of employees in a job class must sign up before that class is organized. While I expect a lot of us in Central IT will join, there is significant opposition in some of the departmental IT groups. Interestingly, the IT workers in the Human Services (Social Work, Economic Assistance, Health Care, etc.) Department seem to have the loudest anti-union voices.