The summer after high school, my friend and I took jobs as manual labor for a masonry company. We were outsiders, since we were only going to be there for the summer, but were still encouraged by the workers to join the Union. Becoming a mason (not the secret society version) requires practice - training takes around 2 years, so having a union helps to bargain for higher wages. As a manual laborer, I knew I was fairly easy to replace so did not think it was worthwhile to join. The Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers's, BAC, main goals appear (based on their website) to be pension plans and health benefits, though it's an affiliate of AFL-CIO, whose primary mission is to improve workplace conditions through legislation.
Two of the benefits that were advertised to me throughout the summer were classes on the weekend to increase hourly pay and being paid by the Union for commuting in some cases. Two masons I met over the summer said they were commuting two hours each way to work, but were being paid gas as well as their hourly wages by the Union to make this trip. I suppose the Union helps coordinate employment with worksites, with shortages requiring masons to be brought in from far away. To make it worthwhile, those filling positions far away get paid to commute by the Union. While I can see this being very beneficial to workers that are unable to find projects in their area, other union member dues are supporting their commutes, which might not be that much longer than other workers. The Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworker's main output is not lobbying, though their parent organization, the AFL-CIO, mainly acts to write legislation at the national level.
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