Labor Unions and RelevanceJoin now to read essay Labor Unions and RelevanceLabor Unions and RelevanceIn the United States, labor unions are seeing an increased amount of controversy surrounding their helpfulness to the U.S. economy. Recently, comparisons between the successes of a company such as Toyota versus Ford have brought the issue of unions to the forefront. Many cite the cost Ford has due to the fact that the employees are unionized and receive more benefits at a higher cost to the company. On the other hand, many people see great benefit for Americans who are protected under a union contract; however, it is possible to create a work environment that is successful, safe, fair, and beneficial to employees without being a union shop.
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While we are trying to put a spin on the question of unionization from the viewpoint of economic efficiency, we have also to ask the question of how we get there. That’s why I was shocked to hear that a group (including several former employees) is protesting Ford’s recent announcement of a minimum wage of $15.10 an hour. I thought it would be the best decision possible to try and help. This was just the beginning of my work in raising awareness about a topic we all share. And it was great and I hope many others will join.
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The following are excerpts from an article by Richard Pinchuk (an expert on unions in our country today). On the one hand, a union is an organization (e.g., a labor organization such as UAW) that has the most members. On the other hand, unions are also individuals that are a part of the community and sometimes belong to certain groups (e.g., church) as well. However, for many individuals, the more one considers one’s job as an employer in the community, the more it suggests one’s commitment to the people who support the organization. I’m no expert on unions, but I would like to emphasize these ideas in particular: if your job requires a combination of work productivity and service, you need to use unions.
We now have a very powerful government agency, the National Labor Relations Board, which regulates both the labor federation and union. The NRB works to protect the union members and gives them a right to organize.
A second approach to unionization is the “right to strike.” It refers to the ability of workers to take a strike and strike in other contexts or with the union as a whole. According to the Right to Strike Act, “targets are not entitled to strike unless they have first offered a collective agreement with the employer which contains a right to act collectively.” In all others, the unions are required to make a “trade or trade exclusion.” If it is labor law that includes the right to demand strike action, strike action cannot occur at some workplace. This is what I believe that is most important to prevent worker strikes.
Another form of “trade exclusion” for workers is the “right to use the law.” It refers to the right to use the law to limit workplace access to union resources. But I don’t think that’s the best use of this term and I can’t get enough of it. First, as workers, we are treated differently than other people because we are forced to share in the spoils. Second, workers are legally bound to strike in places where they can no longer use unions. They have no right to take strike action if other people can’t participate. It is therefore important for all stakeholders of the workplace to take the same action.
Third, the law is used often as a bargaining tool and so
In 1953, approximately half of the workers in the United States were protected by a labor union. Today, only 12% of American workers are members of a union (Farmer, 2006). A union is an organized group of people that bargain their work conditions as a team. Some of the most well-known unions in the local area include United Food and Commercial Workers, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the Teamsters. Unions have a serious impact on organizations whose workforce is protected under a collective bargaining agreement. Everything from wages to benefits and incentives are affected by a union contract. Policies and other items that can change an organizations culture can also be guided by a unions demands. A unions basic goals are to help their members earn higher wages, receive the best benefits possible and protect against unfair treatment and job termination.
The Role of the Working Class
A strong-member work force is critical for the prosperity of labor. When workers are given the opportunity, they get more members and more resources to work as hard as they are physically and psychologically (Buckett-Reed, 2013). Without membership, the labor force is weakened and the population shrinks. In some countries, especially when working class people are concentrated among those who still can be employed, working class workers take more of the risks that workers in industries such as mining, steel, and telecommunications often do (Farmer, 2006, pp. 23 and 34).
Sociology and Cultural Diversity
There are two kinds of labor: those who live in poor or marginalized communities as a result of lack of wage and benefits, and those who work in a low-skilled, manual or middle-class position, such as home remodeling, construction engineering, or electrical work, a work group (Ganglaik, 1994; Farmer, 2006), which, like the work force in the United States, is a working class group (Hochschild, 1995; Gaudreau, 2008). Although this paper will not be devoted to the social and political diversity of this population (i.e., the lack thereof being often identified by many as being a minority of those whose job involves making changes to the community (e.g. on health care, or on environmental issues)), it will make an attempt to understand how diversity is a significant predictor of unemployment, and the importance of this group to labor productivity. This paper will be used for the first time to consider why we find it necessary to make the statement that “the unemployment rate for labor force residents in the United States is higher than that during any other time in history” (Garcia, 1991).
HOMICIDE
The unemployment rate for African Americans is between 8% and 15%. The unemployment rate for American women and other demographic groups is 8.6% per year for females. The U.S. Employment Statistics Bureau reports a slightly higher percentage of African American males in retail employment as opposed to manufacturing employment for whites due to an increase in the employment of black and Hispanic workers (Wright, 2011). Therefore, if a union would be willing to invest in a labor force in the way it has done under the recent legislation of S. 2154 (“a local collective bargaining agreement should have a minimum wage of at least 20% of its gross wages and a minimum of 40 hours of working hours per week”) to offer a wage floor less than the prevailing wage, then the union would be prepared to invest $2 billion to strengthen it. However, while this investment would help make the bargaining process more competitive as it would allow unions to gain bargaining power to ensure fairness in the labor markets, this investment requires money in addition to money to put in the way of hiring and training many of the unions from which union members take part. Therefore, when the labor force is included in the overall overall labor force, the labor force is highly segregated from other labor sources. A more comprehensive analysis would include data from several large U.S. metropolitan areas and counties spanning 50 state and a single county in the Bay Area, all of which are in the Bay Area, and several different urban centers (Gardner & Co., 2002). Using these large data, employers can identify and quantify different populations of unemployed to help workers choose the best employers, and they can thus benefit from additional labor that can be trained to compete for the work force.
Employment Statistics
At this writers workplace, the employees are protected under a collective bargaining agreement. Everything from vacation and sick leave, pension plans, pay scales, and the time that checks are handed out on payday is detailed within the contract. The contract is renewed every three years. The contract also has a “no-strike” clause that states that employees cannot strike, even if the contract is failing to reach agreement. This past spring, meetings at the UFCW union building were started to decide what the employee demands to the company were going to be for the contract renewal. Some requests for change were outlandish, while others were simple. The union representatives were honest by bringing to light that there needed to be a consensus as to which items were the most important, while disregarding those that would probably not be viable to the business. The negotiation came to a quiet conclusion a couple of months later and only a few minor changes were enacted including a 2.5% pay increase per year until the next contract negotiation. Most employees did not care that much about the process, and the small group of people that did were those who wanted huge raises in wage and pension.
Administering the contracts “involve day-to-day activities in which union members and the organizations managers may have disagreements. Issues include complaints of work rules being violated or workers being treated unfairly in particular situations” (Noe et al., 2003). One recent situation which somewhat involved this writer in regard to a grievance being filed through the union shows a basic rundown of the general attitude about the negotiated contract at this workplace. An employee was reprimanded for leaving work for a doctors appointment without getting an official pass from the supervisor. This employee did not forewarn or fill out any of the required paperwork for sick/personal time. This employee just decided that at 2:00 p.m. she would be done for the day. After it was noticed that she was gone, a manager was notified. This manager walked the entire building looking for anyone with authority to ask if permission was given to leave early. No such permission was granted. This employee was officially written up and given notice that if it was to happen again, suspension without pay would ensue, and a third time would result in termination.
This employee felt disgruntled and put upon because of the write-up and decided to go to the union representative and file a complaint. The union representative called the manager and talked about the issue and requested a meeting with the manager, the shop steward (elected to represent employees during the contract period), the employee and herself. The following meeting essentially turned into a gripe festival in which the employee complained about the management, fellow employees, the workload, and the lack of recognition