Are Unions Helpful in Our Current Economy? Essays

The labor movement in the United States grew out of the need to protect the interest of workers. For those in the industrial area, organized labor unions struggled fighting for better wages, reasonable hours and much safer working conditions. The labor movement fought to stop child labor, give better health benefits and provide help to workers who were injured and/or retired.

During the Progressive Era of the Gilded Age, many laborers were being mistreated by the companies that they worked for. Because of this, workers started forming labor unions or organized association of workers, formed to protect and further their rights and interests. Many of these labor unions failed, while few of them achieved their goals and still exist today. Many factors contributed to the failure of these labor unions. The labor unions were given a bad image, the reason for this was the media, and they did this by publishing articles depicting the unions as violent, communist groups. The government supported big business during this time, since the government had a lot of power; this was a huge setback in the labor unions’ battles.

The unions of yesterday have left the public feeling fearful of what might happen in the future. Will history repeat itself? Will employees be deceived through the mighty power of Labor Unions? Promoting benefits of unionized labor is one approach to regaining the trust of the public. Benefits include medical aid, heath insurance, worker compensation and overall respect of employees in the workplace. I feel with these measures taken Labor unions will once again reach the productivity that it once had pre-WWII.

Throughout American history, labor unions have served to facilitate mediation between workers and employers. Workers seek to negotiate with employers for more control over their labor and its fruits. “A labor union can best be defined as an organization that exists for the purpose of representing its members to their employers regarding wages and terms and conditions of employment” (Hunter). Labor unions’ principal objectives are to increase wages, shorten work days, achieve greater benefits, and improve working conditions. Despite these goals, the early years of union formation were characterized by difficulties (Hunter).

Labor Unions: Aging Dinosaur or Sleeping Giant? The Labor Movement and Unionism Background and Brief History Higher wages! Shorter workdays! Better working conditions! These famous words echoed throughout the United States beginning in “1790 with the skilled craftsmen” (Dessler, 1997, p. 544). For the last two-hundred years, workers of all trades have been fighting for their rights and “seeking methods of improving their living standards, working conditions, and job security” (Boone, 1996,p.287). As time went by, these individuals came to the conclusion that if they work together collectively, they would grow stronger to get responses to their demands. This inspired into what we know today as labor unions. “A labor union

Unions do provide a lot of good services to its members, such as higher wages, better hours, more benefits, and safer working conditions. There is a price to pay for these services, though. Every union requires its members to pay dues, whether they are in the form of a percentage of each paycheck, or a flat rate. The money form dues goes towards lobbying politicians to pass union-friendly legislation, or better labor laws. The money also finances officers in the union organization, who are the ones calling the shots, as far as labor negotiations are concerned.

Labor union is an organized association of workers, in a trade or profession, formed to protect and further their rights and interests. During the industrial revolution in Europe there was a rise in new workers without representation in the workplace. In the 19th century the industrial revolution spread to the United States from Europe, this resulted in the economy shifting to manufacturing from agriculture as an economic importance. American societies were increasing in population as well as experiencing industrial growth. This industrialization brought conflict between businesses and the labor force since mechanized production was replacing household

The Great Depression is the time when Americans changed their viewpoints toward unions. During that time, Americans were suffering from economic hardship. The government passed several laws to resolve the economic problems such as the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (Miller). The National Labor Relations Act ensured that workers could join unions and protect their rights as employees. Workers can also bargain about their wages through union representatives. It effectively prevented workers from unfair labor practices.

A major topic that comes up with unions is getting better wages for the employees. This is one of the main reasons that unions came to be. Workers of all fields were tired of being paid unfairly by big companies. They realized that they needed a way to organize themselves to fight for better pay. Unions helped aid in this fight. According to History.com, “ The formation of the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers (shoemakers) in Philadelphia in 1794 marks the beginning of sustained trade union organization among American workers.” This was the first time workers tried to organize themselves to get more money for what they did. A key way that unions used workers to make businesses meet their demands was organized strikes. With these organized strikes, the big companies had to comply with some of the demands to raise the employee 's wage, or it would cost them more money in the long run. Strikes are a very powerful tool that unions have used often in the past. Unions orchestrated the strikes in the past pretty well, and the majority of strikes accomplished the goal they were trying to complete. Unions have always fought with companies to give the workers the pay they deserve.

If unions are that beneficial to workers, why the increasing decline? Several reasons come into play. One issue being, there has been a rapid growth within particular categories, such as women. There are more women currently in the labor force, who are more prone to working sporadically and half the time compared to others. Secondly, there has been a decline in union’s actively engaging new members, as well as their being a steady increase in the employer’s unwillingness to take part in unionization attempts. Additionally, because society has shifted from unionized corporations with a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based economy has made it more difficult to unionize. Although, there have been uncontrollable and controllable forces that have led to the decreasing popularity of unions, they have still managed to make up for it in vital areas, such as wages, benefits, working conditions, and others. Whether or not individuals view labor unions as positive or negative organizations, they will always matter.

Being part of a union gives members the benefit of negotiating with their employer collectively, as part of a group; giving them more power than if they were to negotiate as individuals (Silverman, n.d.). Overall, unions demand fairness which can lead to the unions influencing and changing ‘managerial decision-making at the workplace level’ for decisions in which employees are affected (Verma 2005). Unions are also beneficial to have present in the workplace because their bargaining of better condition will often benefit non-members as the conditions negotiated with management are implemented across the organization with no regard to membership status. Management is also able to avoid union disagreement by benchmarking conditions to that of an already unionized workplace.

The rise of capitalism as the dominant economic system in the United States made the rise of unions inevitable; given the natural division between those with capital that control the means of production, and labor, who is treated simply as another factor of production (Hodson & Sullivan, 2008). While labor unions have made significant improvements to the working environment, with the regulation of safety, environment, labor and wage; labor unions have also contributed to the decline of U.S. dominance in industries like steel, automotive, education and airlines. In today’s global economy, can labor unions continue to be a force for good in the United States, or have they become harmful institutions?

They include: Unions lead to higher costs for purchasers since organizations must pay more for wages and advantages, which are then gone on to customers. Secondly, unions make the nation less aggressive since non-unionized organizations in India, China, Taiwan, and so forth can pay laborers far less and consequently charge less and allot more specialists per unit of product. The other pros are that unions frequently keep more qualified laborers from landing the positions. Less capable specialists are regularly shielded from cutbacks or terminating; subsequently, new positions open less every now and again (Kornfeld, 2014). The other disadvantage of the union is that society and organizations are frequently held prisoner to the vital administrations of specific unions in this way, arrangement turns out to be less about decency to laborers than about organizations taking care of the requests of union blackmail. Lastly State and Federal work/separation laws, the dangers of claims, and the evasion of poor reputation all make unions superfluous these

Labor Unions began in the United States in the mid-late 1800’s. The first founding labor union was the National Labor Union, started in 1866. This labor union was not set on a particular type of worker and even though it did not succeed in making a difference in workers’ rights, it set an important precedent in our country. Being a part of a labor union has lots of pros and cons, as well as, because of them, the right to work movement was created.

The union advantage is even greater when you compare the percentages of union vs. non-union workers receiving specific benefits:”