Health and Wealth Benefits at Perfect Brew Coffee Company

The most important function of a union is to maximise the wages and salaries of its members (Deery, Plowman, and Walsh, 2000).

The union in which my father belongs to has had a beneficial impact on my family for nearly two decades. By being a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers has provided my father stable work. They have the ability to ensure his employment due to their well maintained market share. Within my lifetime, he has been laid-off about ten times. On each of these occasions the union assisted him in his search for a new job. IBEW also fights for good wages and benefits for its members. Without these benefit our family our family would have a very difficult time paying for hospital bills, eye exams and the other things that are covered by his benefits. One way that the union has made a large impact in our lives is the health benefits.

A union is an organization of workers who join together in order to have a voice in improving their jobs and the quality of work within the organization. In many occasions, unions help employees of an organization negotiate pay, benefits, flexible hours and other work conditions that may arise. Unions have a role because some degree of conflict is inevitable between workers and management (Noe, 2003). In this paper, I will be discussing the impact of unions and labor relations within an organization.

Dan Swiney stated in his 2005 interview “The low road is where somebody thinks of their immediate self-interest in solving their particular problem no matter what it costs to somebody else.” When either a business or labor union think of their self-interest and think of no regards to what it could do, it hurts the other. This makes neither organization come out in the end looking better than the other, it does the exact opposite. On page 225 in chapter 9 of section 1 it states “Benefits now make up 30 percent of workers’ compensation. This adds up to a large cost for employers – especially since benefits like health insurance are becoming expensive.” If labor unions made the compromise of paying 50/50 for fringe benefits then businesses could have that extra 20 percent to help labor unions or help the business that will in turn benefit the employees. In the cartoon in the unit 3 essay warmup it states “Gentlemen, nothing stands in the way of a final accord except that management wants profit maximization and the union wants moola.” By having both organizations negotiate and try to reach a conclusion they both feel is fair they achieve their goal of making money and in turn the business can benefit by having productive workers and

In any organization, unions act as binding agreements between employees and management. In this case, a group of persons are responsible for conducting negotiations with the management for the purpose of enhancing the welfare of workers. Unions originate from the period of American depression when workers faced various work challenges including low remuneration, and unfavorable working conditions. The purpose of this essay is to explore the pros and cons of unions in America in the current times.

The union will need to engage in intra-organizational bargaining in order to reach a greater consensus as to what is essential to our workers. By going through this process away from the bargaining table, we can come to the table with a firm and unified stance. We indent to do this in a number of ways. First, we can educate workers about how in actuality, their interests are aligned because a victory for the union is a victory for all members. For example, an improved pension plan does not only benefit older workers, but also younger workers because of the precedent that this proposed pension plan will set for their future pension plans. The same is true for job security. We will ensure the workers that we as their union are their agents in their desire to improve their wages and working conditions. This emphasis on unity will increase our relative power and aid us when it comes time for zero-sum bargaining.

In Salz’s article he compares the pay of Danish workers to American workers. This is two different contexts which must be taken into account. One cannot merely compare the dollar amount of pay when the cost of living, workers skill level, and taxes must be taken into consideration. The cost of living is much higher in Europe, for example, than in America. Also, the Danish workers are unionized compared to non-unionized, fast-food workers in America, which begs the question of what are union costs and what is involved with being in a union. In Salz’s article, he assumes

Minimum wage is the lowest amount of money that an employer can pay an employee under labor law. The cruel irony of the minimum wage is that it harms most the very segments of our society that it is intended to help—the unskilled poor and the inexperienced young. However, the Canadian Labour Congress (2009) noted, “unionized worker earned $4.97 an hour more than a non-union worker in 2012”. That equates to roughly $10,000 more in monetary compensation relative to non-union workers. Although it varies based on sector and occupation, the union difference for workers across the board is undeniable. The unionized workers are able to live off a living wage.

I have worked in both union and nonunion workplaces and found the survey questioning my beliefs about unions. I do feel that workers are far better off in this country due to union efforts of the past. Noted in the text, “The United states has legislation governing wages and hours, equal employment opportunity (EEO), family and medical leave, pensions, mergers, Social Security, and health and safety” (Bernardin & Russell, 2013, p. 326). I decided to research three questions on the survey concerning wages and pay-for-performance in which I either disagreed with or was undecided in my response.

While initially only meant to affect the rich, which is where the nickname “Cadillac tax” comes from, the Cadillac tax has profound implications for union workers as well. Because unions often negotiate in terms of healthcare benefits instead of wages are already witnessing the effect of this tax on current negotiations. According a survey conducted by Kaiser, 25% of employers expect to pay the tax by 2018 if they did not make any changes to their health plans currently. Since the Cadillac tax will affect the “gold-plated,” or generous health plans that many unions negotiate for their workers, union workers are a prime example of a group that is strongly

Because of the demand of wanting a safer working condition, shorter work week, increase in pay and recognition as a union

Another issue that Ubel’s article discusses is how economic factors influence employer’s decisions in providing benefits to employees. If an employee is earning a higher salary, the individual may decide to forgo some of their pay to receive benefits, like health insurance (Ubel, 2013). Conversely, a low-wage earner does not have the financial latitude to sacrifice some of their wages to receive health insurance

Individuals have been at work for thousands and thousands of years. Over the last century there have been many changes in the United States that protects workers in their positions and the duties they perform. There has been many changes for employers as well that protects companies and organization and offers beneficial information to keep them in compliance with changes and away from any from and form of discrimination. Over the last century there has been the organization of Unions (Bargaining Unit) in which are to protect workers in their positions, give them fair marketable pay and be the liaison between the employer and employee. Union organizations represent employees and negotiate contracts that

A union is an organization of workers who join together in order to have a voice in improving their jobs and the quality of work within the organization. In many occasions, unions help employees of an organization negotiate pay, benefits, flexible hours and other work conditions that may arise. Unions have a role because some degree of conflict is inevitable between workers and management (Noe, 2003). In this paper, I will be discussing the impact of unions and labor relations within an organization.

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