Human Resource Essay example

While the public opinion towards unions has softened in the recent years, unions still face a monumental task in trying to regain, or even maintain membership levels. In order to maintain their current proportion of the workforce, unions must organize 300,000 workers a year. In order to even begin to approach the

Unions in America today have grown smaller and smaller in the past 30 years. There are many reasons for this. The major one is that industries in other countries that are non-union have much cheaper labor costs, and therefore can offer products and materials at a much lower price than our US union-run, high wage cost factories. “During the 1970s and 1980s, a fifth of large unionized companies in the United States went bankrupt, unable to compete against companies with lower wage costs.” (Rachman, 308)

An industrial union that includes virtually all available workers in its membership can put firms under great pressure to agree to its wage demands. Because of its legal right to strike, such a union can threaten to deprive firms of their entire labour supply, and an actual strike can do just that.

One does not have to work hard to find a newspaper article, television story, or politician talking about labor unions in the United States. This country has a strong heritage of labor, with roots going back to the Second Industrial Revolution. Despite the historical significance of organized labor in the United States, however, the contemporary viability of this movement is the subject of an ongoing debate, as union membership among American workers declined seriously in the past half-a-century. The Washington Post (Swanson, 2015) reports that while fifty years ago, around thirty percent of workers joined unions, that number fell to around ten percent in 2015. Before jumping to conclusions about how or why

The role of unions and their importance has changed over the years. A mixture of poor wages, high unemployment, non-existent benefits and insignificant professional stability amongst the more youthful era makes a ready demographic for restoration. The younger era is the slightest unionized section of our general public today by a long shot. Unions are important in today’s society because checks and balances are necessary entities in business and government, so if CEOs are just focusing on themselves and profits, unions are a necessary check to all that corporate power. Today and in the future, labor unions will continue to play an important role in our country 's work force and the quality of life for working families.

In this new political climate the growing power of new formations such as labor unions could no longer be

Employers initially resisted unions as they were seen as a ‘tool of worker power’, and some countries even banned the groups all together (Baoill 2011). Although these restraints have been lifted, restrictions and guidelines have been put in place by government bodies to govern union activity; and employees internationally have the right to form unions (Baoill 2011).

The unions have been rather beneficial to preventing our country from slipping into the oligarchy that it is now becoming. "With the decline of unions since the 1970s, the participation power of working-class Americans has eroded. Nothing like the popular victories of 1894 or 1913 are imaginable today" (Winters, 2014, para. 14). As time goes on, either people lose the control and stability they have or they retain a firm foundation of strength when standing in a united and shared

Though, unions are declining, the role of union have evolved over time. Now, it is more common to view unions’ primary role as collective bargaining, which is the product of the economic decision and making process with unionism of the private sector. A long time ago, Union was seen as the shield that protects American workers against some of the abusive employers. Many public sector employees have unionized. However, the National Labor Relations Act was designed for the private sector. Despite that, union has become a model for most public sector collective bargaining right. Regardless of the success that Unions have with collective bargaining in the private sector, there are still a few who are opposed collective bargaining in the public sector. Of course, there are some differences between the public and private sectors.

Today’s economic climate has lost and shed more jobs than ever. Organizations need unions to survive and a process to keep them. Under the present conditions, unions need to embrace revolutionary change. They need to experiment with innovative models and build on existing ones that have already proven their value that works for workers, business, and overall society.

Without this union representation, the danger of appalling work conditions, unlivable minimum wages and 70-hour work weeks may develop to become a part of the working America's future, much like it was in the past. Now and in the future, labor unions will remain an important player for this nation’s work force and quality of life for those families (Lott, 2013). America's employed families need this type of representation and fair treatment in the workplace that they deserve.

     The past of Unions is indisputable; however, the outlook can be altered to form a promising future. The reversal of history can be done through reconstruction and restatement of workers rights. A reestablishment of worker liberties should be considered in order to clarify any confusion in which present and prospective employees are faced with. Unions are notorious for being tyrannical and inconsiderate towards employees and thus union heads should confront this issue head on and give workers a voice (i.e. vote). In order to regain union strength in today’s society I believe Unions must give workers honorable rights and a democratic right to be heard.

The development of the different methods used to engage ‘employee voice’ strongly coincides with the timeline that businesses have endured through in the present/ twentieth century. In the UK in particular, the methods implemented could be correlated to the economic and political climate of the country at that moment in time.

The very backbone of the American workforce is failing. Labor Unions are not failing getting fair treatment or equal pay for their members but they are failing to stay alive in a new century.

Employees have traditionally sought to join or form unions in workplaces where they feel frustrated or dissatisfied that their collective voice is not being heard, their wants and needs on issues such as wages or benefits are not being met (i.e utility) or their political or ideological views towards their work or workplace (Hebdon & Brown, 2016). However, there are also reasons that management resists unionization efforts, such as the belief that unions restrict operational flexibility, limit innovation, and reduce performance and productivity (Sullivan, 2011). In turn, employees’ unionization efforts can be jeopardized by management through union busting. Union busting, also known as union removal, is a management strategy designed to remove unions from workplaces or prevent them from forming (Hebdon & Brown, 2016). This can consist of different activities that may be initiated by employers, their proxies, and governments (USLegal, 2016). This strategy may have a negative effect on morale and in the level of value added per worker compared to employers who take a cooperative approach with unions (Bernstein, 1991). Recently, employees belonging to the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) have accused the government of Newfoundland & Labrador of union busting after it was decided to replace paid library positions with volunteers in order to keep as many libraries open as possible as budget cuts are causing 54 closures by 2017 (Power, 2016). This has caused significant