Labor Costs And Its Impact On The Workplace Essay

Franklin Roosevelt introduced minimum wage as a part of Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. The purpose of minimum wage were to prevent poverty and to stimulate the economy by increasing consumer’s purchasing power. However, in 2015, 78.2 million workers were paid hourly, representing 58.5% of all workers in the United States. Among those people, 870,000 workers earned the minimum wage, $7.25 per hour and 1.7 million workers earned below the minimum. In total, 3.3% of workers earned exactly or below the minimum wage. For years, there have been heated debates about whether the government should raise the minimum wage. In 2016, California, New York, and Washington D.C. agreed to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour. Some people think raising the minimum wage will decrease poverty and improve the workers living. Instead, raising the minimum wage will make the job market more competitive and it will increase the poverty level. When minimum wage was raised to $10 per hour, it benefited 16 to 24 million people while half a million workers lost their job. Rather than improving, Faces of $15 will damage the U.S economy and deeply hurt living condition of Americans.

Labor Unions have had an effect of American history as well as world-wide history from the time they became popular. Following WWII Americans were predominantly pro-labor, however, as time went on union’s credibility fell short of perfect. Union strikes proved to be bothersome to both the general public and company. Unions were also suppressing to employees through fraud and lack of worker rights (in earlier years, before Acts were passed). Although Union labor had its shortcomings, this type of labor is noted to be the most productive and economically beneficial. With both sides shown, I feel Unions will again thrive in the future with a few key adjustments made.

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 union history began when the National Labor Union (NLU) was founded in 1866. After the creation of this union, several followed after. Many riots occurred during this time, the Haymarket Riot was one of the main reasons that the American Federation of Labor (AFL) was created. The AFL will be a major part in the labor movement in the future. Labor unions began due to the need to protect the workers. These labor unions formed to fight for reasonable hours, better pay, and safer working conditions. These stipulations that the labor unions pushed for did not come from greed. Many laborers were dying from different jobs. People were required to work 12 or more hour days, 7 days a week for such a small amount of pay. Due to the overworking of these laborers, it caused them to make mistakes. Not only were companies over working these people, they were hiring inexperienced people with little to no training. Thousands upon thousands of people died because of this. To prevent this from occurring labor unions were created to ne the barrier between a company and the workers, the unions are there to help negotiate any stipulations the workers may request. However, after the early to mid 1900’s the attendance and membership of unions declined drastically.

Additionally, Section 8 proscribes federation fraudulent labor procedures, which include, in accordance to legal interpretation, failure to provide a reasonable representation to all participants of the bargaining constituent. (Office of the General Counsel, National Labor Relations Board, 1997)

Organized labor, during the period from 1875-1900, had drastic effects on the lives of factory workers. Labor unions not only sought to improve working conditions; they wanted to have a large impact on society as a whole as well. These unions also altered feelings toward organized labor.

"If we took away the minimum wage, we could wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at every possible skill level."

     Labor unions have been in America for a very long time. There are many unions in a myriad of different fields. Labor unions were and are used to allow for equal treatment of workers. Employers always want to maximize their profits and they try to give the least to get the most in return. For reasons such as this is why unions were formed. Generally a union boss is appointed or hired to protect the rights and privileges of the employees. The union boss is generally very representative of the demographics of the workers. The leader of the employees needs to know what they want and what is fair for them and this is why he tends to represent one type

Walmart is one of the biggest retail stores in the world. Walmart operates worldwide with current total count of its stores reaching 9.667 stores worldwide (Walmart Corporate, 2011). Interestingly, Walmart is an organization that is currently non-unionized. This paper will provide brief background information on Walmart organization. Legal issues and obstacles that Walmart could encounter will also be identified. The writer will determine which federal, state, or local laws could be broken because of the legal issues and why. Finally, recommendations to minimize possible litigation will be provided.

Old Navy is a corporation that exhibits all of the characteristics of a business in an industry where good tactical management is the key to long-term success and survival. There can be little doubt that the backbone of every successful business or company is its staff of employees. Employees are the vital parts of the business machine that can aid in its success or contribute to its failure. It is, for this reason that it is imperative to possess the ability to acquire and maintain effective employees. The chief method by which a business or company can accomplish this task is through employee-centered motivational programs. While being an assistant manager at Old Navy I was able to look into how the business motivated its employees,

Employment or labor laws have been developed to facilitate smooth relationship between employers and employees. Employment laws provide rules and regulations that should govern both the employer and the employees in their places of work. Employment laws discuss issues related to child labor, wages and salaries, retirement, working conditions, compensations, incentives and employment benefits among others. The major objective is to ensure the employer does not exploit the employee and on the other hand, the employee honors the terms and conditions of the job as presented by the employer.

When we take a look into the organizational environment, two aspects come into play one being the union workplace and the other non-union workplace. Unionized workplace is that where the union negotiates with the employers for an agreement and makes a point that the agreement is followed out. In this agreement,the union talks about its wages, benefits and how their working environment will be. Whereas in a non- unionized workplace, the employer holds the right to make decision for the employees.This paper discusses the differences in the organizational environment of the unionized and non -unionized workplace.

In terms of business, outsourcing can be defined as the process of assigning company’s business processes to external agencies in order to develop the firm’s performance and to avoid business’s high expenses. These expenses may include energy costs, production and labour costs, high taxes and excessive government regulation. From strategic management point of view, outsourcing is used to reduce the operational costs so that the organisation can focus more on the core business and gain competitive advantage. The outsourcing principle was fundamentally applied by PRCM in order to fund the mine design and operation processes. This sort of strategy had large impacts on the company’s performance hence, the next paragraphs will highlight some of these influences.

Higher Wages and Higher Prices Inflation involves changes in both prices and wages, and can be initially caused by either. Therefore, in this essay I will look at two cases of inflation, one, which is caused by a change in aggregate demand, and one, which is caused by a change in aggregate supply. Both of these will have relation to prices and wages. I will then examine the fiscal and monetary policy responses available to government in either case.

There are also several disadvantages to outsourcing agreements, which include becoming dependent on an outside supplier for services, failing to realize the purported cost savings from outsourcing, locking into a negative relationship, losing control over critical functions, and lowering the morale of permanent employees.