Question Of Union Recognition By Sarath Chandra Davala

Labor unions were established as a way for workers’ needs and grievances to be heard by management. According to Fossum (2012), “forming a union creates a collective voice to influence change at work” (p. 7). The collective voice of workers in a union holds much more power than any single employee’s voice. It can loudly draw attention to mistreatment or abuse of workers. The organized collective voice of workers demands to be treated in a fair way by its management in terms of wages, hours, benefits, and working conditions.

Labor unions are a gathering of people for a united cause. People within a labor union fight for common goals such as better pay and fair working conditions. In most cases when a union attacks a certain aspect it is so they can all acquire the same out come, such as raising the minimum wage to twelve dollars an hour for all. The primary reason unions were created was because workers weren’t always treated appropriately throughout history. Industrial leaders would make maximum profit by making their employees work twelve to fifteen hour workdays for seven days a week and they would only earn pennies for each hour of work. The conditions in which employees conducted work was unsafe and unhealthy yet no one could complain because they could not afford to lose their job. This is when labor unions were introduced, at first they started off small only pertaining to a specific geological area in regards to a specific craft such as shoe making in Philadelphia. The smaller unions are known as locals, an employee affiliated with the union is then appointed as a liaison between their fellow workers and the corporation making them the shop steward. However, people realized they held power in numbers and ultimately national unions were established such as the, Knights of Labor.

A Union is a group of workers who wanted something better from their company or facility, they are called strikers. Unions benefit workers in many ways, they help get workers' rights. Unions  are formed because their working conditions are irritable. They all needed and wanted a change; Labor Unions were created to help the workers with work-related difficulties such as low pay, unsafe or unsanitary working conditions, long hours, and other situations. .

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.

A trade union is an organization that usually consists of members who are workers and employees. It take care of their well being and interests at work by doing things like negotiating an agreement for pay from an employer, regulating relations between the workers and employers, to take collective action to enforce the terms of collective bargaining, to bring up ideas and raise demands on behalf of the workers, or t help settle their grievances. There are different forms of trade unions, one is a company union which represents the interests of only one companies workers and have no connection to any other trade unions. They are also called house unions and are generally illegal. A general union represents workers from several different companies in the same type of

The workers belief that it is only through union collaboration that they can secure themselves from the management practices. Realistically, low morale, the constant fear of losing the job and the unreasonable decision of the management behavior help to create unionization. According to a recent article, What Have Unions Ever Done For Us ,has stated that “union is about ensuring that the people who make the money play fair by those who are essential to the process of it being made”.( Stocker).The previous sentences proves as an evidence that the social and financial rights of the members of the union are protected, which in return is beneficial for the organization since they tend to be motivated which will highly result of achieving higher

Since the 1980’s trade union membership numbers have declined rapidly ( Balnave et al, 2007, pg 130). Once upon a time it was quiet important for employees to be part of a union as it entitled them to have a collective voice, and power to build a pleasurable workplace. There have been many factors that have contributed to

What the union can do to help labor is to increase pay, help fix or get improvements in working conditions, or increase benefits, like vacation time, health benefits, etc. For example, according to Walters & Mishel, “unions raise wages of unionized workers by roughly 20% and raise compensation” (2003). So unions play a pivotal role in taking our issues as workers and taking those issues to management to represent us. Some of the advantages of forming a union is job security since termination of an employee has to

The history of trade and industrial union has in the past year been very powerful and proficient when influencing members, employers and politicians. Recently, they have evolved to become less powerful and influential. This is because of the major relapse of the membership of unions and also the government disparaging trade unions in the area of workplace relations. Some governments marginalized those unions in order to significantly reduce the role played by unions by reorienting the relations among and between the employers and the employees.

In the absence of labor unions, workers may not be as involved in discussions concerning various aspects of their working lives. Although there are several reasons workers decide to join labor unions, the compensation and wage advantages, health and safety advantages and dignity and respect advantages drive workers to organize.

Beginning, in the early 18th Century, labor unions formed in order to benefit the working class during the industrial revolution in Europe. It is a natural human instinct to seek the company of others with similar aspirations. For years, men have formed organizations around common interests, including religious and political interests. The rise of capitalism in the U.S. made labor organization inevitable (Flagler, 17). In the early 19th Century in the United States, labor unions formed upon the founding of the National Labor Union in 1866, (Union Plus). Although this organization terminated early on, it was the catalyst to the rest of the labor unions extant today in our country. Despite their controversy, unions help the economy because the working class receives fair benefits, wages, and working conditions, all of which allow them to purchase goods and services. These purchases, in turn, help to employ more people.

Unions emphasize the need to create and maintain solidarity among members of the working class to effectively assert power in the workplace. They favor greater equality in pay across employees and greater worker control of the work environment. Unions also stress the importance of continual improvements in living standards for their members, best attainable through increases in their pay (Fossum, J, (n.d.), p. 2).

The labor union movement over the years has shaped the way individuals work and live for both the nicest and unpleasant. Some would think the unions influence has created a power struggle between management and union leaders. In today’s time, some citizens insist the existence of unions are a must to aid in employee freedom, while others view the labor unions as just another problem in the line of progress. The purpose of labor unions was for employed workers to come together and collectively agree on fundamental workplace objectives. The rise of the union came about after the Civil War- responding to the industrial economy. Surprisingly at the least unions became popular within the 1930-50’s and began to slowly decrease,

This brief history of more than 100 years of the modern trade union movement in the United States can only touch the high spots of activity and identify the principal trends of a "century of achievement." In such a condensation of history, episodes of importance and of great human drama must necessarily be discussed far too briefly, or in some cases relegated to a mere mention.

Labor Unions have become an important factor in our industries. For many years, labor unions have served as the main voice of the workers to their employers. The continuous effort of labor unions in helping the laborers ensure their rights in their jobs, acquire all the benefits they need and to eliminate the injustice experienced by workers in their workplace is still an ongoing process. In order to understand labor unions in general, knowing the roots of it is the best way to start. In this paper, the progress of the labor unions throughout history, the issues faced the developments it achieved, laws passed and the problem faced by today’s unions will be tackled.