Union-Management Cooperation: The Key to Workplace Harmony and Economic Prosperity

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.

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).

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.

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,

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).

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

What is the role of management and unions in society today? How has this changed in the last 100 years?

The labor movements lead by unions historically have provided laws that protect workers and increased employee rights. Throughout history, teaches have had to work 10 hours days and had very little individual rights outside of the classroom. Women teachers were not permitted to marry. In 1920, teachers would not be in the company of men while in public nor leave town without the permission of the board of education. Teaching in the past required a great deal of manual labor including, scrubbing and mopping floors, maintaining wood stoves and other cleaning rituals deemed appropriate by the board of education. The labor movement of the past and suffrage efforts of the Women’s Trade Union League began the efforts to union representation in the

History shows that there has been conflict of power within the workforce between union and management. This essay will discuss if management should have the right to determine whether a union should operate within their workplace. It is necessary first to discuss the roles of unions and management in the workplace and discuss both points of view on the power distribution between unions and management in the workplace.

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.

Work reform, as interpreted by the employer, is a modern concept that has at its core increases in efficiency and effectiveness and a content and stable workforce. Work reforms are a means to an end; the end being increases in efficiency, production, and profits in a volatile global market. Depending on which method is used, the goals are to motivate their workers to gain their compliance. By paying more attention to a workers values, attitudes, and psychological needs, etc. a company can set the foundation for a more militant workforce and perhaps circumvent unionization. A company can try to create a “corporate family”, for example, via a corporate culture to try to facilitate this type of reform. The implementation of a corporate

Many unions now want their unions to be political. Now workers are influenced by political unions. Political views have made the trade unions to conflict in between the unions. Multiplicities of unions have lead to inter-union rivalries which made them to weaken the power of collective bargaining and reduce the effectiveness of workers in securing their rights. Public sector workers in china are to collective bargaining and effective union representation is under unprecedented attack in the USA, some Chinese workers are beginning to achieve collective bargaining and worker rights. Even though Chinese politicians and bureaucrats have tried to prevent the democracy in the Arab world from impacting Chinese society, they want to introduce labour reforms which will directly do not affect their

With globalization,many changes have been brought up in the workplaces that are leading towards more flexibility and enrollment of the employees (Tong Fay and Anil Verma,2002). “According to a survey -unionized workers across Canada earned$5- 28/hour more than non-union workers; Women with unions earned more too and got paid more fairly (Why unions? ,2015)”. Thus ,it gives us an idea what changes are being brought about by the unions in comparison to non-union when it comes to the wage sector. The union workplaces give a chance to the members to bargain for their benefits which includes not only social well being but also the say,the right to speak up about their own views therefore giving them the chance to talk about their problems. The union have been progressed to give a fair wage

Discussion of collective bargaining must begin with recognizing the fundamental differences between public and private employment. The terms and conditions of employment in the private sector are determined by private decisions made by private parties shaped by market forces. In the public sector, the terms and conditions of employment are public decisions made through governmental officials and shaped by political processes as well as by market forces. In a democratic society, this means that decisions are confined by constitutional limitations and must ultimately reflect the will of the electorate (Summers, 2003).

Strikes are increasingly becoming a global phenomenon due to the impact they have on international scale. In this case scenario, workers strike is the preeminent challenge facing the company. Several approaches need to be taken with some employed simultaneously.