Labor Unions - Do They Still Help?

Labor Unions - Do They Still Help?

Introduction

Employment is approached by workers and employers from a totally different standpoint. So what can be the measures taken from where the two different sides reach on a single consent? The answer to this lies in the union. For centuries, unions have played an imperative role in dialogues between workers and employers. The union is an organization that negotiates on behalf of workers with business, corporations, or other organization for the benefits of the workers. There are industrial unions that represent workers belonging to a particular industry, whereas the trade unions represents workers indulge in the particular nature of the job. A trade union in America is the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), whereas, an industrial union is the United Auto Workers (UAW).

Discussion

Functions of Unions

Unions, from the time of the industrial revolution have played a part in securing and improving the wages and working conditions of the organization in benefit of the workers. Numerous unions were created in resources companies and manufacturing organizations, textile factories, companies operating in steel mills, and mines. However, over the period of time unions spread to numerous other industries. Generally unions are associated with old economy that is companies or organizations that are operating under heavy regulated environment. However, today majority of the membership is restricted to government, utilities, and transportation (Belman, 1992).

The depth and the union members at which the union penetrates differ in each country. There is some government that regulates the formation of unions, whereas others aggressively block them; however, some governments have focused their economies towards the industries that do not required participation of union. Mobility of labors, increased in competition, and deregulation of industries had made operation of traditional unions critical. There has been a notified shift in the growth of unions in recent decades due to the shift from old economy industries, which mostly involved large scale and manufacturing companies, which now has evolved into a medium sized or small scale companies outside the nature of manufacturing.

The role of unions has also evolved as the workers have evolved over the period of time. Traditionally the focus of union leaders was one representing workers at the time of negotiations with the manager, but over the time the line between the worker and the manager blurred as there was a shift from reliance on manufacturing. Moreover, the technological growth, increased productivity, computerization, and automation have also resulted in lesser need of human resources from performing a particular task.

Effects of Unions on Labor Environment

There are two main influences, where the power of the unions lies that are increasing the demand of labors and restricting the supply of labor. It is compared as cartels by some of the economists. The wages of the employees paid by employers are bargained collectively between the employers and unions. Higher wages are deemed by the unions than the equilibrium wage identified by the market or industry, which the wage ...