Labor Relations and Unions

Labor Relations and Unions

Introduction

In early 2011, a wave of political protests swept much of the world, as pro-democracy movements opposed dictatorships in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and many other countries. While demonstrations in those nations sought to bring about the end of totalitarian governments, a different sort of protest erupted in the U.S., in Wisconsin. Organized labor is defined as a union of workers which are unified as one, representing body foe the common purpose of civilizing and improving monetary and economic conditions of workers by having cooperative arrangement with company members. They are also called as “Unions”. Two types of union are very well known: Horizontal and vertical union.

Discussion

Labor unions are groups of workers who organize to obtain better working conditions from their employers. Although unions often seek higher wages, they also negotiate with employers to gain and protect other benefits, such as pensions and health care insurance (Weil, 1992). A good deal of a union's power stems from its ability to persuade all workers in a particular company or industry to join it; if all workers join the union, then those workers can strike, stop working, to have their demands met. The ability of union workers to strike often depends on the ease or difficulty with which the employer can find replacement workers.

The Wisconsin protests were in response to a bill promoted by the state's newly elected governor, Scott Walker (R), that sought to strip labor unions for public employees, government workers, of their collective bargaining rights and their ability to negotiate changes in wages and benefits. The bill also sought to diminish benefits held by union workers. Although the measure was ostensibly intended to close a budget gap, critics argued that eliminating the collective bargaining rights of public-employee unions was a potentially fatal blow to organized labor. Despite the protests, Walker signed a bill limiting bargaining rights for government workers into law in March last year. The measure, however, has already faced challenges in the courts (Millward, 1994).

There is a vital effect of unionization on the human resource of the organization. The unionized companies enjoy the benefits in numerous workforce policy areas. For instance, there is a lot if evidence from various different companies showing that a unionized workforce possibly offers more couching and training to its staff as compared to the non unionized organization. A few of the studies also support these findings that there is a great formalization in the selection and recruitment areas (Medoff, 2001). The workforces that have been unionized are probable to utilize a formal procedure of posting the jobs and to utilize less subjective and more objective selection tests. Seemingly, such practice obtains more efficient results as compared to the process of the nonunion organizations in which they undergo different objectives which include their want to remain a nonunion organization. Finally, the unions seem to increase the quantity and quality of forum voices within the company.

Changes Needed For Unions to Maintain Support from Membership, Community and Employers

The union represents the ...