There are problems and benefits to the business from unions rather than workers from the unorganized sector.
The Business:
From the point-of-view of business also the unions have helped the business boost productivity. As per the contention of Professor Harley Shaiken at the University of California-Berkeley where unions exist there is greater productivity, less absenteeism and better workplace communication and team spirit. There is also the possibility of having a better trained workforce. Consequently it leads to better performance, and competitiveness, and health safety and product quality. This in turn gives the firm a competitive edge in the economy. The study by Harley Shaiken shows that from 1943 to 1973 the wage rise and the rise in productivity were correlated while after 1973 with the union and collective bargaining has declined leading to poor wages and working conditions and this is said to be responsible for the current financial crisis and severe recession. (UAW, 2010) Not only this but other researchers like Brown and Medoff also agree that the companies with unions have greater productivity than those that do not. Even taking and extreme example it was found that the heart attack recovery rates were high were nurses had unions than in hospitals where they did not. (AFL-CIO, 2011b)
Ultimately all professions will get unionized in future. There are conflicts with some states that violate or have restrained the union activities. The National Labor Relations Board is serious about enforcing the rights of workers to organize unions in all states. (CWA, 2011) Thus employers ultimately cannot avoid unions...
Union Management and Organization Historical and legal framework, which provides the foundations for the American system of labor / management relations The current system of American labor relations and laws has undergone significant transformation dating back to the Great Depression. During the 1930s, the relationship between employers and employees were purely casual in nature. For instance, no employee was guaranteed of long-term job security. Employees lacked bargaining powers because employment was marked
To intimidate striking workers or escort strike breakers, workers who would replace the individuals striking, across picket lines some employers contracted private companies like the Pinkerton Detective Agency. The United States Department of Labor reports that the Coal Strike of 1902 proved to be a turning point in U.S. policy. On October 3, 1902, to address the strike in the Pennsylvania anthracite coal fields that he perceived to threaten a
Unions Labor Unions In ancient times, most labor work was done by slaves or serfs who were mercilessly exploited by their masters. Even non-slave workers were treated poorly and had little power to change their condition. It was only in the Middle Ages, that some merchant guilds and craft guilds began to appear in Europe that functioned as associations of trades-people. After the Industrial Revolution, workers began to organize themselves into organizations
Union Negotiations In the 1990s, America was undergoing a major transformation. What was happening, is globalization (i.e. free trade agreements) made is possible to have access to numerous markets around the world without having to worry about tariffs. This created a transformation in the way many firms are operating by giving them the ability to: increase their profits and lower their labor costs. (Watcher, 2007, pp. 23 -- 29) In the case
Various suggestions have been made as to how to correct for these losses, such as job retraining for more technical jobs. As more and more union jobs are outsourced to foreign workers, more union workers in the United States are unemployed, with little recourse except to retrain and to target another type of work. When they do so, they may not be as eager to join a union given that
If workers are offered reasonable rates of pay, flexible time, vacation time, and other ancillary features they are less likely to leave. On the other hand, keeping workers dissatisfied is an age-old strategy of maintaining existing power hierarchies. Satisfied workers may be more likely to take advantage of flexible time, and more likely to become empowered. Empowered workers benefit many organizations but not ones with traditional authoritarian management and
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