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Impact of labor unions
About labor unions
The Impact of Unions on Organizations
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Summary: Labor unions play a great factor in creating the income distribution to be more equal. When Labor Unions were at their strongest, income distribution was more equal and share of all income going to the richest 1%. When there are less members in the Union, the wealthy will make more money. Unions can ask for higher wages and can push policies that favor the workers such as safety to action. On the other hand, when the wealthy have more power, they can also influence politics to get policies put through that can weaken Unions. After World War Ⅱ, there has been an incredible economic growth and the graph depicts that it was the same period where Labor Unions had more members and were strong. The author, Arthur MacEwan, tries to prove
To conclude this analysis on the basis of the labor’s extensive history, Sloane & Witney (2010) propose, “it is entirely possible that labor’s remarkable staying power has been because of the simple fact that to many workers, from the nineteenth century to the present, there really has been no acceptable substitute for collective bargaining as a means of maintaining and improving employment conditions” (p.80). In the end, it is important to anticipate unions and employers presently work together to find solutions that will enhance collective bargaining strategies and practices to serve the interest of both parties.
After the industrialization, machine became so important that workers’ excellent skill was not necessary anymore. So talented workers were no more valuable. Entrepreneurs could easily hire cheaper workers to run the machine, which lower the workers’ salaries in a certain degree. Then of course workers wanted to gain equality with their employers like what they lived before. Therefore, workers established Unions to protect their own benefits.
They concentrated on higher wages, shorter hours, and personal issues of workers. The American Federation of Labor’s main weapon was walkouts and boycotts to get industries to succeed to better conditions and higher wages. By the early 1900’s, its membership was up to ½ million workers. Through the years since The Great Depression, labor unions were responsible for several benefits for employees. Workers have safer conditions, higher paying jobs to choose from, and better benefits negotiated for them by their collective bargaining unit.
The period after the Civil War was a time when many businesses and corporations grew to a size where power was the key to success. Different companies would have to compete with each other to stay on top of the fast enlargement of industry. Many businesses and corporation grew so large that the factory owners did not care about the laborers themselves or there concerns, but how much time and work they could out of them. Machines became so abundant in factories that they almost took the place of human workers. Child labor was also an issue. Children, some as young as six, were often employed as factory workers. This ignorance caused the growth of some labor unions. Labor unions were designed to support and help workers that were treated unfairly and were being controlled by the owners.
Wallerstein, M. & Western, B. 2000. Unions in Decline? What Has Changed and Why? Annual Review of Political Science. 3: 355-377.
After the great depression, unions were legalized in order to be the voice for the workers for whom they represented to their employers. Once this legalization became evident through federal statute, set the stage for what was to become the Fair Labor Standards Act. Having just survived a depression, the United States was hoping to avoid any future economic downturns, the government would accomplish this with paying higher wages that the employer could afford and employees could provide for their families.
The unions of disunion were not only a major detriment to increasing the socio-economic standards of the laborer from 1875 to 1900, but also served to backpedal on the progress laborers had already gained out of respect. Perhaps the cornerstone of the unions’ policies was the fight for the improved working hours, specifically and eight hour work day, and increased wages for the laborer. However, Historical Statistics of the Unites States on Hours and Wages of Industrial Workers from 1875 to 1891 proves that no such improvements truly occurred. In fact, only a nominal 3.3 cent increase in wages from 1875 to 1891 occurred, and while it some may argue that the unions are then successful in achieving some increase in wages it is crucial to realize that this nominal increase came at the cost of hundreds, if not thousands, of laborer lives. Certainly a meager 1% increase in wages does not justify such loss of life, and if it is claimed that it does then that is also to warrant the trusts right to pay their laborers so little, as anyone who condones such little increase at such high costs automatically degrades the value of the life of the worker and thus reinforces the trusts’ right to combat unions. Furthermore, it should be noted that the average price of wages through those sixteen years was a measly 161.8, a decline of 8 whole cents from the starting point. Thus we can see that unions did not really gain 3.3 cents in wages, but rather caused a net loss of 8 cents. To even attempt to claim improvement for the laborer would be a completely ludicrous notion. Unfortunately for the laborer, the unions of disunion’s extent of their plight did not stop at the ruining of the worker’s economic position through the loss of wages, but also thr...
... of Labor Unions in Labor Markets. In R. C. Free (Ed.), 21st Century Reference Series. 21st Century Economics (Vol. 1, pp. 163-172). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Reference. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.library3.webster.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX1700400026&v=2.1&u=edenweb_main&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w
One of these ideas is that workers who do a harder job should be paid more. This was shown with the miners who had a high chance of getting injured on the job versus the laborers who only loaded coal on the cars and assisted the miners. The miners were paid more than the laborers as said by Stephen Crane in this sentence from The Depths of a Coal Mine “ Meanwhile the miner gets three dollars per day, and his laborer one dollar and a quarter” (document 5). This was an important idea that we still use today. Then there was the idea of labor unions. These unions were made to get workers better working conditions and were successful on multiple occasions. on these occasions unions were positive but on the occasions that unions didn't work they were negative because of people that got killed, injured, or lost their jobs during the strikes. Through these negative effects were more positive because they helped to pass laws to make working better for workers. For example in 1938, Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act after the states did not ratify the admendment to prohibit child labor (http://www.scholastic.com/) . This act made child labor outlawed mostly because of how child labor kept growing from 0.7 million in 1870 to 1.63 million in 1910 (Document 1). This act would not have been passed if the unions did not bring up the problem of child labor to the government. Now
The largest reason for the growing gap between the rich and the working-class people was the sudden increase in manufacturing during the 1920’s. The people of the working class were significantly increasing their output, but their wages only increased slightly. For example, the average worker out put from 1923-1929 increased about 32%, but the average income of the worker only increased about 8% (Gusmorino, Main Causes of the Great Depression). Therefore one may conclude that wages only increased one-fourth the amount production increased. Another amazing feat of the manufacturing increase was that prices for goods stayed the same, therefore the executives in the companies were keeping the mass amounts of profit that were now coming into the company. In fact, one can see that top executives in a certain company increased significantly because their salaries from 1923-1929 rose 64% (Gusmorino, Main Cau...
Although, the growth of business was booming and consumption was extremely high during the 1920’s employers failed to equally distribute the benefits to its industrial workers who got the short end of the stick and did not see any profit from productivity. Since there was no law at the time established on how many hours a person was to work and get paid, employers would overwork and underpay the laborers. This became a major problem because it brought about high unemployment rates, which for laborers, the shortage of jobs meant strong competition among each other for finding and keeping a job, and low wages, which brought down consumption.
By the end of the 1930s most Americans realized that unions were one of the keys to genuine democracy because it provided a voice to workers and the inclusion of the racial minorities and industrial workers in collective bargaining opportunities.
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).
Domhoff discusses the prevalence of labor unions in the New Deal era. In fact, by 1945, with the help of the liberal-labor alliances, union membership had increased five-fold to fifteen million in that past decade (pg. 172). However, after 1945, the liberal-labor alliances never saw a victory against corporate conservatives. Because of the corporate world’s domination of policy implementation, politicians rules time and again against labor unions because it works in corporate America’s favor. Labor unions serve as many working class Americans’ avenue into the political sphere; denying them a right to unionize is not only a fundamental violation of free speech but also morally and ethically wrong. Overall, Domhoff’s critique of wealthy politicians (primarily Republicans) is merited considering he argues empirically with statistics supporting extremely skewed voting trends against unions. Additionally, Domhoff’s argument exudes sympathy toward those less fortunate; I share Domhoff’s sentiment that is imperative we promote equality amongst classes, one way in which we should do so is through advocacy of labor
Union influences the wages and benefits of workers by negotiating with the management. With plenty of workers unite together, there is a higher chance to bargain for a better wage and benefits because it's always better in a union than alone. The union can also pressure the company with strike or work-to-rule so they can fight for more benefits and a better wage for the workers.