Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
impacts of trade unions in the economy
impact of labor unions
impact of labor unions
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: impacts of trade unions in the economy
Trade unions around the world are falling on hard times in the organized workplace. The phrase ‘union live and die at the workplace’ is becoming a reality sooner than later. The likely obituary of trade unions world-wide are declining membership, density collapse, weaken bargaining power, and the lost of prominence and place in polity. Analyses of trade unionism in the literature for some 20 years now have commonly referring to a crisis of trade unionism. Most authors puts it ‘unions under siege’, ‘stagnant and declining’, and ‘experiencing near death’. Touraine (1986, p. 157) for one has argued that ‘movements such as unionism have a life history: infancy, youth, maturity, old age and death.’ Whereas, Metcalf (2005, p. 28) in his analysis of British trade unions pessimistically stated that the future for trade unions is ‘bleak’ and that ‘perdition is more likely than resurgence.’ What holds for trade unions or whether they still have a future is increasingly becoming an uncertainty. Do they still hold the capacity to shape their own future? Trade union is said to possess powerful traditions and inherited structure that so often being seen as barrier but potentially can provide a resource for renewal. Ironically the analyses of the decline of trade unionism in the literature go hand in hand with a growing body of scholarship on union renewal. This is a paradox in social science in recent years as there were growing scholarly interest in the labour movement despite of the retreat of trade unions as a global force (Phelan 2007; Burawoy 2008; Heery 2009). These scholarly endeavours recognized the many innovations in trade unions circles that counterweigh the deterministic and fatalistic vision of the death of trade unionism and thei... ... middle of paper ... ...etween unions. In term of governance and administration, trade unions members were more comfortable with maintaining the status quo and concerned about being disenfranchised, leaders who are more worried about losing political base and staff who are unsure of where they will fit in the new organization if there any structural change (Fletcher and Hurd 2001). In summary, international union decline can be attributed to socio-economic and modernization, changing role of the state and unions’ entrenched structures and policies that compounded the diverse effects of the changing environment. Narrative of union decline occupies a growing portion of the industrial relation literature but it does not dominate it completely. Empirical evidences suggests of unions’ innovations in the face of decline and the prospects and conditions for trade union renewal.
The paper will discuss minicases on ‘The White-Collar Union Organizer’ and ‘The Frustrated Labor Historians’ by Arthur A. Sloane and Fred Witney (2010), to understand the issues unions undergo in the marketplace. There is no predetermined statistical number reported of union memberships in this country. However, “the United Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) excludes almost 2 million U.S wages and salary employees, over half of whom are employed in the public sector, who are represented at their workplaces by a union but are not union members. Not being required to join a union as a condition of continued employment, these employees have for a variety of reasons chosen not to do so. Nor do the BLS estimates include union members who are currently unemployed” (Sloane & Witney, 2010, p.5). Given this important information, the examination of these minicases will provide answers to the problems unions face in organizational settings.
Organized labor has seen a long and ever changing history in the United States. What began as minimal organized labor movement catapulted into astronomical union membership rates as the nation grew and developed. The intense power unions possessed only lasted so long and in the years since 1970, union membership in the United States has collapsed. This paper will examine the most significant reasons for the decline in membership. In brief, organizational redesigns, the development of technology and substantial public policy changes have all contributed to the drop in affiliation rates. In addition, policy suggestions will be provided in an attempt to support the continuation of the trend. Much of the research regarding this topic refers to unions consisting of unskilled labor however it is obvious that most members are individuals who are highly trained in a specific trade. Because of this, the terms unskilled labor and trade labor will be used interchangeably.
Across the United States there has been a decline in union membership. Looking back as far to 1954 the union work force had peaked at 34.7% but has since been in decline. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the total number of union members fell by 400,000 in 2012 to 14.3 million even though the nation’s overall employment rose by 2.4 million (Greenhouse, 2013). In 2011 the percentage of union workers was 11.8% and in 2012 dropped to 11.3%, which is the lowest union membership has been since 1916. The percentage of private sector unions in 2012 was down to 6.6%, which left many labor specialists questioning whether private sector unions were sinking towards irrelevance (Greenhouse, 2013). What are the reasons for this decline? And what does this mean for the future of private sector unions? This essay will take a lot closer look at these two questions.
Unions have an extensive history of standing up for workers. They have advocated rights of steelworkers, coal miners, clothing factory employees, teachers, health care workers, and many others. The labor movement is based on the idea that organized workers as a group have more power than individuals would have on their own. The key purpose of any union is to negotiate contracts, making sure workers are respected and fairly compensated for their work. “In theory” unions are democratic organizations, resulting in varying inner authority. Workers look for security within a job a...
As factory operators pushed their employees to work longer and harder in order to increase profits, unions were formed. An example of this would be the fraternal organizat...
Union efforts to improve the lives of workers consistently met with resistance, oftentimes violent, from businesses, police and the government throughout their turbulent history; and yet unions have persevered and were able to improve working conditions. The National Labor...
Factories were known for their ill treatment of their employees, long hours and dirty and unsafe conditions. In 1866, unions started to form to improve working conditions for the workers. A fundamental problem faced by democratic societies is as long as people live their lives individually and go their separate ways and be selfish individuals, they are unlikely to meet collectively to resolve issues. There needs to be meaningful unity among people to alleviate this problem to get people obliged to one another, so there is a willingness to sacrifice for shared goals. Bonding of its citizens creates a democracy. Unions seemed to offer the middle class a chance to become a crucial part of fostering institutions of constitutional democracy. The unions have went through several transitions, but have always worked for the working force. I will discuss the history of the various unions, their wins and losses, and the struggle of the employee to achieve democracy in the workplace.
In 1636, the first considered labor union disturbance was recorded. The Main fishermen employed by Robert Trelawney at Richmond island, were reported to have fallen “into a mutiny” when their wages were withheld. It was a small group of men and their protest was hardly remember, but it showed how cooperating together would lead to a better result than working by yourself, it also taught other people how to stand up for what they believe in. ”Usually the first step for any union is to get workers to join in the organization. After a union has become established in a plant or industry, its major functions are arranging labor contracts and handling job disputes” (Mills 4). The hardest part of joining a labor union is knowing there is a possibility of being fired or hated for retaliation against your employer. Most men were afraid to get caught associating with a union because they could be faced with jail time, beaten , or fired if caught. Labor unions tried to keep t...
Margaret Thatcher was the British Prime Minister from 1979-1990. Thatcher was the longest serving British leader of the twentieth century who was an extremely controversial yet effective leader in her time. She had a deep impact on several internal and external policies during her reign. One of Thatcher’s key intentions that she wanted to achieve was reducing the power of trade unions in Britain. In December 1978 even before achieving her role as Prime Minister Thatcher stated that "there is no disguising the damage that some trade unions practices and some trade union policies and some trade union leader are doing to the nation… We shall not bash the unions. Neither shall we bow to them." Consequently it’s clear that before reaching her leading position, Thatcher already had plans to reduce the role trade unions held in industrial affairs. Thatcher had a negative opinion on trade unions, although they held an important position in British industrial relations before she came into office. In World War II trade unions played a significant part in the war effort: the early postwar Labour government established the union’s position, which repealed the restrictive 1927 Trade Disputes and Trade Union Act. Under this act civil servants were not allowed to go on strike and civil unions were not allowed to associate with political parties. Unions were only truly allowed to expand when this regulative legislative material was repealed. In 1979 union membership reached its height, the year the conservatives and Thatcher took control of the house. Over 13 million or around 53% of the workforce were members of a union, which was a high percentage by other international standards. Evidently, when Thatcher was elected Prime Minister...
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.
David Brody argues that the rise of contractual or collective bargaining relationships during the post WWII era formalized the relationship between employers and unions, but simultaneously began to put a break on shop floor activism. Explain Brody’s argument and, where relevant, incorporate Weber’s theory of bureaucracy.
The disadvantages of union membership are viewed from the employee and employer perspective. Through the employee lens, the disadvantages manifest in the form of fees, loss of autonomy, and less collaborative work environment. As part of the union, you surrender many of your individual rights in exchange for the organized results that can potentially manifest through the collective bargaining process. Therefore, there isn’t any assurance that your individual concern will even be addressed.
Willman, P. (2004) 'Structuring Unions: The Administrative Rationality of Collective Action' in Kelly, J .and Willman, P. (eds.) Union Organisation and Activity, pp. 73-89 London: Routledge.
Trade Unions is essentially pluralistic in outlook, it covers not only the relations between employer and employee, but also the relations between employers and unions and between them. TU theory, practice and institutions traditionally focus more on the collective aspect of relations. This is evident from the central place occupied by labour law, freedom of association, collective bargaining, the right to strike etc.
The laws and regulations surrounding Industrial Relations since the 1900’s have, at each reform, placed tighter constraints on the amount of power unions are able to exert. The reforms have also radically increased managerial prerogative, through an increased use of individual bargaining, contracts and restrictions imposed on unions (Bray and Waring, 2006). Bray and W...