Union Challeges

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Over the decades, several distinct generational personalities have emerged in the society, including the baby boomers, the Generation X, and Generation Y. Members of each of these generations share similar viewpoints of life consistently. These generational factions have impacted the labor unions in various aspects. Baby boomers are people born between the years 1946 and 1964, during the post world war II period. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2009) indicates that the baby boomers represent the highest percentage of unionized workers in the 21st century. However, the baby boomers would be approaching retirement by the turn of the 21st century. Therefore, the baby boomers will likely be pushing their unions to lobby for interests pertaining to upcoming retirees, such as social security, and pension. The Generation X consists of people born between the years 1966 to 1976. This generation is associated with increased levels of individualism and skepticism over social institutions. As such this generation consists of relatively low percentage of union workers. This generation, therefore, has little influence over labor unions. The Generation Y is the generation consisting of members born between the years 177 to 1994. This generation’s members are largely technologically sophisticated, and tend to avoid traditional systems and practices. This generation represents further reduced union activity, with the labor unions appearing to be unappealing to this generation’s members. However, a positive transformation of the labor unions might lead to mass appeal to this generation. This might lead to the majority of the union’s public activities being organized over the social media, which this generation seems to pre... ... middle of paper ... ...conomy. London: Routledge. Lariberte, P. (2013). Trade unions and worker cooperatives: Where Are We At. International Journal of Labor Research, 273-274. Retrieved 06 17, 2014 from http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_dialogue/---actrav/documents/publication/wcms_240534.pdf Nitta, K. (2007). The Politics of Structural Education Reform in the Routledge Research in Education. London:Routledge. Schramm, J. (2005). The Future of Unions. Workplace Visions. Retrieved 06 17, 2014, from http://shrm.org/Research/FutureWorkplaceTrends/Documents/Visions1005.pdf Witherell, R. (2013). An emerging solidarity: Worker cooperatives, unions, and the new union cooperative model in the United States. International Journal of Labor Research, 252-256. Retrieved 06 17, 2014 from http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_dialogue/---actrav/documents/publication/wcms_240534.pdf

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