Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
International trade and globalization
Impacts of neoliberalism in the world
International trade and globalization
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: International trade and globalization
To what extent does global competition undermine the power of trade unions? The development of free-market economics has, since the 18th century, resulted in the spread of a set of ideas, creeds and practices all over the developed and much of the developing world. Today, the globalisation of trade, capital, technology and innovation has accelerated competitive conditions for businesses all over the world. Globalisation may be defined as the opening of markets to the forces of neoliberalism and capitalism; it is characterised by the free movement of people, talent, skills, capital (intellectual, social and economic) across international borders. All kinds of barriers have either been swept away, diffused or made obsolete by the forces of globalisation: trade barriers, subsidies, geographical boundaries, linguistic and cultural differences. Technological advancements have pulled the world closer and, in the process, affected how labour relations and worker/employer relations operate and develop. The multinational corporation as well as the public sector alike are affected by global competition. In its essence, neo-liberalism advocates free trade, private enterprise, the free flow of capital across borders and, importantly, restrictions on the power of trade unions. These restrictions are important to study and discuss because the world today is no longer regulated by the orthodox laws of economics where supply equals demand (more or less). Instead, we witness radical inequalities and volatility in market conditions. Unemployment remains frighteningly high in many parts of Europe while many workers in parts of Asia and Africa suffer exploitation and work punishingly long hours in extremely poor conditions for a pittance. Under... ... middle of paper ... ...part of workers: Works Cited Bryson, J., Daniels, P. and Warf, B. (2004) Service Worlds: People Organisations Technologies Oxford: Routledge. Davidow, W. and Malone, M. (1993) The Virtual Corporation. New York: Harper Business. Dolvik, J. and Waddington, J. (2004) 'Organising Marketized Services: Are Trade Unions up to the Job.' Economic and Industrial Democracy 25(1): 9-40. Eisenscher, M. (2002) 'Is the Secret to Labor's Future in Its Past?' Working USA 5(4): 95-122. Taylor, P. and Bain, P. (2003) 'Call Centre Organizing in Adversity: From Excel to Vertex' in G. Gall (ed.) Union Organizing: Campaigning for Trade Union Recognition, pp. 153-172 London: Routledge. 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.
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.
Wallerstein, M. & Western, B. 2000. Unions in Decline? What Has Changed and Why? Annual Review of Political Science. 3: 355-377.
... 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
Industry deregulation, amplified contest and toil mobility have made it extra hard for traditional unions to maneuver. In current decades, unions have experienced partial expansion because of transferal from "old economy" industries, which often implicated manufacturing and big companies, to lesser and medium-sized companies exterior of manufacturing. In the current past, prospective union associates have increase into a bigger number of companies. This leads to negotiating collective bargaining being difficult job, as union’s officials have to work with a bigger number of well-versed managers and most of the times have a difficult time systematizing employees. Therefore, the management ends up having the day by giving what they had brought to the table of negotiations (Greenhouse 1).
Fletcher says that when unions and politics come together, people especially interpret unions’ missions and their power critically. He does not expand on how he titles the myth, but skims the surface on union consensus regarding politics. The myth is about the belief that “unions should stay out of politics and focus on what’s happening in the workplace” (Fletcher 65).
DeMaria, A. T. (2009). Pragmatic reasons to maintain union-free status. Management Report for Nonunion Organizations (Wiley), 32(11), 3.
The conclusion this paper must draw is that if it is true that there was a need for unions and that they have become impractical then there must have been a time period where the relationship between company and union was optimal. The purpose of this paper is to determine the characteristics of that optimal time period and how to achieve or recreate them.
In today’s world of employment, one can choose to work in a unionized or a non unionized workplace; both situations have positive and negative attributes. In a unionized situation, members experience benefits such as union representation, and aversions such as layoffs and strikes. In a non-union situation, workers experience benefits such as better treatment by management, and aversions such as decreased benefits and overall decreased wages. Although over the last few decades union membership and growth have decreased, organized labor is becoming popular.
U.S. Senate, Testimony of Samuel Gompers, August 1883, Report of the Committee of the Senate upon the Relations between Labor and Capital (Washington, D.C., 1885), 1:365-70.] 6 November 2004. .
This brief history of more than 100 years of the modern trade union movement in the United States can only touch the high spots of activity and identify the principal trends of a "century of achievement." In such a condensation of history, episodes of importance and of great human drama must necessarily be discussed far too briefly, or in some cases relegated to a mere mention.
Unions traditionally were “a continuous association of wage earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the condition of their employment” (Webb & Webb, 1894, as cited in Bryson, 2011b, slide 7). Their function was to campaign for compassionate management procedures, equivalent bargaining power between employers and employees, and for fairness and democracy to be initiated into the workplace (Bryson, 2011a). Union activity at this time tended to focus on nationwide bargaining for industrial groups (Geare, 1983, as cited in Haynes, 2005), with their role seen as wage bargainers and in...
Flanagan, R. J. (2005). Has Management Strangled U.S. Unions? Journal of Labor Research, 26(1), 33-63.
When the term “Globalization” is discussed, most academics, scholars, professionals and intellectuals attempt to define and interpret it in a summarized fashion. My main concern with this approach is that one cannot and should not define a process that altered decades of history and continues to, in less than 30 words. Global Shift is a book with remarkable insight. Peter Dicken rather than attempting to define the commonly misused word, explains Globalization in a clear and logical fashion, which interconnects numerous views. Dicken takes full advantage of his position to write and identify the imperative changes of political, economic, social, and technological dimensions of globalization.
“In September 1919, the very first labor unions went on strike, insisting they have better working condition by protesting with over 350,000 members of the work force” (Zinn 381). Labor unions have been in the United States of America since the early 19th century. Unions represented employees who rarely had the opportunity to negotiate better wages, more health benefits, and safer working conditions. Therefore, workers rebelled against employers, which affected society as a whole. Historically, labor unions evolved from social and economic impact throughout the Industrial Revolution, World War I, and World War II.
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...