Labor Unions
A labor union is as defined in the dictionary,
an organization of wage earners
formed for the purpose of serving the
members' interests with respect to wages
and working conditions. Today there
are about 16 million workers in the U.S.
that belong to a labor union. The
pressure upon the employers to raise wages and
improve working conditions in
a major goal of the labor unions. Labor unions
have been around for a long
time. The earlier unions were called craft unions,
consisting of only a
couple members who worked in the same craft. The way unions
negotiate for an
employment contract is by collective bargaining. Collective
bargaining is
negotiation between the representatives of organized workers and
their
employer or employers to determine wages, hours, rules, and
working
conditions. When in collective bargaining, the unions represent its
members in
negotiations rather than have each worker negotiate individually
with an
employer. In order for the collective bargaining process can start a
union shop
must be organized. A union shop is a business or industrial
establishment whose
employees are required to be union members or to agree to
join the union within
a specified time after being hired. Once a union shop
is formed the union will
look to negotiate a labor contract, which is a
written agreement between the
employer and the union representing employees.
The labor contract sets the
conditions of employment. Although many union
contracts are worked out through
collective bargaining, there are times when
this process fails to bring
agreement between the union and management. In
looking to achieve the union’s
goals, labor unions may use a variety of
tactics. For example: striking,
picketing, boycotting, slowdown, and in some
cases illegal methods. A strike is
when workers stop working for the purpose
of gaining concessions from
management. Strike is labor’s most powerful
weapon because of the financial
loss imposed upon the employer. The downfall
to a strike is that is that it also
costs participating workers a loss in
income. Picketing is similar to a strike;
it takes place when workers march
outside a business carrying signs. The main
objective of picketing is to
discourage workers from entering the workplace. A
union boycott is a refusal
to buy services or goods from a business whose
workers are on strike. Unions
tell their members to tell their friends and
family to boycott the products
of the company. Unions also try to get the
general public involved and
support their cause. When there is a boycott on a
certain brand name the
boycott is called a "primary boycott". If there is a
boycott on a store
because they sell a certain brand name this is called a"secondary boycott". A
slowdown is when workers, on purpose, decrease their
output in order to force
concessions from their employer. Because the workers
are not on strike
workers can still collect their pay. Some Unions have resorted
to tactics
that are illegal. There are three main tactics. The first on is
secondary
boycott, which has been discussed previously. The second is
strong-arm
methods were unions hire thugs to force management into accepting
the union
demands. The third method is called jurisdictional strike is one
caused by
dispute between two unions over which one can represent certain
workers.
Management sometime will put pressure on unions when there is a
breakdown in
labor-management negotiations. Some important management tactics
are lockouts,
injunctions, and strikebreakers. Lockout happens when
management shuts down a
workplace in hope of bringing the workers to the
companies’ terms. Sometimes a
court will issue an injunction to halt a
strike. Injunctions are very uncommon.
Strikebreakers occur when
management hire new people to replace the people that
are on strike.
Strikebreaking, in my opinion is the best way to handle a strike.
If
people don’t want to work they shouldn’t. There are peaceful ways
decisions
can be solved without strikes or lockouts. For example:
fact-finding,
mediation, and arbitration. When there are labor disputes, the
government might
assign a "fact-finding board". This board investigates the
problem and
suggests a solution. In mediation a third party is brought in to
analyze the
situation and offers a solution. In the arbitration method of
settling labor
problems a third party is brought in and the management and
Union must abide by
the solution as set by the third
party.
Bibliography
"What is a Labor Union?"
http://ibewfifthdistrict.org Antell, Gerson.
Economics: Institutions and
Analysis. New York. ASP, 1997 The World Book