Course Project Paper Outline

INTRODUCTION

Since the beginning of labor unions to the present day, the economic situation has changed how labor unions operate in today’s workforce. In today’s economic climate, more organizations are shedding jobs and therefore making it more difficult for labor unions to survive. The political arena has also played a significant role in the labor unions survival as well. In this paper, I will discuss the survival of the labor union in the economic climate of today.

TODAY’S UNION

In the past, the fact that unions collectively bargained for their member’s compensation, benefits and living wages was enough to sustain membership numbers. Now, many of the rights the labor unions fought to protect for their members, have been made law. For example, the Civil Rights Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the Fair Standard Labors Act and the National Labor Relations Act. The unions now must find creative ways to protect their members today.

“In my research, it was clearly the case that the leanest factories I saw in the US were largely union factories.” (King, 2010) Today, the labor union needs to focus on the modern needs of the workforce today while broadening what they can provide to their workers. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) has not adapted external factors such as productive and competition in the general economy.

UNION MEMBERSHIP

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that public sector workers had a union membership of 35.2% (7.2 million employees), which was five times more than the 6.7% (7.6 million employees) of private sector workers. In a 2015 Gallup poll, 37% of Americans would like labor unions to have more influence in this country as compared to 25% in 2009. Although 58 percent of American adults approve of labor unions, 53 percent believe unions will be weaker in the future. Statistically, union approval goes up and down over time, while membership has been holding steady since 2014.

THE UNION AND THE PRIVATE SECTOR

Private sector union membership pales in comparison to public sector membership. Labor unions are known for representing their workers for compensation, benefits and wages and sometimes that representation can be devastating to private sector organizations. Let’s take a company like Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company which is also known as A & P. A & P had been in business for 156 years before it succumbed to strong union representation and economic changes. The contracts negotiated by the unions that represented A & P’s workers put the business in a unfortunate position, causing them to file for bankruptcy twice within five years.

Unions have a reputation for standing strong and not working with companies even in hard economic times. Their belief is that in hard economic times, wages, benefits and even personnel should be cut from the top not the bottom. “The company lacked the needed flexibility to adjust its labor costs due to its high percentage of unionized employees”, 93 percent to be exact. It is always difficult between the union and an organization when that organization faces economic uncertainty. Companies have no desire to cut costs at the top positions and labor unions have no desire to allow their members to be sacrificed for the sack of saving money, especially when cutting 2 or 3 executives from the top is the equivalent of cutting sometimes hundreds of lower level employees. The employees of A & P had bumping rights which meant that if their position was cut, that employee had seniority and bumped a less senior person out of their position while retaining their salary from the previous position that was cut. This situation was the cause of A & P bankruptcy, or at least that was what they said. Situations like this are always difficult for both the union and the company.

STRUGGLES TO SURVIVE

Unions today are now looking for new and creative ways to gain membership and they have been struggling to do so. One interesting place the unions are trying to unionize is the fast food industry. Previously, due to the joint employer rules, unions were unsuccessful in trying to organize fast food workers. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has updated its standard on the joint employer rule and union leaders are taking advantage of it. The first step to organizing the fast food industry is to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour. Fast food workers need assistance in fighting for a living wage, benefits and compensation. If the unions are successful, this could lead to a large influx of union membership across the country.

The question has been asked, “Is this the right step to take in today’s economic turmoil. Although the ruling of the NLRB opens the door for unions to organize in the fast food industry, can fast food chains handle a sharp wage increase of $15? Especially the franchised fast food restaurants. This can lead to one of three things: The restaurants can sharply increase food prices in response to the wage increase, they can cut jobs in response to the wage increase or they can replace workers with new technology as either a part of the second response or in order to stop hiring any new employees. The increase in the product will surely turn customers away. The unions and companies need to find ways of working together to help both the company and the workers.

CHANGES IN UNION MEMBER REPRESENTATION

The unions need to focus on the total need of the membership and not only representation. One way to retain membership is to allow the members to remain members throughout different jobs. They can also provide other benefits like legal services or health insurance that the member can retain even if they leave that employer.

Union representation should no longer be one size fits all because the individual member is different. The members should be able to choose the services they want to be represented for as to become more attractive to potential members. One suggestion has been made to allow the members to have their union dues deducted from their bank account instead of the usual forced payroll deduction. The only problem with that is the union runs the possibility of membership payments being late or not receiving them at all because the member has stopped the deduction from their bank account. It is a fear that the unions may have to test out in order to move towards a foreseen future.

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT

Unions can also survive an economic downturn by focusing on the quality of work their members provide instead of the quantity of members they have. If unions and businesses could view each other as a partner in the success of the company and its employees then they could work together towards each entities goals. Employee rights should be protected but the union should also help the employee achieve the company’s goals. If the employee is not performing up to par then the union, the employee and management should all work together to improve that employees performance.

Today’s economic climate calls for employees to have an advanced degree. According to BLS the union is made up of 10.8 percent whites, 13.6 percent blacks, 9.8 percent asians and 9.4 hispanics. With the union representing mostly minorities and some middle class, it would be wise for unions to look at the future in a different way instead of finding ways for earlier retirement, find ways on how to promote long and healthy careers. Many companies today are developing their employees and assisting them to work towards their career with things like tuition reimbursement. Unions should also partner with the companies to work towards their career within the company. This not only retains the member but the longevity of a member.

GLOBALIZATION

Many of the union’s decline in membership is also due to globalization. With many of the companies outsourcing, jobs are in competition with cheap labor in other countries. American workers are now forced to work more for less money due to globalization. One thing some unions are doing to slow down and possibly stop outsourcing is to negotiate in the contracts that the company must first inform the union prior to the outsourcing and then prove to the union that this outsourcing saves the company money. The union can also come back with its own proposal to counter the company’s research. Unions were accustomed to the wage and benefit increases of the past few decades and they continue to demand increases at a similar level. This is a very difficult situation because since the recession, wages have stayed mostly the same while the cost of living has dramatically increased. Unions can adapt to economic changes within the company by demanding smaller wage increases or possibly finding ways to make retirement more attractive for the senior membership.

HOW POLITICS AFFECT UNIONS

Unions are mainly supported by Democrats and they play a major role in the political arena. In a 2015 Gallup survey, 79 percent of Democrats approve of the union and only 42 percent of Republicans are in favor of the union. The decisions made by politicians can and do affect the health of unions. State laws that are passed such as Right-to-Work, affect the unions both financially and membership wise. Currently 25 states are currently Right-to-Work states and these are generally Republican lead states. Right-to-Work laws allows workers who work in organizations that are represented by the collective bargaining unit to have an option of paying dues. The union cannot force these employees who do not want to pay dues to join in those organizations and this can hurt the unions financially. This has lead to lots of “free riders”, those who do not pay dues but receive the same benefits as a union member. “71 % of Americans said they would “vote for” a right-to-work law if they had the opportunity to do so, while 22% said they would vote against such a law.”

Politics also affected the union membership due to economic changes, where states do not have the budget to survive the public sector unions. One state in particular, Wisconsin has passed the Act 10 law to eliminate the collective bargaining rights of the public sectors excluding police and firefighters. The law was passed by a republican governor who believes that “collective bargaining rights had to be cut not for philosophical reasons but merely for financial ones, to fix the state’s budget gap.” With the economy going up and down and health care costs on the rise in recent years, other states like Florida are also looking to follow in the same footsteps as Wisconsin.

IN CONCLUSION

Union membership struggles to stay steady in the 21st century due to the economy, politics and the loss of employees due to outsourcing. The unions need to create new ideas in order to adapt to these influences and adjust their negotiations accordingly. What worked 30 years ago will no longer work today because the mindset and needs of the worker 30 years ago is vastly different that it is today.

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