Classmate responses (***PROFESSOR ANTHONY ONLY***)

1

Do you expect union activity to increase or decrease globally? Please explain.

I think union activity will decrease globally for the foreseeable future. I am basing this on the decline of union activity in the top 3 countries ranked by GDP. They are the United States, China and Japan. These countries are all experiencing a decrease in union membership. In the United States both federal and state governments have been working to reduce the bargaining power and influence of unions. China has a huge working population but, has workers demand better pay and working conditions, local and international companies threaten to move their businesses elsewhere (Griswold, 11 Jul 2010). These threats will force the Chinese government to step in to ensure production does not stop. Also, the economy in China has slowed in the past few years causing huge economic and political problems. The Chinese government will discourage unions from negatively affecting the economic situation and therefor discouraging union activity. Japan is facing a workforce shortage; especially in the next 10 years. This you would think would encourage union activity to increase but, this will not happen for 2 reasons. Union activity is more active in manufacturing and production jobs and less in more technical fields. With Japan leading the way in modernizing and automating production jobs, union activity will decrease. The other reason union activity will decrease in Japan is that the newest generation to join the workforce does not see the benefits union representation can provide when working with senior management.

References

Griswold, D. (11 Jul 2015). Debate over role of unions open in china. Retrieved from:

http://www.workers.org/2010/world/china_0715/

The article I read and union activity was on the Canadian branch of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). This article was promoting membership by showing the benefits union members have over non-union members. There were also links and dates of future meeting.

References

(n.d) Canadian organizing. IATSE. Retrieved from: http://iatse.net/organize/canadian-organizing

2

In a recent court case, a judge threw out a lawsuit that aimed to prevent teacher unions from using union dues to engage in political activities. In LA, four teachers (backed by an organization called StudentsFirst) sued to prevent the union dues they paid into from being used to support political activities that they disagreed with. The suit was thrown out because the judge decided, despite agreeing with many of the arguments, that the plaintiffs had not shown that the state and unions worked together in an unconstitutional manner.

Do unions engage in ethical behavior? Please explain.

I believe unions ultimately engage ethically, but not totally. I say ultimately because it was through their hard work that certain measures were adopted, such as banning child labor, minimum wages, increased safety measures, limits on working hours, and increases in rest time for employees. That said, there are times where the belief that "ends justify the means" where unions have used force or intimidation to achieve their means, which I completely disagree with. Additionally, I think that many of the reasons why unions were originally created are no longer as huge a factor, so some unions keep pushing for more things to keep relevant (although many keep pushing b/c conditions require updating).

I do find it ironic that many of the conditions unions fought for are probably the reason why so many manufacturing jobs were sent overseas. As in, jobs were sent overseas where workers are treated horribly because unions made firms treat their workers humanely over here.

Finally, I'm not sure that gauging someone's ethical behavior is something an economist would really be concerned with. :)

Blume, H (2015) "Suit to limit use of teacher union dues for political purposes is tossed". LA Times. Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-unions-dues-for-politics-20150930-story.html