Discussion Question

From the scenario and the eActivity, examine two (2) reasons why employees join labor unions. Examine two (2) reasons why organizations prefer that unions do not represent  their employees. Suggest two (2) benefits that unions can provide for an employer.  Justify your response.

What is a Union and Why are they needed?  A union is an organized group of workers who collectively use their strength to have a voice in their workplace. Through a union, workers have a right to impact wages, work hours, benefits, workplace health and safety, job training and other work-related issues. Under U.S. law, workers of all ages have the right to join a union. Having support from the union to ensure fairness and respect in the workplace is one of the key reasons workers organize.

All of the benefits and protections workers enjoy today came about as a result of the organized labor movement in this country. These include the minimum wage, social security payments, an eight hour day and weekends, overtime pay, the American with Disabilities Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act which requires employers to meet safety standards for their workers.

Two reasons employees join unions are: (1) Security. In a union your boss can’t just walk up and fire you because they want to give your job to their wife’s nephew. Nor can they lay you off out of sequence, demote you arbitrarily, or prevent you, without sufficient cause, from promoting to the next higher job. (2) Benefits. Pensions, medical insurance, paid vacation, holidays, personal holidays, sick pay, overtime premiums, shift differential, etc, are generally not only better in a union shop, many of these goodies don’t even exist without a union contract.

Two reasons employers don't want to have Unions representing their employees:

(1) Employers feel that when employees are representative by Unions that they have to tolerate poor performance/behavior from employees for unreasonable amounts of time. If an employee is absent a lot, doesn’t do their job, doesn’t keep up, causes extra work for their fellow employees who have to pick up the slack, a company should be allowed to replace that person.  I don’t think a union should force a company to tolerate such poor performance and have to pay the person on top of it.

(2) Union contracts compress wages: They suppress the wages of more productive workers and raise the wages of the less competent. Unions redistribute wealth between workers. Everyone gets the same seniority-based raise regardless of how much or little he contributes, and this reduces wage inequality in unionized companies…

Benefits that Unions can provide employers:

Simpler Negotiations: As an employer, one of the advantages of dealing with a labor union is that it simplifies the negotiations process. When dealing with a labor union, you do not have to negotiate with multiple employees. You simply talk to the head of the labor union and the head of the union speaks for all of the workforce. By doing this, you can negotiate faster and more efficiently without having to worry about meeting with many different employees.

Employee Satisfaction: Another advantage of dealing with labor unions is that it can improve employee satisfaction. When employees deal with unions, they may be more satisfied because they have a voice to speak to the employer. They get higher wages on average and better benefits packages. When you meet the needs of the employees better, they will be more satisfied in their jobs and will be willing to work harder for you. This could lead to higher productivity and better quality production.

Examine two (2) legal responsibilities that employers have when dealing with labor unions. Suggest two (2) ways in which management and unions might work together to craft mutually beneficial contracts. Provide a rationale for your response.

The National Labor Relations Act (NRLA) is a set of legal restrictions that dictate how employers must treat unions and union activity (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2014).The National Labor Relations Act forbids employers from interfering with, restraining, or coercing employees in the exercise of rights relating to organizing, forming, joining or assisting a labor organization for collective bargaining purposes, or from working together to improve terms and conditions of employment, or refraining from any such activity.

Collective bargaining  is the process in which the employer and union work together to, negotiate contracts with their employers to determine their terms of employment, including pay, benefits, hours, leave, job health and safety policies, ways to balance work and family and more.