Labor Unions

For whatever reason, people from a specific local state seems to have a negative view of labor unions… and I don’t know why that is. So far as I can see, as long as labor unions and management come to cooperative agreements they can be very effective. These labor relations can provide protection for both employees and organizations. For employees they provide safety in numbers, benefits, and perks. For organizations it provides employees who have shared responsibilities to the organizations if they are to keep the union benefits.

During class we talked about the decline in private sector organizations that deal with labor unions. Over the years union memberships have declined. At first I thought this decline very interesting. After contemplating it I realized that organizations have begun to offer the same union benefits directly to the employees. Organizations have taken upon themselves to treat their employees with proper benefits. By doing this the employees have no need to join unions. There are also agencies that now protect employees therefore eliminating the traditional need for labor unions.

If anything, that at least I can for-see, labor unions have a bad wrap because of the ability to gain control in numbers. Large unions can have strong sway over organization’s decisions for their employees. Businesses have the ability to gain cost savings when they keep their employees from joining unions. Businesses can control things easier... but if they are to have happy employees, they will need to offer similar benefits that unions generally would provide.