Labor Unions have an important role in protecting workers and creating a unique work environment to build relationships and community. From this week’s material, I found that unions exist to protect workers and negotiate fair wages, conditions, and an opportunity to change certain work rules/laws. In the lectures, I also found that the labor union focuses on having a balance of employee’s interest, and with protecting the workers’ rights to bargain. One of the biggest advantages of a worker’s union is the ability to bargain wages. This allows for the workers to be paid for the amount of labor and effort they are doing along with the risks they take. According to the Economic Policy Institute, union workers make 10-15% more than non-union workers in the same or similar jobs. With that being said, employers often argue that those union workers are expensive and make it difficult to do work with because of all the rules and regulations that come with a union.
Talking with my father who was both a non-union and union bricklayer, he said there are both pros and cons to a union. He said that when he was working with a the non-union there was a lot of flexibility with working at different jobs. With that he said the pay was not always great and the conditions were hard. Working with the union, he said he got paid more and the conditions were better but was frustrating with the amount of money was getting paid to the union and taken out of the check.
Overall, after learning this week’s material and talking with my dad’s experience, there are both pros and cons to working in a union.
References
Economic Policy Institute. (2023). The benefits of unions for workers.
W10 Lecture 1 – Intro to Labor Relations.