I had only slightly\u2002heard of labor unions prior to this week. Now that I\u2019ve gained more knowldge through our materials and done some reading, I have a much clearer\u2002idea why unionization is attractive to some and terrifying to others. On the one hand, unions provide workers\u2002with a unified voice to negotiate fair wages, working conditions and job stability. On the other, they can limit employer flexibility and sometimes put a\u2002higher price on seniority than normal, which can be a source of frustration for both management and younger employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What really stuck out to me from our material was how structured and controlled the process of unionization\u2002is. From union organizing campaigns (some deploying tactics like \u201csalting\u201d) to certification and collective bargaining, there\u2019s a legal and strategic process that grows out of decades of labor law \u2014 from the National Labor Relations Act (1935) to the Taft-Hartley Act\u2002(1947). I had taken for granted how cautious employers must be during union campaigns, how can you be clear about rejecting unionization during non-work time and areas (when it is legal to discourage\u2002unionization) but not violate the law for unfair labor practices?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I talked to one of my good friends who works construction back home who was in the Laborers Union, and gained some good insights. He liked the job security\u2002and regular raises but said the union sometimes ensures that underperforming colleagues are not fired. This reminded me of our readings around why employees fight unionization, such as constraints on management decisions and inflexible seniority regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For me, I don’t think that as of now I want to be apart of a Union, however, I do feel like I would be more in support of joining one if I felt management was unresponsive or conditions on the job started to worsen. What might drive me to join one is\u2002feeling voiceless at work, and that\u2019s something unions address through collective action. I beleie like everything, Unions are not perfect, but that they still remain\u2002a powerful tool for accountability and change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2020)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lecture 1: Introduction to Labor Relations<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lecture 2: Unionization and Collective Bargaining\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I had only slightly\u2002heard of labor unions prior to this week. Now that I\u2019ve gained more knowldge through our materials and done some reading, I have a much clearer\u2002idea why unionization is attractive to some and terrifying to others. On the one hand, unions provide workers\u2002with a unified voice to negotiate fair wages, working conditions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14825,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/angelocoluccioblog7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/angelocoluccioblog7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/angelocoluccioblog7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/angelocoluccioblog7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14825"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/angelocoluccioblog7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/angelocoluccioblog7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/angelocoluccioblog7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/angelocoluccioblog7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/angelocoluccioblog7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/angelocoluccioblog7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}