Unionization effort

Labor Union: Group of workers who then work together to have better pay, benefits, and better work conditions.

Pros-

• Counter balance the monopsony by overcoming unfair wages
• The union can help a firm to bring in new working practices to increase productivity within the firm
• Higher wages can create motivation and productivity from the workers
• Increased economic growth

Cons-   

• Unions push for higher wages above the equilibrium which than can cause unemployment
• Time lost to strike (where employees can be productive but instead are striking)
• Leading to disputes and poor morale
• Poor working conditions
• Can be expensive

I do know someone who has been in a union before, and she had been teaching for 20 plus years. There has been a pay gap for all of educators in their district. All of the teachers at this high in Oregon decided to go on strike, and fight for higher pay, better teaching, and better learning conditions for the students. Then different teachers in the district decided to join in on the protest. Therefore, the schools were forced to shut down because they did not have educators. Within 8 days later the district bumped up 5% of their teachers salary. They also, then gave the entire school a promise to offer Chromebook for the students to allow them better access to books.

The key take away is that sometimes fighting for something that you believe and have a passion because it’s unfair. It will bring a light if you can become a union because it’s not one voice it’s multiple making a difference. The key take away from this one is multiple teachers needed the push to join and it forced the district to give them 5% on their salary. I would join a union but I think I would be scared to because I have a job that is giving me a income and allowing me to pay for my bills and home. If I felt that it had unsafe conditions and needed better pay, and multiple co-workers felt the same way then yes I would join the union. This goes back to our lecture, and that a union is only the way to make a change. It’s true because many voices are coming together to express. Now we have social media which many different voices can join and be unionized that way.

https://www.loc.gov/collections/working-in-paterson/articles-and-essays/narratives-of-work-stories-told-by-retired-workers-and-their-children/organized-labor/

https://oregonstate.instructure.com/courses/1833321/pages/week-10-learning-materials?module_item_id=21351946