Labor Unions

A Union, more specifically Labor Union, is “a formal association of workers that promotes employees’ interests to management on such issues as wages, work hours, and working conditions through collective action” (Labor Relations Outline). There are definite pros and cons to using labor unions, and it highly depends on the project and/or work that needs to be done. Employees choose to join unions for multiple different reasons, such as being dissatisfied with aspects of their job, the belief that joining a union is the only way to make changes/get their fair share, protecting themselves from management whims, etc. Employers choose to use a union labor force because they offer a pool of well-trained individuals who are almost always available to work with their schedule. With this being said, employers may choose to not use a union labor because of the wage and benefit increases, there are stricter rules regarding seniority and work schedules, and unions constrain what managers can and cannot do. (Labor Relations Outline).

The information I found on labor unions after conducting research online mostly complimented the information presented in the lecture material. According to uwua.net, “Labor unions give workers the power to negotiate for more favorable working conditions and other benefits through collective bargaining”. I think this is great, especially for hard-working individuals, to be able to advocate for their working conditions and make a change for the better. Unions, in general, help bring workers “out of poverty and into the middle class”, and this is incredibly important when supporting a family. Even though this sounds like a no-brainer to join a union, there are some cons to it. For example, unions have annual dues, limits your individuality, seniority rules, and can decrease collaboration in the workplace (workstep.com). The pros can definitely outweigh the cons, but it depends on the individual and what they are looking for.

Would I join a labor union? If that was the career path that I wanted to pursue, and after learning about the pros and cons with the lecture material and online research, I would definitely join a union rather than working for a separate company. I believe that the increased wages and benefits, guaranteed work majority of the time, and skills learned for the industry outweigh the cons of unions. I think that the lecture material aligned with the information I found online, and in the future, I will definitely advocate supporting a unionization effort.

Sources:

-Labor Relations Outline

-“Pros and Cons of Joining a Labor Union.” WorkStep, 15 Dec. 2021, https://go.workstep.com/blog/pros-cons-joining-union/.

-“Why Join a Union? Because They Work!” UWUA, 31 Jan. 2017, https://uwua.net/why-join-a-union/#:~:text=through%20collective%20bargaining.-,Union%20members%20earn%20better%20wages%20and%20benefits%20than%20workers%20who,other%20benefits%20through%20collective%20bargaining.