A huge advantage of a union is that it can increase wages and benefits for unionized workers. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, “non-union workers have median weekly earnings that are only 83% of the earnings for union workers” (Josephson, 2023). This suggests that unionized workers receive more benefits. This is as revealed in this week’s material. This week’s material points out that unions can increase benefits for unionized workers. Furthermore, in terms of wages and benefits, an indirect benefit of the existence of unions is that it stimulates employers to raise wages for non-union workers. When wages for unionized workers are increased, more workers will try to unionize and get better benefits. It actually raises wages for workers because non-union workers demand higher wages from their employers.
In addition, unions provide assistance to unionized workers, including legal process assistance, resolving disputes and complaints, and even providing financial subsidies if necessary. For example, a union may charge workers dues to obtain funds, and in the event of a strike, the union may provide temporary subsidy to those involved in the strike. Most importantly, unions can guarantee equality, non-discrimination, and reasonable wage differentials in the workplace. Especially if these things happen, the union will be able to step in immediately and bring justice to the employees. However, this is not to say that businesses cannot fully benefit from unions. As it has been pointed out, “Organized labor can also help companies become more efficient by dealing with issues early and in standardized ways before they become significant problems” (Field, 2021). The union can communicate with employees as soon as possible when problems arise to solve employees’ problems in a standardized way, which prevents employers from spending time and money on helping employees solve problems.
However, unions also makes it very difficult for employers to weed out less good employees. Unions typically defend employees, so employers suffer from significant limitations in firing employees. For example, “It can also make it hard to demote or dismiss workers who are consistently under-performing” (Josephson, 2023). Thus, it is clear that a union’s favor towards workers can prevent employers from retaining and promoting top performers. Second, although union fees are not mandatory, employees are usually required to pay fees to join a union. Therefore, being a unionized worker has costs, especially as some unions charge higher fees.
I think I would join a union because it provides more security, especially the right to work, protection from discrimination, and security of wages and benefits. These are important to me. I have been racially discriminated against once, so I need a union to protect me from discrimination in the workplace, even though I have to pay fees to join a union. As an employee, I think it is better to be unionized because I will have a strong organization to back me up.
Sources:
Field, S. (2021). Are Unions Bad for Businesses? Topic Insights, https://topicinsights.com/opinion/unionization-benefits-labor-parties/. Accessed June 9, 2023.
Josephson, A. (2023). The Pros and Cons of Unions. Smartasset, https://smartasset.com/career/the-pros-and-cons-of-unions. Accessed June 9, 2023.
Leave a Reply