This weeks blog post is about labor unions and a deep dive into the pros and cons into labor unions regarding employees, employers and society.
Pros to Labor Unions
The benefits from unionization that middle-class workers receive far out weigh the cons. The US Treasury found unions raise the wages of their members by 10-15%, as well as improves the fringe benefits and procedures in the workplace, including retirement plans, predictable scheduling and policies in place to handle workplace grievances. Additionally, due to the increase in wages through unions, the competition in wages change industry wide, resulting in workers at non-unionized firms seeing an increase in wages as well. Finally, unions can potentially boost the productivity of a business by improving the working environments and giving experienced workers more input capabilities when it comes to making decisions regarding the procedures within a workplace. These are only a few of the many points the US Treasury covers on in their press release in 2023. If you’d like to read more, you can find the fact sheet here.
Cons to Labor Unions
According to the Maryville University, the downsides include less autonomy, improper use of funds by unions resulting in six-figure salaries for union leaders and luxury HQs, union dues, tension within the workplace, and potential slowing of advancement within a company. Employers see the cons of unions as stifling to employee initiatives, labor contracts may make it difficult to reward employees who are exceptional within a company, and unions may decrease business competition due to wage raises and better benefits. That last point goes in direct opposition to the US Treasury’s point of creating competition within the industry by raising wages and benefits. If you would like to look more into Maryville University’s pros and cons to labor unions, you can visit their 2022 article here.
Overall, I think I would join a union if I need to. What I mean by that is if the position I am in at a company is one that would benefit from unionizing, I would likely join a union to negotiate better pay, benefits, pensions, etc. If the position doesn’t need a union and everything is swell, I wouldn’t join it as I wouldn’t think it is needed in my current position. While I do not have personal connections to people who are a part of a union, I did find a Reddit post asking “Are Unions Worth It” and the overall opinion is they are always worth it.