Rob Bell
Unions have had a big impact on American history and continue to this day. Unions are a great group which can bargain for a group of employees to gain them benefits collectively. As a group they can get more pay, benefits or other work place alterations. This comes with the downside of more expensive projects at a time when low bidder wins jobs (Finklestein, 2022). I do know there are projects that require union workers which reduces the union vs non-union competition but this can be a good thing because of specific training. Union workers have to go through schools, trainings and rank structure that will allow these organizations to maintain strict standards for all employees (Cottongim, 2015). I see the benefit for specialized construction applications where an added layer of liability and standardization is key. I think non-union workers have a bigger range of knowledge than union due to the lack of initial training but given if an employee is given the chance I believe they will be able to expand knowledge past their non-union partners because they will be allowed and given the chance to do a larger variety of work.
I have always worked for non-union employers so I’m not sure if I would switch or not. Personally, I have been on a job where the union employees were not performing to standard and did not have a good attitudes about doing the work and management literally ran them off the job. On the other hand an employee of my dad’s moved and joined a union and he quickly went up the ranks and enjoys the work. Why I am partial to non-union work is the difference of work attitude I have seen and culture that is represented. Union workers receive less stress on meeting deadlines because they less associated with a bid and owner profit but I think this can take away from productivity and making construction jobs take more time than they need to. If all employees were union I’m not sure there would be any true private companies and that would also take away the freedom of choice for employees.
Cottongim, C. (2015). Union Versus Nonunion. Retrieved 3 June 2022, from https://www.concreteconstruction.net/business/management/union-versus-nonunion_o
Finklestein, E. (2022). BIG differences between union vs. non-union construction workers. Retrieved 3 June 2022, from https://labortribune.com/big-differences-between-union-vs-non-union-construction-workers/