Have Unions Today Outlived Their Usefulness

7/21/2019 Have Unions Today Outlived Their Usefulness

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/have-unions-today-outlived-their-usefulness 1/5

The value of unionsA review of the usefulness of unions in

today’s world

Crystal Baptiste; Barry Phillip

In any organization, the relationship between employer and employees is one of the most

vital aspects of achieving company strategic goals. This relationship dictates employee

motivation, attitude to work and thus productivity. Historically unions have been the interface between employer and employee with the responsibility of ensuring that employees are

adequately satisfied on the job. The business dictionary defines a labour union as a group of

workers and union leaders united to protect and promote their common interest. rom their onset

to present day, the work of unions have progressively changed providing greater challenges to

management. !s such, the need for unions have increasingly come into question.



"n the onset, coming out of the !merican revolution, groups were formed from

mostly craft organizations with common skills. Their objective was occupational protection

through various means such as entrance requirements and training. #nion hiring halls were also

formulated. $ater, industrial unions were formed whose members were not highly skilled and so

were unwelcomed by the then union body, !merican ederation of $abor %!$&. However,

industrial unions gained their strength in numbers.

!fter their formulation, national labour acts were formulated and unions became

responsible for negotiating collective'bargaining agreements. This legality stemmed from the

chaos created when agreements between unions and employers could not be reached. This gave

unions a legal structure for negotiations and was considered required by workers especially in

instances where employers were taking advantage of employees. #nions thus posed a challengeto employers as employee relationship became more formal and contractual. #nions gained a

legal right to bargain with employers for varied terms and conditions of employment.

#nions gained a great deal of support from employees due to the perceived political,

social and economical benefits. The economical benefits included negotiations for wage

increases and benefits as well as job security. (ocial benefits come from the sense of comradery

and brotherhood gained by the employees. )mployees had a unified front to discus work issues

affecting them. *olitical strength came from the unified force that they had going into

bargaining. They therefore had a sense of power in numbers when approaching management,

which increased their likelihood of successful negotiations. +uch legislation protecting

employees were also formulated from lobbying and union support. #nions also added in training

and development of employees.

rom a management perspective, protecting company interest is key. !s such,

management has generally resisted unions and seen unionization as a great hindrance to their

power. )mployers have used union suppression and union substitution strategies to limit union

resistance. (uppressive action includes the use of various legal or illegal opposition tactics while

substitution entails H policies designed for reducing the desire to join unions. (ubstitution

tactics include high wages, profit sharing plans and complaint resolution systems. +anagers who

practice suppressive actions thus discourage employee involvement in unions by giving



employees poorer working conditions or threatening their job security. )mployees who are

unaware of their legal rights will fall for the tactics and back away from unions.

In addition to management tactics, employees started loosing confidence in unions after

union corruption allegations and union misuse of funds. #nions also became too demanding on

employers asking for some ridiculous terms, which made employers less likely to want to have

cooperative relationships with the unions. The cost of union membership therefore started to

outweigh the benefits thus significantly reducing membership.

#nions today have questionably been considered to be outdated and useless. It is now

seen in most industries as a ta- on the employees income and is perceived to provide no real

benefits for the employees. #nions were seen as needed vehicle more than a century ago when

devious businesses were using child labour to cut e-penses. However, that problem was

corrected and their job is no longer to truly help the company, but to force the company to do

things in the way that they see fit. /. $eland 0ourley, editor of "klahoma 1ity I2!3

e-presses that this is why unions have lost efficacy in the private sector, where businesses have

competitors. Thus, businesses now vie to make that profit they need to pay employees and hire

more.

Today, as compared to previous years, there is surely greater legislation designed to protect employees needs. !s such, there may be no need for unions to provide representation

and this can be considered to have outlived their usefulness. !ccording to a paper written by the

Industrial elation at 4ueens #niversity, it can be said that union memberships have increased

over the past 56 years. urthermore, based on statistical data coming out of 1anada, there are

claims that union membership has increased by 78.89 between the years 7::; to 5<<;.

However, this can be deemed as controversial as statistics have also shown that union density has

decreased from around =89 in the 7:8<s to less than =<9 in 5<<;. In addition, the paper also

states that the overall union density within the 1anadian labour market has become diluted due to

the influ- of non'union employees into the workforce.

+oreover, post ' >orld >ar II, there were acts that restored the balance between labour

and management such as the $abour'+anagement elations %Taft'Hartley& !ct. This particular



act gave employees the right to refrain from participating in union activities. In addition, it

established certain )-ecutive powers in order to maintain order in certain emergency situations

such as a strike or lockout.

"n the other side of the coin, while new advancements such as legislation and the

growing mutual respect between employers and their workers account for why unions are losing

usefulness, there are still quite solid reasons for their e-istence in society today. To some

workers, unions represent a beacon of hope? today@s unions have been at the forefront of the

struggle for the rights of women, immigrants, the $0AT community and minorities. In 5<75,

$esmore rederick, head lecturer of $abour (tudies at the 1ipriani 1ollege of $abour and 1o'

operative (tudies of Trinidad and Tobago, responding to remarks that trade unions have been

dying out, stated, BI will not say that trade unions are not relevant? they continue to be relevant, but they need to be current in the way they carry out their activities. The market is not static.

Ausinesses have created ways of surviving and so must trade unions,C in a 0uardian newspaper

interview, published in a story on !pril 77th of that year. #nions, if effectively managed can also

aid to reduce the number of individual negotiations, enable specification of work rules,

procedures for disagreements and grievances as well as ease of communications.

In retrospect, the confusion as to whether or not trade unions are still effective is

plausible and can be summed up by the statement ' they are slowly fading, yet still notably

e-isting. However, if they are to continue to e-ist, more should be done to educate the leaders

and improve the strategies of these unions so that as corporations grow, so too would the need for

actual human and also united representation.

Works CitedA and E Networks. Labour Movement. 2014. http://www.history.o!/topis/la"or

#aessed Nove!"er $% 2014&.

Anthony% 'illia!% (ihele )a!ar% and *a!ela *errewe. Human Resource

Management; A strategic approach. +th Edition. ,en-a-e earnin-% 2010.

usiness ditionary. Trade Union. 2014.

http://www."usinessditionary.o!/denition/tradeunion.ht!l #aessed Nove!"er

% 2014&.



yron% 'illia!. Getting Organised. 3e"ruary 21% 2011.

http://a!eria!a-aine.or-/issue/ulture/-ettin-or-anied #aessed Nove!"er $%

2014&.

3a--ioni% (% and 5 ,oles. 67ave a"our 8nions outlived their usefullness96 nte-rity

(ana-e!ent ,onsultin- ;roup.

<ohnall% 5aphael. Guardian. April 11% 2012.

http://www.-uardian.o.tt/"usiness/20120410/la"oure=pertunionsneednew

strate-ies #aessed Nove!"er $% 2014&.

(ello% <e>ery. Strategic Huan Resource Management. 2nd Edition. ,en-a-e

earnin-% 200+.

*rineton 8niversity. LAbour management relations act o !"#$ %Tat&Hartle' Act(.

?to"er 2@% 2010. http://www.prineton.edu/hr/poliies/appendi=/a/B2/ #aessed

Nove!"er 0$% 2014&.

5eynolds% (or-an. A histor' o labour unions rom colonial times to )**". <uly 1@%

200C. http://!ises.or-/daily/$$ #aessed Nove!"er $% 2014&.

Documents

Have Unions Today Outlived Their Usefulness