Ensuring Freedom by Preserving the Values of Trade Unions Essays

Unions in America today have grown smaller and smaller in the past 30 years. There are many reasons for this. The major one is that industries in other countries that are non-union have much cheaper labor costs, and therefore can offer products and materials at a much lower price than our US union-run, high wage cost factories. “During the 1970s and 1980s, a fifth of large unionized companies in the United States went bankrupt, unable to compete against companies with lower wage costs.” (Rachman, 308)

More than seventy-five years after the enactment of the National Labor Relations Act, is there still a place for unions? The solution may lay in the definition of labor itself.

The labor union movement over the years has shaped the way individuals work and live for both the nicest and unpleasant. Some would think the unions influence has created a power struggle between management and union leaders. In today’s time, some citizens insist the existence of unions are a must to aid in employee freedom, while others view the labor unions as just another problem in the line of progress. The purpose of labor unions was for employed workers to come together and collectively agree on fundamental workplace objectives. The rise of the union came about after the Civil War- responding to the industrial economy. Surprisingly at the least unions became popular within the 1930-50’s and began to slowly decrease,

In 1999 the National Institute for Labor Relations Research (NILRR) published a essay entitled; Union Corruption: Why It Happens, How to Combat It. The writing was drawn primarily from magazines and newspapers as well as government reports and described the various patterns of union corruption. The essay outlined vast embezzlement, extortion, and in some cases even murder. The conclusion being a discussion of potential ways unions could overcome corruption and uphold legal conduct. Since then unions have indeed made progress in eliminating the prevalence of their criminal behaviors. However, the reality is that union officials are under such extreme pressure from the government that they have no real choice but to clean up their operations.

The rise of capitalism as the dominant economic system in the United States made the rise of unions inevitable; given the natural division between those with capital that control the means of production, and labor, who is treated simply as another factor of production (Hodson & Sullivan, 2008). While labor unions have made significant improvements to the working environment, with the regulation of safety, environment, labor and wage; labor unions have also contributed to the decline of U.S. dominance in industries like steel, automotive, education and airlines. In today’s global economy, can labor unions continue to be a force for good in the United States, or have they become harmful institutions?

Labor unions have been around ever since the industrial revolution in Europe when working conditions in factories were very low. The concepts introduced in this time by the labor unions have become ingrained in our culture here in America. While workers benefit when they join a union by being able to fight for higher wages and better working conditions, these benefits that the unions get often “come at the expense of consumers, nonunion workers, the jobless, taxpayers, and owners of corporations” (Reynolds). Unions, while once playing a very beneficial role in history, are no longer all that necessary and may even be hurting all those outside of the union workers that they help.

The past 30 years have been gloomy ones for the labor movement. In the American private sector trade-union membership has fallen from a third in 1979 to just 7% today. There is an exception to this story of decline: public unions in America has strengthened over the same period from 11% to 36%. There are now more American workers in unions in the public sector (7.6m) than in the private sector (7.1m), although the private sector employs five times as many people. This private-public move has changed the trade union movement. In the 1950s unions were steady working class, men who had left school at 16 and inclined to go left on economics but right on social issues. Today they are much more middle-class: more than a quarter of American unionists

The American labor union has failed in its duty to protect the employees. Currently, most of the public unions agree to the plan that every worthy benefit or wage ought to be balanced by the union’s special consideration like agreeing to a two-tier salary scale, surrendering some hours, raised copays or even deductibles for medical procedures. However, these associations have done little to fight for the workers when they are faced with salary reductions, poor pays, unwarranted cutbacks and when they are denied compensation for retirements or injuries. According to Aronowitz, the US labor movement has continued to deteriorate and lacks the voice it had some times ago. By 1990s, the labor had already decreased in intensity from the higher 35 percent membership in 1953. This is just an indication that workers have no hopes in the then merged AFL-CIO (American Federation Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations) who sought to democratize the labor movement. Their so-mediated organizing model that aimed at expanding the membership was a change of the core role of the previous service model of unionism that focused on petitioning for the members’ requests. Where the distresses may have begun earlier in the 1970s, it was not until the era of Ronald Reagan that the impact was felt. Since then, members of the labor unions have turned to be mere clients. The restructuring of the economy through technological change, and company merges, so millions of workers lose jobs. However, the

abor unions have always had a very different conception of the workplace. According to labor unions, workers deserve a say in the conditions of their labor because the right of workers to organize in their own self- interest is a basic human right. Danger in jobs is what prompted labor unions to fight, they believed workers should be treated fairly and be paid enough to live in comfort and dignity. In the early 19th century, workers couldn’t speak up because they were likely to be fired and easily replaced by someone else desperate for a job, which is why labor unions, such as the American Federation of Labor, grew during the Second Industrial Revolution. As industrialization continued making workplaces larger, the relationship between employees and employers became less personal, causing workers to lose power and respect; this is when the membership of labor unions grew noticeably. These unions profoundly impacted American society by fighting for fair labor conditions, earning national acknowledgement, and to convince the government to pass legislations.

     The past of Unions is indisputable; however, the outlook can be altered to form a promising future. The reversal of history can be done through reconstruction and restatement of workers rights. A reestablishment of worker liberties should be considered in order to clarify any confusion in which present and prospective employees are faced with. Unions are notorious for being tyrannical and inconsiderate towards employees and thus union heads should confront this issue head on and give workers a voice (i.e. vote). In order to regain union strength in today’s society I believe Unions must give workers honorable rights and a democratic right to be heard.

Most trades across the globe have become unionized, supporting historically information (Hunt & Rayside, 2000). Over the course of many decades, unions have evolved tremendously to adovate for workers’ issues. However, despite union movements which are

The perspective that “Unions play a pivotal role both in securing legislated labor protections and rights such as safety and health, overtime, and family/medical leave and in enforcing those rights on the job” (Walters, M., & Mishel, L. 2003, para. 2). They provide for the debate playing field to open up within the governing body relationship to the people. Without them, people are bound to follow along in systems they hope might benefit or help them along the work of trying to provide and survive.

The relevance of industrial democracy is itself undeniable – be it past or present – as long as we idealize principles of democracy. America was built on a democratic principle, and thus industrial democracy should be an inherently relevant idea within the political economy. Yet, it wasn’t until mid 19th century that momentum for its implementation arose. Then when the federal government passed the National Labor Relations Act (1935), which declared in section 7 “[e]mployees shall have the rights to self organization, to form, join or assist labor organisations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in concerted activities, for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection” industrial democracy had finally taken its first steps. However the act did not force management or owners to share power. Consequently, the participation of employees in

“Trade Unions are not merely economic actors: they are necessarily protagonists in the political arena. Regulating the labour market is a question of power resources. Yet if Unions are inescapably both economic and political actors, the relationship between the two is complex…”

While unions were once a powerful tool in providing safe working conditions and better pay to underrepresented workers, they have grown increasingly powerful and now require workers to join as a condition of employment. This is a violation of worker’s personal freedoms and often causes negative side effects. Decreased productivity, poor worker quality, and waste of public resources are all problems engendered by public sector unions and their ability to force workers into membership. Right to work laws do not prohibit one from joining a union they merely allow the individual to choose their affiliations and what they would like to support. Workers should not be forced into associations, groups, or unions in order to insure their