The Pros And Cons Of Labor Relations

Organized labor began to rise as the business tycoons and big business owners, "…took advantage of this lawless environment to build fortunes, destroy reputations, exploit both workers and the environment, and gouge consumers" (Shi &Tindall 620). Such acts by the business tycoons prompted many workers to demand higher wages, better working hours, and safer working conditions. As the turn of the 20th Century approached, factories started emerging, and technological innovations since, "The U.S. patents office, which had recorded only 276 inventions during the 1790's, registered almost 250,000 new patents in the 1890's" (Shi &Tindall 622). The inventions led to the advancement of machines in factories as they reduced labor costs, lowered the production costs of certain goods, and essentially creating a widespread mass production of goods. As most individuals began to notice, unfairness among their workplace, they included themselves in certain labor unions including the Knights of Labor (KOL), Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and the American Federation of Labor (AFL). All three groups had different beliefs: the Knights of Labor included all members whether skilled or unskilled in their group; the AFL rejected Capitalism and focused on working conditions—as they were successful in organized labor; and lastly, the IWW strived for strong industrial unions or Unionism.

No, I do not believe an employer is required to have a bulletin board. My company does not have a bulletin board; with the use of technology such as email and intranet websites, a traditional bulletin board is not needed.

Labor unions were established as a way for workers’ needs and grievances to be heard by management. According to Fossum (2012), “forming a union creates a collective voice to influence change at work” (p. 7). The collective voice of workers in a union holds much more power than any single employee’s voice. It can loudly draw attention to mistreatment or abuse of workers. The organized collective voice of workers demands to be treated in a fair way by its management in terms of wages, hours, benefits, and working conditions.

I feel the labor relations system as currently constituted is effective for resolving disputes as long as both parties are committed to negotiating in good faith. Although, I feel the current system is effective a further explanation of the systems strengths and weaknesses will better explain the effectiveness of resolving disputes. It is in both the companies and the labor interest to negotiate with as little third party interaction to come up with an agreement. In times when there are disputes their different course of action that start from a least costly without giving up power in the decision to the possibility of becoming more costly to either party and give up the power in the decision. As discussed in the text when an organization and labor cannot come up with an agreement a third party may be asked to come in to negotiations to resolve a dispute which includes mediation, fact-finding, and interest arbitration.

The document outlines the pros and cons of labor unions in America. The analysis takes into consideration how unions have improved the working environments for workers, and may continue to do so. The paper considers the power of unions for net social benefit, including the role they play in lobbying lawmakers, using collective bargaining to advocate for employees, and the prevention of abuse and discrimination. The cons of labor unions are also addressed. These drawbacks to labor unions include but are not limited to: decline in competitive advantage for American companies, corruption, potential decrease in productivity, possible reduction in employee motivation, and increased inefficiencies.

Facts: In Davis Supermarkets, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board 2 F.3d 1162 (DC. Cir. 1993), the Court was asked to decide a dispute between an employer (Davis) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB had found that Davis committed unfair labor practices, which Davis disputed. A union (Local 23) was attempting to organize a local at Davis. Several employees signed authorization cards for the union. Six of those employees were terminated in a mass layoff that impacted eight employees. Davis then fired or constructively fired three more employees who had filed authorization cards. Davis's chairman of the board then informed employees that he wanted them to sign authorizations with the Steelworkers, a competing union. However, Davis maintained that the employees were terminated for cause, not because they signed authorization cards for Local 23.

When speaking of unfair labor practices, it is imperative to note that, according to the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act, they include any attempts of an employer to prevent employees from organizing or creating their unions, restrain or interfere with their rights to support the existing union, affect their intentions and perceptions of union activities, threatening an employee with firing them or taking away their benefits predetermined by their competence if they choose to support the union (Legal Information Institute, n.d.; Noe et al.,

There are several million undocumented immigrants employed in the United States (Burton, 2015). Even though the labor market has changed, the original National Labor Relations Act has not. The NLRA provide legal protection to employees to not be terminated for participate in organizing a union. NLRA created a blanket enforcement of NLBA rights equal for undocumented workers and U.S. citizens (Zdravecky & Hass, 2014). The law does not expressly detail terms who is considered an employee of an employer. The original intent of the law was to provide protection to anyone regularly employed in the U.S. The actions of the NLRA board makes it clear the board felt that undocumented workers deserved equal protection for the NLRA. If employer was

Should prerogatives at the local or national level take higher priority when negotiating new agreements with employers? In my opinion, as long as the new deals are made in a collective bargaining; process that allows workers to face employers in unified groups, then prerogatives at the local or national level should not take the higher priority. Ideally, unionized labor is primarily meant to take care of the typical employee. Unions protect workers; by uniting them under a single union banner, to allow them to listen to one clear voice concerning the working conditions or other worker-related issues.Notably, Unions commonly have political agendas or other plans that need attention. Specifically, national unions often pass their political agendas by prioritizing the needs of those at localized levels.

In the past decades, unions have stood to fall by the wayside, due to the contributing factor of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). They do not adapt to external factors, such as competition and productivity in the global economy. These factors are a problem for unionism by themselves. The current state of the NLRA has magnified their effect.

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 began in the United States in the mid-late 1800’s. The first founding labor union was the National Labor Union, started in 1866. This labor union was not set on a particular type of worker and even though it did not succeed in making a difference in workers’ rights, it set an important precedent in our country. Being a part of a labor union has lots of pros and cons, as well as, because of them, the right to work movement was created.

The past decade it has not been a time of prosperity for organized labor, especially in the United States. The resistance of American employers to unionization has clearly increased over the past quarter of a century, spawning a multimillion dollar industry. The NLRA provides employees with the right to engage in protected concerted activity which includes the right to discuss wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment. Because of strong association with unions, non-union employers human resource directors rarely think of the act when making decisions on whom to hire, fire, promote, demote and discipline. NLRB rarely involved itself in disputes that did not include union organizing, collective bargaining or any other union-management

The right-to-work laws are rules that are focused on guaranteeing employees right to work with no compulsion to join any worker’s unions. These laws abolish any treaties between the workers’ unions and the employers in relation to the extent which a workers’ union would require a worker to be admitted to the union and pay the union’s fees as a basis for employment. The employee, therefore, decides on their own free will on whether to join a workers’ union or not. The employee is also guaranteed with freedom on making a choice of whether to support the respective union financially or not. Most states in the United States have embraced the adoption of these laws in efforts to safeguard their worker 's integrity in deciding whether to be members of a worker’s unions or not. For instance, the “right to work” law was passed in Michigan on 6th December 2012 after a legislature gave the workers the right to get their union contract benefits with no pay to the unions in terms of union dues or service fees to enhance the daily running of the unions (Leon 1). This law gave the workers the right to decide whether to join any union or not. Moreover, the law gave workers the freedom to assemble and formulate their own organization’s rules and regulations. Consequently, this paper focuses on illustrating how the right-to-work laws affect wages and benefits of the workers in states where the laws have been adopted.

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) started in July 1935 to protect the rights of employees, rather, they be union or nor-union employees (Pozgar, 2012). The employees are protected under the Act or may employ in bubble-like, rigorous goings-on in situations other than the customary union organizations and cooperative bargaining. The National Labor Relations Board regulates the employers from interfering with the rights of the employees to implement or organize and join with a groups that offers assists with collective bargaining purposes like organization union or joining one (Pozgar, 2012). The employer may not restrain, coerce or stop employees