In other words, it is a place where an employer approves of hiring union members only, but the employees must stay as a member of that union at all times to keep their job. A union shop is essentially the opposite of a closed shop. A union shop is an area of work where the employers agree to hire nonunion workers, but they must join a labor union in a certain span of time. The right to works law, is a law in some states in the United States that are against employers and labor unions. It forbids union security agreements. This law also assures that if a person is employed, they are not forced to join/not join, or pay dues to a labor union. Right now, there are 25 states that have passed the Right to Work law. I believe that the right to works law was a great idea to ensure that someone if not forced or have to join a labor union and not pay anything extra toward a union. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations also known as the AFL/CIO is the largest union in the United States. The AFL/CIO has 56 national/international unions. This is a included of a combined of 12 million workers that are both active and retired. It was founded in December 4, 1955, when the Congress of Industrial Organization and American Federation of Labor merged thus creating the …show more content…
Some of the pros of being in a union include getting a better wage. According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, “the median weekly income of full-time wage and salary workers who were union members in 2010 was $917...nonunion workers, it was $717.” Those in a labor union also tend to have seniority. Seniority means that if you have been in a position longer than somebody else, you would have a higher status than them. The perk of having seniority is great because one can have the same job or position for years and you would not have a higher status than someone that was just hired if you were not in a union. However, as there are pros, there are also cons of being a member of a labor union.
Some of these cons include having to pay union dues and having to pay for an initiation fee. It may be expensive to pay the dues. It can cost hundreds of dollars annually, which may be expensive to many people. Sometimes there is also an initiation fee that someone would have to pay, but they would only have to pay this fee one time. Although seniority can be a pro, it can also be a con. What happens if you are a harder worker or someone that is more productive than a worker that has been there for awhile. You will have lesser status than him/her, but you are working harder and producing more work than