Pro Union or Anti-Union A union is a formal group of workers who through its leadership bargains for the maintenance and improvement of the employment conditions of their members. The YouTube videos influenced me the most. The video discussed the various advantages of belonging to a union for the average American employee. It showed the achievements that the unions have achieved to date. The trade unions have brought maternity leave benefits to the employees. The employees are allowed paid maternity leave for up to three months by every corporation in the state. This has been included in the employee rights. This feat has been achieved by the constant lobbying of the labor unions for the rights of new mothers (MoveOn, 2012). In the past, the employees were given an unpaid maternity leave. The mothers were the only beneficiaries of the maternity leave. Due to the efforts of the unions, the employers were compelled to pay their employees during this leave, and to provide a one-month paternity leave as well to the new dads. The labor unions have also ensured the culmination of discrimination in the workplace.
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In the past, there was much discrimination in the workplace regarding promotions and employment opportunities. The criterion for discrimination was gender, race and sometimes age. They would discriminate against the female employees by giving them lower wages than their male counterparts. The minority groups such as the blacks were not given equal employment opportunities and promotion opportunities. The labor unions activities served to create equality for all in the workplace, even for the non-members of the unions. The labor unions also established fair pay. On the onset of the industrial revolution and the great depression, the rural citizens went to the urban centers to find jobs. The employers took advantage of the situation by offering low wages and overworking the employees. This led to the rise of the labor unions which lobbied and fought for the fair wages of these individuals. The employees now have a right to fair wages whether they are represented by a labor union or not (Pride, Hughes & Kapoor, 2010). The labor union workers also enjoy higher wages than the other non-labor union workers. In some states, there is a 6 hourly dollar difference between these two categories of the employees. The states that have adopted a right to work program instead of the labor unions initiative have seen a decline in the wages of the employees whereas the corporate bottom line remains intact. This shows the oppression of these workers by these corporate laws geared to increase productivity at the expense of the middle class. The labor unions formed the middle class of the country. The emphasis on higher wages and fair treatment helped to reduce the gap between the wealthy and the have-nots, creating an entirely new class, the middle class. The initiatives such as the right to work initiative allow the companies to profit by undercutting the middle class widening the gap between the two categories. The anti-union supporters claim that the labor unions are exploitative. They argue that they devastate companies by asking for increased wages and better working environment reducing the profit margins of the enterprise. They claim that the increased call for equality eliminates the healthy competition and the awarding of promotions and increased wages due to personal effort and merit. They argue that the labor unions call for a more communist economy as opposed to the capitalist values that the country is based on. Even though I am not a member of the union at my workplace, I am pro union because I believe that unions are essential to ensure the fair treatment of the employees. Most corporate heads focus more on their responsibility to the shareholders than to the stakeholders. They are willing to profit off the suffering of the employees. There is also an apparent power gap between the corporate leaders and the employees enabling them to exploit the …show more content…
& Reichart, K. (2010). The anthropology of labor unions. Boulder, Colo: University Press of Colorado.
MoveOn, (2012). What have American Unions Ever Done for Us? YouTube. Retrieved from: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iObqguaNDdA Pride, W., Hughes, R. & Kapoor, J. (2010). Business. Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage
In the past, there was much discrimination in the workplace regarding promotions and employment opportunities. The criterion for discrimination was gender, race and sometimes age. They would discriminate against the female employees by giving them lower wages than their male counterparts. The minority groups such as the blacks were not given equal employment opportunities and promotion opportunities. The labor unions activities served to create equality for all in the workplace, even for the non-members of the unions. The labor unions also established fair pay. On the onset of the industrial revolution and the great depression, the rural citizens went to the urban centers to find jobs. The employers took advantage of the situation by offering low wages and overworking the employees. This led to the rise of the labor unions which lobbied and fought for the fair wages of these individuals. The employees now have a right to fair wages whether they are represented by a labor union or not (Pride, Hughes & Kapoor, 2010). The labor union workers also enjoy higher wages than the other non-labor union workers. In some states, there is a 6 hourly dollar difference between these two categories of the employees. The states that have adopted a right to work program instead of the labor unions initiative have seen a decline in the wages of the employees whereas the corporate bottom line remains intact. This shows the oppression of these workers by these corporate laws geared to increase productivity at the expense of the middle class. The labor unions formed the middle class of the country. The emphasis on higher wages and fair treatment helped to reduce the gap between the wealthy and the have-nots, creating an entirely new class, the middle class. The initiatives such as the right to work initiative allow the companies to profit by undercutting the middle class widening the gap between the two categories. The anti-union supporters claim that the labor unions are exploitative. They argue that they devastate companies by asking for increased wages and better working environment reducing the profit margins of the enterprise. They claim that the increased call for equality eliminates the healthy competition and the awarding of promotions and increased wages due to personal effort and merit. They argue that the labor unions call for a more communist economy as opposed to the capitalist values that the country is based on. Even though I am not a member of the union at my workplace, I am pro union because I believe that unions are essential to ensure the fair treatment of the employees. Most corporate heads focus more on their responsibility to the shareholders than to the stakeholders. They are willing to profit off the suffering of the employees. There is also an apparent power gap between the corporate leaders and the employees enabling them to exploit the …show more content…
& Reichart, K. (2010). The anthropology of labor unions. Boulder, Colo: University Press of Colorado.
MoveOn, (2012). What have American Unions Ever Done for Us? YouTube. Retrieved from: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iObqguaNDdA Pride, W., Hughes, R. & Kapoor, J. (2010). Business. Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage