Unionization In The Workplace Essay

Unions are one of the most important institutions as they reduce the power gap between workers and employers. The employees pay a certain percentage (usually from one to three percent) of their paycheck to the union and in turn, the union collectively bargains on their (the workers) behalf(Krahn, Lowe, and Hughes 328). Collective barging is the process in which the union tries to negotiate with the employer for more power, higher wages, better working conditions, etc (Krahn, Lowe, and Hughes 332.) Whereas, companies try negotiating in order to reduce costs, increase efficiency, productivity, etc. However, if an agreement is not reached the workers usually threaten to go on strike, thus putting pressure on employers to give into the demand of the workers. A recent example includes the 2011 National Hockey League (NHL) lockout, where players union fought the NHL, as they wanted bigger part of the NHL revenue (Horgan). The NHL, however, refused to comply with these …show more content…
There has been a 5% decrease in unionization for 2000 to 2012 (Krahn, Lowe, and Hughes 342) . One of the causes for such a dramatic decline is the increase in white-collar jobs (Krahn, Lowe, and Hughes 342). These types of jobs give worker a voice to therefore the workers do not feel as compelled to join a union . Companies accommodate worker by having a human resource department where workers can express their displeasure with wages, working conditions, etc (Krahn, Lowe, and Hughes 354.) Moreover, people feel that modern-day unions are becoming soft; they do not "deliver the goods" (Krahn, Lowe, and Hughes 355). As a result, Canadians do not think it is worth giving a percentage of their earnings. The heavy push back from corporations, worker accommodation, and a changing workforce is slowly crippling the power that unions hold. As a result, unions are losing their leverage against employers leading to decrease in unionization in