Please include 2 APA style in text citations and the citations at the bottom of
ID: 366277 • Letter: P
Question
Please include 2 APA style in text citations and the citations at the bottom of answer. Question 1: Labor Unions: Love ‘em or Hate ‘em? (Everyone responds) Conduct an internet search and look for data on union membership today in the US. What is the status of union membership today? What are the experts saying about the need for the continuation of union activities today? Is there one segment of the workforce that perhaps still might need union protection? Compare and contrast ideas from two sources and then include your informed thoughts about union activity today. ***Please include 2 APA style in text citations and the citations at the bottom of answer.
Explanation / Answer
Labour unions across the world are representatives of workers who represent workers in multiple aspects like wage levels, working conditions, benefits, legal representation etc. With Industrial Revolution, unions grew to represent mainstream workers with management. In USA, union membership peaked in 1954 at 35% of total work-force members being part of one or the other union. Union membership, in number, peaked in 1979 at 21 million and have been in decline ever since. Today, as per the data from US Department of Labour, union membership rate stands at 10.7% in year 2016. In terms of numbers, the numbers stood at 14.6 million as against to 14.8 million in 2015.
When we look at the data released by the Department of Labour, we can see that the union membership is highest among individuals employed in government jobs as compared to private jobs. There are many reasons which can be attributed to this but movement of private manufacturing jobs to lower wage countries, increased automation and reluctance of unions to change to make them attractive to younger workers are main reasons for this decline. Moreover, for USA specifically, unions have flourished in Midwest and Northern parts of the country while Southern part have been generally averse to the idea of unionism. With increased competition and changing in job demographic, unions lost their "threat" power and employers also threatened to move to South or close down plant which lead to decrease in membership.
When we talk of unions, we should also take a look at changing economic and employment landscape of the USA. It has been etablished that during peak of union membership, wages of union members were higher than the wages of non-union members. Unions played an important role in doing collective bargaining of rights and other benefits for workers which gave many Americans a chance to carve out a stable, middle class life. With American economy currently being dominated by Amazon, Google, Apple instead of traditional blue collar employees like General Motors, Ford etc., the concept of union has taken a beating. Today's American economy is being driven by knowledge sector which always had low representation of unions as unions in their current form were not appealling to younger workers. Morevoer with high presence of technology, it was always easy to replace American labour with foreign workers who fit the bill and were least bothered about union membership. With shift in job pattern towards part time jobs and knowledge dirven jobs, traditional unions have lost their appeal and their influencing weight which is leading to no increase in wages and employment levels inspite of American companies reporting increase in profits year after year.
We can easily mention that better evolved unions can play a far bigger and wide spread role in ensuring better wages and other perks for employees who see current job landscape as no guarantee for stable middle class existence. This is even more correct for employees who are retiring or close to retiring and do not see any gurantee of pension obligations which were promised to them. Unions can play an extremely important role in protecting workers who are willing to work on lower wages just to retain their jobs in an uncertain economy. With all bargaining power currently resting in the hands of employer, a strong union influence can help balance the two sides.
Summers, Lawrence (2017, September 3) America needs its unions more than ever. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/180127da-8e59-11e7-9580-c651950d3672
Economic News Release Union Members Summary (2017, January 26). Retreived From https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm