Question

Does anybody belong to a union? What are your thoughts/perceptions about unions? Do you believe that unions are necessary and ethical in the marketplace? Explain why or why not.

Answer 1

In my opinion, it is not necessary that all of us should be the member of any of the unions. In fact, a person can also be an individual identity without having the membership or the part of any union

The union represents the employees of an organization in front of the management during the bargaining process and it results mainly in dealing with the various issues such as working conditions, employee safety, training, wages, and layoffs.

In my opinion, the existence of union depends on the nature of the industry and the type of organization and its policies. If the industry is labour intensive and the HR practices are more of depressive in nature, it is important to have unions as these unions will provide a platform for the employees to have bargaining with the management about their just demands.

On the other hand, if the HR policies of any organization are employee friendly and always take care of concerns of a common employee, there will be no requirement of any union.

As far as ethical background and requirement of unions is concerned, I think it is vital and ethical to have a union in the marketplace as in most of the cases, market forces try to exploit the manpower for the benefit of the management and this situation can be managed effectively with the help of unions as they provide an opportunity for the manpower to fight and raise the voice against the oppressive policies of market-driven organizations.