Question

Assume that a labour strike ends and that the union is successful in negotiating a substantial raise in pay for its workers. Concerns are raised about the motivation of the union and the possible negative employment consequences of the expensive labour contract.

1. Discuss the various possible objectives for the union.

2. The opponents of unions typically cite the labour demand theory to support their claim that the union is destroying jobs.  Explain their argument. Present a graph.

3. Supporters of unions believe that the union does not destroy jobs when they bargain for higher wages.  Analyze their proposition. Include a diagram.

Answer 1

A. Objectives of trade union

1. Helping to provide secure working conditions.

2. To secure bonus for the workers from the profits of the enterprise/organization.

3. In case of dispute, trade union should provide legal assistance to workers regarding work and payment of wages.

4. To protect the jobs of labour against retrenchment and layoff etc.

5. To ensure that workers get as per rules provident fund, pension and other benefits.

6. To secure for the workers better safety and health welfare schemes.

7. To secure workers participation in management.

8. To provide stable working environment and resist management schemes that exploit workers.

9. To ensure sufficient payout to the workers.

10. To inculcate discipline, self-respect and dignity among workers.

11.To ensure opportunities for promotion and training.

12.To secure organizational efficiency and high productivity.

13. To generate a committed industrial work force for improving productivity of the system.

B. Destroying jobs

Labour unions are taking harsh decisions regarding employee wages and their working environment. This leads to the increase cost production and servicing. So the companies are trying o automate different sectors in their firms. So apparently this reduce the job opportunities of the low-skilled workers. Labor unions and their left-wing friends are imposing a host of laws and regulations that are dramatically raising the cost of hiring workers. Minimum wage laws, Obamacare requirements, and many other policies are causing businesses to rethink new hires. Even expensive robots and other forms of non-human labor begin to make sense to strapped companies. Who will suffer the most under the new regime? The least skilled and the poorest—the very persons who were supposedly going to benefit from the new laws and regulations created.

C.

Unions fought for and work to strengthen many of the humane standards and norms that protect and uplift Americans today. These essential laws and programs include Social Security, child labor laws, antidiscrimination laws, health and safety laws, Unemployment Insurance, compensation for workers who get hurt on the job, the 40-hour workweek, and the federal minimum wage. Unions were a major force behind all the Great Society laws on discrimination, housing, and voting rights.

As union coverage has declined and the voice of workers has correspondingly diminished, many of the key workplace standards past generations counted on have been eroded. For instance, there has been an erosion of overtime pay protection, slashing of workers’ compensation programs, and a decline in the real value of the minimum wage, which is lower now than it was in 1968.

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