Question

According to the RWM article “What’s Behind Union Decline” by Alejandro Reuss, globalization and weakened legal protection for workers are among some of the possible explanations for the decline in labor unions. Reuss uses the fact that Canada has both a high trade-to-GDP ratio and a relatively healthy labor movement to argue that the globalization is compatible with strong labor unions. a. Explain why many firms seek to prevent unionization efforts b. Explain why globalization might be expected to hurt those efforts c. What does the Canada-U.S comparison suggest about ways that government policy may influence the strength of unions?

Answer 1

a) The objective of a union is to organise a group of workers and have their say in the decision making of the organisation in matters of wages,benefits,work hours,job training and other issues.Many firms seek to prevent unionization effort because they prefer not to have an entity like union exercise their control and dictate terms within the organization.

b)Globalization is the interdependence of the economies of the world, cultures, businesses and population of the world.Globalization leads to foreign direct investment.Globalization may hurt the efforts of the unions because in a global economy, the bargaining powers of employers in comparison to that of employees has increased. The employers can take the decision of winding up and leave the country and so unions cannot have their voice against management decision.

c)There is value difference between US and Cananda and as a result there is difference in strength of unions between the two countries.Canada relies more on government ,believes in state intervention whereas US emphasises on free enterprise and freedom of individual.In the US there is reduction of unions and collective bargaining. Increase in management opposition to unions may be one cause for decline in unionization in US.Changes in US laws and enforcement may be another cause.A decline in unionization in US is also because the government provided more of employment protection and other benefits to the employees which were the main issues for forming unions.Difference between Canada and US in union security arrangement is also a reason contributing to difference in union coverage.So the explanation of the decline in unionization in US will possibly explain why unionization did not decline in the same density in Canada.