Question

To what extent aspects of labor relations in other countries (from Chapter 12, pick ONE country other than the United States) should be adopted in the United States? Should the United States adopt mandatory works councils?Why or why not? What do you believe the future of Unions in the U.S. will be like?

Answer 1

Answer:- Germany is the country which I selected for the United States to adopt its labor relation strategy. In Germany, the workers are allowed to form a work council in the organization under the work council system. This council plays an active role in negotiating with the management about the various issues related to the employees. In the opinion of Budd," Germany's labor relation is best known for its system of codetermination". In comparison to USA's supervisory board, the power of this board in Germany is quite limited but a strong representation and voice is facilitated to the employees and these are considered quite seriously. It is very crucial to make a note of employee's opinions as this will not only boost the positive contributions but also would improve the productivity.

Answer:- In most of European countries, the mandatory work council are functioning properly as it is providing them good results. Conflict resolution between the management and the employees is the main objective of these council. This council performs like a bridge between the management and the workers. In fact this council is quite useful in dealing with the various issues arising time to time, This council is used by the employees to negotiate their wages when there are string forces in labor market. I my opinion, if the concept of these council are implemented in USA, it will yield fruitful results.

Answer:- In the opinion of Budd, the organized labor in USA is quite weak mainly due to weak labor laws and it does not present the antiunion actions of the employers such as replacing the striking employees, firing them any moment. A lot of criticism is made by the labor activist about the poor traditional business unionism approach as it is not able to create a successful labor movement depending on the grass root participation. Thus the future of unions in USA is still quite hopeful as the US labors are not able to replace this group.