Labor Unions Essay Research Paper Labor unions

Labor Unions Essay, Research Paper

Labor unions are groups or clubs of workers and employees who bond

together to get good working conditions, fair pay, and fair hours for their

labor. For example, in a newspaper, all the people who work the

presses might all belong to one union. All of the artists, who are

responsible for the artistic layout, might belong to another. These unions

are usually joined together, and most unions in America are some branch

of the largest labor union organization in the United States, the AFL-CIO.

The unions of the workers at a certain business or factory might get

together with the management for a period of time to talk about a

contract. This time is known as negotiation. The union will tell the

management what it wants its workers getting paid, and then the

management will tell the union what it can pay the workers and still be

earning a reasonable profit. They bargain and it usually works out. Most

businesses and corporations have eight-hour work days, with optional

extra hours. This is not usually a topic in negotiations, but could be.

Working conditions could be discussed. If workers in the factory have

no heat, no lunch breaks or they are not allowed to speak, (which was the

case in many sweatshops for immigrants and children in the 1920’s

through 1940’s), then the labor unions will obviously want something

done.

These differences are usually settled fairly quickly, and a new

contract featuring these agreements will be realized . Most contracts are

in operation for about 3 to 5 years. Then, negotiations begin again. This

is how labor-management relations go in a perfect world.

But, obviously, this is not always the case. Sometimes the unions

want unrealistic wages. They might stress extreme luxuries that the

company cannot provide for working conditions. Or the management

may be stubborn and unwilling to give up a large percentage of the profit

in a good year. Or maybe both sides are seemingly in the right and an

agreement can not be met. Whatever the case maybe, after the set

negotiation has been passed, and a contract has not been created, then the

union will go to the workers tell them the situation, and they will vote in

a strike.

The unions purpose in the strike is to stop the company or factory

from caring out their purpose of existence. If they are supposed to

deliver packages, blockades will be set up in most cases to stop this.

The union must succeed not only in this, but in preventing replacement

workers, known as scabs, from doing their jobs. If the new workers can

do the jobs and the company can perform its job, then all the union

members did by striking is quit their jobs and lose benefits. They have to

let the company feel their loss and force them to let them back and meet

their demands. In a striking situation, one of three basic things happens:

the union wins by preventing the company from overstating, they get their

jobs back and their demands are met; the management wins, the strike

fails, and the workers are unemployed; or the strike seemingly goes on

forever, a stalemate of a kind, and, hopefully, one side will just give in.

One of the methods that unions use to protest when on strike is

picketing, which is carrying around signs stating either your cause, what

your doing out there pacing on the sidewalk, or the union division you

belong to. Many strikes have become violent over history, whereas some

are merely workers who leave the job and will not come back until their

demands are met. The violent strikes may involve picketing, injury or

death of workers, severe rioting, damage and vandalization of company

or employer property, and more. Police have to intervene in this type of

strike, and it is this type of labor union action that irritates many people

with the whole organization. A lot of people are strongly for unions,

whether they work for the particular company or not, and will support the

unions in their strikes. It is this sort of support unions hope for, because

the more people they get the stronger they are. But some people,

especially small business owners, who do not see much profit in a day-

to-day operation, are very critical of unions. Some union demands have

driven small business owners out of business, simply because they could

not afford to do what the union wanted.

The major formation of national labor unions came after the Civil

War. This war greatly expanded factory production and railroad

building, which generated much concern about the well-being of the

workers. By 1864, about 300 local unions operated in twenty northern

states. In 1866, the International Industry Assembly of North America

became the National Labor Union. It was the first important association

of unions. But, in 1872 , it failed and disappeared from the pages of <

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