Should Employees Be Allowed to Organize Unions In The Workplace - Case Study Example

Should Employees Be Allowed to Organize Unions In The Workplace? Introduction An employee union is an organization, which is protected by the law, whereby a group of workers joins to improve and guarantees their wages, benefits, and working conditions. Unions play a major role in giving the employees a way to achieve respect and fairness in the job and give them a stronger voice to influence their employer’s decisions. The importance of employee organization is to give them some part of control and reduce employer’s ultimate control in decision-making. Unions give far more power to employees to make positive changes and gain protection than they would when dealing individually or dealing in a group of few workers. Employees’ unions have advantages not only the employees but also the workplace and the employers. The employees’ unions allow employees to negotiate with employers concerning their wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. Employers tend to overwork the employees and give them minimum salary and wages to maximize on their profits. However, what employers do not realize is that employees work better when motivated with promise of better wages and salaries and commissions for work well done. First Position The indulgence of employees’ unions in negotiating the terms and conditions of employment has delivered good results in that employees can feel safe and secure while negotiating their employment terms. In addition, employee organizations have played a major role in reducing the cases of firing during employment because of an employee negotiating their remunerations. Moreover, the unions give the employees the confidence to face their employers without fear of being exploited. It is the right of employees to bargain collectively through their representatives such as these unions. Most countries that allow employees’ unions have the gives the right to employees to discuss their terms and conditions of employment, through unions that employees organize with the co-workers. These unions allows the employees to take action with one or more co-workers in order to improve on their working conditions through, among other means, raising work related complaints directly with their employers or with certain government agencies (American Federation of Labor web). Work organizations or unions also entitle the workers to attend to or take part in striking and picketing, which depends on their intended purpose or the means of the strike or the picketing. These strikes have become common in modern days as a way to express displeasure with the employers. The main aim of such strikes, picketing and go-slows is to air employees grievances with their employers, whether private employers or the government. For instance, strikes are common in Spain and Greece because of their economic downturns, recessions, that has led to high levels of unemployment and increased the dependency ratio. It is therefore beneficial for employees’ to form and join unions in their respective workplaces (American Embassy Information Resource Center web). Second Position Employee unions and organizations have many benefits to the employers. One of them is that it gives the employer an insight of the organization. The labor unions have often been blamed for no-cooperation by most management and that they always demand for more benefits. In addition, they claim that the labor unions are harsh and quarrelsome. However, Katz et al (10) concludes that despite some few and minor cases, labor unions have defended the outmoded ways through fighting against some changes. In addition, he notes that the labor unions have cooperated for saving jobs and promoting employers directed benefits, which are more flexible for work organization. The labor unions have also played a proactive and a reformist role through pushing the management towards new forms of organization such as group work (Katz et al. 10). Wong (12) notes that the labor unions have developed from conflicting to cooperation after that country gained independence. He notes that during the recent economic crisis, there was need for constructive tripartite relations and the positive role of the labor movement. The labor unions played a major role in negotiating mutually acceptable measures, which overcame the countries recession of 1986. The workers unions had to come into an agreement with the Government, union leaders, and employers were able to gain worker support for wage cuts. Examining & refuting the first Position However, certain issues have emerged with the workers being allowed to join the labor unions. This is because the labor unions are subject to different cultural, historical, and social economic backgrounds, which have a strong impact on the development of labor unions and their present role and political position in society. This is mostly associated with the relationship with government and capital, working methods and the process of their development has shaped main objectives, including the relevance of sustainable consumption and production. On the issue of employees, the demands for a few employees will not be satisfied. This is because the labor unions tend to represent the decision of the majority therefore, leaving out on the few employees’ demands. Moreover, the workers unions are highly influenced by the political demands of the employee. They tend to favor the decision of the majority even though it is not always that the decision they make is true. Moreover, workers unions take a long time to respond to the demands of the workers. They tend to wait until the majority decision is made and presented to them. This means that the minority will continue to be subjected to the grievances that they have presented to workers unions. However, if their demand does not gain a majority backing, they continue to suffer and the labor unions may forget or take their issues rightly and not address them. This means majority make the decisions in the workplace. If any employee disagrees with the decision of the majority, their grievances are not addressed. Union representation is a powerful tool for change in favor of a company's employees, but that powerful force effects change in the direction the majority wants to go. Examining & Refuting the Second Position Workers unions have also contributed a lot in slowing down the pace of economic growth in the different countries. The labor strikes have led to stopping productivity, which can be a nightmare for employers. In addition, there is usually no guarantee that the strike will work to produce the benefits the union is seeking. Therefore, there are no compensations for the loss of wages or profits to the company while workers are on strike. Moreover, organizations with union representation promotions and pay are largely determined by precedence. In these cases, the employers have few options available to motivate their workforce to work harder, produce more, and suggest creative solutions to the problems faced by the business (Global Unions web). Furthermore, employees and members of these workers unions are required to pay a certain amount of fees and dues to the unions. Mostly, the charges are usually deducted automatically from each member. This implies that, even if an employee disagrees with the decisions of the union, they still must pay for their representation. Lastly, the unions can constrain the ability of a company to remain competitive. Conclusion and Recommendations Trade unionism is a means for labor force to liberate themselves from poverty and social exclusion. Employees use trade unions as their representative voice to demand their rights and improve their living and working conditions. The formation of trade unions was a reaction against the mechanisms of pauperization, notably, low pay, long working hours, child labor, and generally appalling working conditions. Therefore, trade unionism has always been about eradicating poverty. The symposium recalls this historical, as well as the current role of trade unions, to continue the fight against poverty and to promote social justice in the global economy. I recommend the workers to join workers unions since they help them in negotiating their rights and expresses them in a broader manner where working as an individual can be a hard task. Works Cited American Embassy Information Resource Center. “Indonesia: Investment Climate Statement 2003”, U.S. Embassy Jakarta. Web 30 April 2012. American Federation of Labor “ Congress of Industrial Organizations” Web 30 April 2012. Global Unions “Towards Effective Partnerships for Change: The Trade Union Implementation Track” WSSD Implementation Priorities of Global Unions (submitted to the CSD at its eleventh session). Web 30 April 2012. < http://www.icftu.org/www/pdf/csd2003.pdf> Wong, Shu “Partnership of trade unions in national development programs in promotion of labor mobility in Singapore.” International institute of labor studies, Geneva, Switzerland, Web 30 April 2012. Read More