Thanks for checking back in! This week's blog post is about labor unions and their function, how they were present in The Final Offer, and their membership dwindling in the manufacturing industry.
What is a labor/trade union?
Labor or trade unions basically are, "an organization of workers dedicated to protecting members' interests and improving wages, hours and working conditions for all"1. These organizations then work as a democracy and appoint leaders who operate in the unions best interest. At least that is how they SHOULD operate. With conflicting positions and interests sometimes the union leaders operate in their own best interest then in the interest of the unions interest second.These unions then operating as a "bargaining unit"1. A bargaining unit "is a group represented by a union for dealing with an employer. This group of workers must either be voluntarily recognized by their employer, or a majority of workers in the bargaining unit must vote for representation"1. The union then leverages its decisions based on the collective interest of the union members. There then becomes the issue of the agency problem in these types of organizations.
My source also states, "it is legal for employers to try to persuade employees not to unionize. However, it is illegal for an employer to prevent employees from unionizing through threats, violence, and other coercive action. It is also illegal for unions to use lies or threats of violence to intimidate employees into joining"1. This actually happened to me when I was hired at Lowe's a few years ago. When they brought me in for the first couple weeks (felt like months) of new employee training, they had us watch various videos about safety and take quizzes how to operate machines and whatnot. WELL, mixed in with these necessary trainings was a video about Unions. I thought, "That's odd, I didn't think a retail store would encourage me to join a union". Boy was I wrong. It almost felt like a propaganda video on how bad and evil labor unions are. They didn't threaten me in any way, but I was "strongly advised" against joining ANY kind of labor union for ANY reason. Odd experience, but very true.
My opinion about labor/trade unions...
I don't have too much of an opinion on labor unions. I am still fairly young and have not had any experience with labor unions (except for that propaganda video fed to me by Lowe's). Conceptually, they seem like a great thing for specific groups of people such as teachers, manufacturing employees, and trade-specific types of workers. These workers have the option to join an entity that will govern any problems you have and will operate with your best wishes in mind? Sounds like a no-brainer right? Well, yes and no. Conceptually it sounds like a great idea, but that doesn't always transfer well in practice. The agency problem plays a huge role in unions in practice. Nowadays, one cannot always trust other to govern in their best interest. How do they know my best interest? Most of the time they don't. Or at least I think. I'm not sure. My family is filled with teachers and a few other public service folks and not one of them were in a union. Would it have worked in their benefit? I can't answer that question. I simply don't know. Like I said, conceptually, labor unions sound great, but I simply don't know if I can trust an agent to think in the interest of millions of workers.The Final Offer
Now to relate this to The Final Offer documentary. For those who don't know, this documentary was about the 1984 contract negotiations in Canada between the United Auto Workers Union (UAW) and General Motors (GM). Out of this negotiation, Canada broke from the UAW and formed the Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW). If you haven't seen it, it's an interesting topic and you should check it out at some point. I'll post a link to it below for those who may be interested2.If you wish to see the film, then skip this following paragraph...
In The Final Offer, the labor union functioned as an entity to negotiate the contract with GM. GM was looking to change the Canadian GM plant worker's pay. They already successfully completed this in the Michigan GM plant, so the Canadian plant was just another cog in the wheel. The workers ended up striking and as they deemed it, "all hell broke loose". I feel that the UAW, especially Bob White, operated in the worker's best interest. He didn't prevent a strike, but he stuck true to himself and the values of the UAW and was viewed as a Canadian hero after everything was said and done. As far as GM goes, I think they were operating more in their best interest as a company, not as a union. They sought profits over people.
Manufacturing Union membership dwindling?
Yes you heard that right. Union membership has been following a trend away from manufacturing and more towards service. I feel that the rapid growth in technology is replacing these manufacturing jobs entirely. Less jobs mean less physical workers and that means less members in a union3. I have posted a link in my sources that shows the trend in the decline of trade unions and rise in others.
Last year [in 2014], the two groups with the highest unionization levels were protective service occupations (such as police officers, firefighters and security guards) and education, training and library occupations, both at 35.3%.Most of these occupations are in the public sector, and these members feel the need to be represented by a labor/trade union. It's an interesting site, check it out when you get a chance.
Well, that's it for this week! Again I appreciate you stopping by and giving my content a view and a read. Come back next week for some more negotiation content.
Thank you,
Bret Thomas
Sources:
1 https://www.unionplus.org/about/labor-unions/how-do-unions-work
2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjJp63qwm8A
3 http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/04/27/union-membership/
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