What are worker unions, and why is there opposition?
In: Economics
Worker’s unions are basically an organization comprised of workers in order to negotiate with employers. An advantage that employers enjoy when their workers aren’t unionized is that their employees need jobs more than the employer needs an individual employee, but employees are what make the company run. The employer can lose employees because they can be replaced, but the employer can’t lose all their employees at once without significant consequences. If an employer is treating its employees harshly, the employees can quit, but disorganized quitting doesn’t hurt the employer because they can find replacements before the next one quits. A union says, “we’re going to look out for each other, and you need to treat your labor well as a unit.” The union can sign a contract with the employer that outlines the relationship between the employer and their labor. The contract can outline a structure for things like hours, pay, safety protocol, Paid Time Off, etc. Unions will elect representatives and have lawyers on retainer to help with negotiations and resolve legal disputes. If workers are unhappy with a contract proposals, they can vote to go on strike. During a strike, they will support each other financially through a strike fund and try and prevent non-union workers from working or people from buying goods or services from the company by using picket lines. This puts pressure on the employer to treat workers more fairly.
People can be against unions for a few reasons.
* If you’re an employer, a unionized workforce makes it more difficult for you to exploit their labor
* Some people perceive unions as protecting bad workers. This usually isn’t the case though. Unions just make it hard to fire people for reasons that don’t have to do with their work, but in order to fire a bad employee they usually just have to document bad performance. Bad workers staying on is usually the result of bad management.
* Some people don’t like that they have to pay union dues to get a certain job. However, unions provide much more benefit to the worker than they cost and it’s not fair for a new worker to reap the benefits of a union’s negotiations without paying their fair share.
* Some people may just be of a minority opinion within their union and doesn’t like how the union operates, but 99% of the time any union is going to provide better outcomes than individual negotiation with the employer.
* A strike can hurt consumers of that business and the economy, and many people put the sole responsibility of a strike on the union regardless of the employer’s position in negotiations. Many people don’t care how an employer treats its workers, and don’t think employees deserve more than what they can get by negotiating as an individual.
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