Labour unions have played a critical role in shaping US labour laws and culture. Of the biggest impacts, labour unions have been essential in raising the bargaining power of all unionized employees (Sloane & Whitney, 2010). Through the unions, the employees found their voices and a platform to communicate their challenges and have them heard. Secondly, labour unions have influenced standard industry practices, such as critiquing labour practices and the employee rights (Sloane & Whitney, 2010). Despite their utility, labour unions are on the decline. Different analysts will cite the lack of trust and economic downturns as the main reason (History.com, 2009). For instance, after the recession that followed the 2008 financial crisis, the power of labour unions diminished as they did not have the ability to stop the massive lay-off or furloughs as employers sought to increase their survival chances. An often-overlooked reason is the gradual shift in human resource management practices, where employers increased communications with the workforce, consider their input when making decision, and even offer benefits and compensations that have driven labour unions into obsolescence.
There is no better example of the power of labour unions than the rise and fall of the sleeping car king. George Pullman was an ambitious businessman who set out to demonstrate that societal problems could be solved by responsible capitalism. He built a town, Pullman, Illinois, where he provided housing for all the employees of Pullman Palace Car Company. According to Kelly (2019), the town had everything the employees could want for, from an indoor shopping mall to homes, parks and playing fields for children and families, and a library for those interested. Unfortunately, the town failed to live up to its glory. For once, Pullman’s targeted employees were desperate African Americans who ended up working as porters and got paid starvation wages (Kelly, 2019). To pull through, most of them depended on tips from the passengers, most of whom were racists and social protocol and the law had yet to inhibit covert and overt discrimination. Furthermore, while homes were open for renting by employees, the amounts were exorbitant, the rules for living in the town were demeaning, the US government had no say in what was done in the town, such as the violation of the employee’s privacy.
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In the depression that came in 1894, Pullman laid off most of his workers and cut wages for the remaining ones. Yet, the rents for the world’s first and only town to demonstrate the benefits of responsible capitalism never changed. According to Kelly (2019), some of the employees would get paid dollars and other pennies as the fruit of their labour. After all, Pullman deducted the rent automatically from the salaries. Note that most of these employees were members of the American Railway Union (ARU), a one-year-old labour union founded by Eugene Debs. These members organized the first strike. The impact of the strike was insignificant as the subsequent negotiations ended up in failure. Union members returned to work on Pullman’s terms. Even then, the event set the seeds for a future trend that would be the downfall of George Pullman, his town, and other companies that oppressed their workers with unfair labour practices.
If the rise and fall of the sleeping car king demonstrated what labour unions were in their early stages, the automobile workers unions showed the power of unions at their prime. Founded under the auspices of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), the United Automobile Workers (UAW) that monitored industries and advocated for the rights of their members. UAW was mostly known for fighting for more wages and increasing pension benefits for their workers, especially between 1935 and the 1950s ( Baugh-Helton, 2017) . In 1936, for instance, UAW organized a two-month strike at General Motors Corporation (GMC). The company finally caved and UAW obtained the employer’s recognition ( Baugh-Helton, 2017) . Shortly after, UAW moved on to represent and negotiate on behalf of Chrysler auto workers. In its heyday, UAW was successful in unionizing the automobile industry, and started to branch to assembly plants, the aerospace and agricultural sectors.
Note a common trend with these two successful unions. Each of them was created to respond to the needs of the workers in their specific work setting. In other words, the formation of a union was predicated on it fulfilling a need. Given the decline of union power and changes in work settings, the main question for this essay is if Amazon workers should unionize. The answer is yes, they should. However, they should do it for the right reasons. Amazon workers should no unionize if they will lose their autonomy and direct communication line with human resources and management (Kovacs, 2021). Furthermore, they should not unionize if they will pay union fees for a promise, not a guarantee that their membership will meet their needs. So why should Amazon employees unionize? They should if the management is unresponsive to unfair workplace policies, such as gender inequalities and toxic masculinity. In other words, employees should unionize if their current problems at the workplace have not been solved adequately.
References
Baugh-Helton, T. A. (2017). " We Didn't Know We Were Making History": The United Automobile Workers' Women's Auxiliaries in Great Depression and World War II Era Detroit (Doctoral dissertation, State University of New York at Binghamton).
History.com. (2009). Labor Movement | HISTORY. Retrieved 1 May 2021, from https://www.history.com/.amp/topics/19th-century/labor
Kelly, J. (2019). The Rise and Fall of the Sleeping Car King. Retrieved 1 May 2021, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/rise-fall-sleeping-car-king-180971240/
Kovacs, T. (2021). Should Amazon workers unionize?. Retrieved 1 May 2021, from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/should-amazon-workers-unionize?_amp=true
Sloane, A. A., & Whitney, F. (2010). Labor Relations . Pearson.
