What Is Waiting For The Unions In The Future?

Introduction 

The work environment involves numerous types of people and organizations. For instance, there are organizations whose employers subject employees to tough working conditions such as working extra hours with minimal pay, and without payment of the extra hours. Therefore, workers require a channel that they can use to air their grievances, voice their concerns on wages and benefits, and ensure that they are subjected to fair treatment while in the work environment. Unions play a crucial role in ensuring that workers rights are well protected. For example, there is need for protection of the integrity of the trade of services for the sake of workers. Besides, as a result of the commitment of workers in their work places, it is fair enough that the organizations that they work for give them benefits, especially in issues of healthcare, retirement, or vacation, and also expose the workers to safe and better working conditions and standards. Unions work by intensifying the bargaining power of a group of workers with similar interests and working in the same field, especially with the establishment of leadership positions. After the leaders are chosen, they then engage the employer on issues of concern to create a common reasoning ground for both parties, such that the employer's interests are represented as well as the workers. Globally, unions have a historical background, and the major question is whether the unions still have a future in the dynamically growing issues worldwide. Thus, this study aims to detail the historical information that might have an impact in the future of unions. Besides, it shall also describe: Ways in which unions affect individual employees, management and companies at large, Interests the union may try to maintain, Role of federal regulation and government entities, Local versus national unions and how these groups may affect future and global unionization, Variances for profit and not-for-profit unionization, Influences on employee wage and non-wage considerations in varying environment, Impact of wellness initiatives and employee safety and risk management, and Challenges multi-national companies must prepare for to successfully compete in a future global business setting. 

Historical Information 

Unions were initially established to fight for the workers in terms of bargaining(Freeman & Hilbrich, 2013). Importantly, they functioned by convincing or forcing employers to acknowledge the workers as they duly deserved. Economic force was the way in which workers managed to acknowledge and negotiate with unions following the National Labor Relations Act enactment. Consequently, there were aggressive confrontations between the unions and workers (Freeman & Hilbrich, 2013). The Great Depression triggered workers to join unions, because they thought that unions would offer a better alternative for workers to improve their standard of lives. However, inn 1935 during the AFL Convention, there were great differences between President John Lewis of the Mine Workers and President Bill Hutcheson of the Carpenters Union, since there was favoritism for the industrial unionism, thus trying to do away with the carpenters (Freeman & Hilbrich, 2013). However, the Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO) and the American Federation of Labor (AFL) merged in 1955 to form one organization. Fundamentally, as a result of the merger, approximately 38% of employees working in the private sector were engaged in collective contracts (Freeman & Hilbrich, 2013). As a result of the merger, many members in the private sector joined unions and thus, unions were empowered to a point that when the Cold War happened, there was a immensely strong labor movement globally that championed for anti-communism. Essentially, this campaign aimed at encouraging workers to join independent unions that seemed favorable to the market economies. On the contrary, in 2011, the labor scene had a different case whereby only 6.9% of employees in the private sector had joined unions, which marked the smallest percentage from 1900 (Freeman & Hilbrich, 2013). Currently, less than 1 employee in 14 private sector employees can be attributed to a union. The reason for this shift is because the unions were unable to fight for the share of spoils of economic growth, and this issue was the most pressing among employees at the time (Porter, 2012). For instance, a typical American employee is able to pocket only 2% above the quarter (traceable to a century ago) following inflation adjustments (Porter, 2012). Additionally, in 1980s, President Ronald Reagan is believed to have adopted an ideological shift that could have stagnated the issue on workers getting what the unions ought to fight for (Porter, 2012). Ideally, the President was determined to destroy restrictions in markets with the ideological aid from Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain (Porter, 2012). Consequently, the ideological changes on unions transformed the working norms. For example, organization executives who had put up with the unions as optimal aspects of the workplace in the United States begun spending billions fighting unions (Porter, 2012). 

Unionization 

Labor Unions transform human resources patterns and procedures an organization as opposed to the case in which human resource managers create policies related to benefits, compensation, and hiring in the absence of unions as founded on the determination of the management and research done on the business needs (Rowe, 2018). Unionization affects the relationship that exists between employees, management, and companies because when workers in an organization join a union, the management is then required to engage the union before determining policies for its employees, and also in matters to do with resolution of grievances. First, the National Labor Relations Act prohibits employers from getting involved in issues of their employees' rights to organize (Rowe, 2018). For example, an organization cannot change an employer from their task to a more challenging task due to their pro-union sentiments. Secondly, the company is required to bargain with the union on vacation time, hours, safety practices, insurance, wages, and how operational decisions such as relocation of subcontractors may end up affecting employees (Rowe, 2018). Organizations must therefore prepare for negotiations, and some even train managers for negotiation purposes. Thirdly, unionization also affects how grievances should be resolved in a work environment (Rowe, 2018). For example, in case a conflict arises, individuals in a union have a right to engage with the management in resolving the conflict. However, the actions of both the management and workers should be founded on the collective bargaining agreement. Therefore, when grievances arise in the workplace, the union must be engaged in determining the best ways to handle the issue, and in accordance with the collective agreement. Unionization also ensures that payroll and human resource departments are responsible enough to ensure that any kind of deduction is administered correctly. 

Interests 

Every organization has its own set goals meant to ensure that it maintains its competitive position. However, unions are established on another different dimension since, they intend to ensure that, as the organization meets its goals and objectives, it still observers the rights of the employees in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement. Therefore, unions have interests that must be met regardless of the organizational needs and goals. First, unions must defend and promote the interests of the members (Trebilcock, n.d). Notably, these interests could be in form of how well the union can provide services to the members or how well the union can politically represent its members. Besides, unions also have interests in the control function of how members conduct themselves (Trebilcock, n.d). A good union should be able to exert discipline over the membership, and this trait makes up for the legitimacy of the union. However, unions find it difficult to pull masses for membership in regard to the number of employees expresses as a percentage of the formal sector workforce. Additionally, unions have interests on convincing more members to join them because their activities are mainly financed by the contributions or dues amassed from the members (Trebilcock, n.d). Unions have an interest in collectively bargaining for the members. Importantly, the interests of the members take the upper hand in every union since they form the basis for their functioning. Unions are also interested in establishing procedures meant to protect the job security of the members. In most cases, unions adopt a grievance procedure that is meant to end in arbitration (Trebilcock, n.d). Other than that, unions are interested in reflecting the personalities and aspirations of their staff personnel and leaders. As much as organizational needs and goals matter, the unions are interested in expressing what their leaders stand for the sake of the well being of all members. 

Role of Federal Regulation and Governmental Entities 

The federal regulation and the governmental entities are concerned with ensuring that rules are followed as contained in the National Labor Relations Act (The National Labor Relations Board, n.d). For instance, according to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), there are numerous union/employer obligations and rights that should be adhered to lest a violation occurs. Employers are prohibited from getting into acts that may interfere with, restrain, or coerce workers in issues to do with the exercising of rights in regard to organization, formation, joining, or assistance offered to a labor organization for the purposes of collective bargaining, or from joining hands for the improvement of the terms and conditions of employment (The National Labor Relations Board, n.d). Furthermore, the federal regulation governs the content of the collective bargaining agreement contract. It is mandatory that the involved parties engage in bargaining in good faith as far as the contract is concerned. NLRB as one of the regulatory bodies established in the U.S details how bargaining in good faith should be done. Notably, the issue on bargaining in good faith has undergone numerous changes since there was need for the establishment of the objective criteria to be followed to determine whether the parties are honoring their mandate (The National Labor Relations Board, n.d). Moreover, the federal regulation is concerned with setting rules about union dues. There are court rulings and set federal and state laws that determine the amount of dues for collection from employees as represented by unions. In conclusion, the federal regulation and government entities are concerned with controlling the right to work states. Each federal state establishes rules that are favorable to the workers therein. For instance, 27 states resolved in banning union-security agreements. Consequently, every employee was free to choose whether they wanted to join a union or not, which would consequently affect the payment of dues (The National Labor Relations Board, n.d). 

Local Versus National Unions 

Both local and national unions work together in ensuring that workers voice their concerns in every governmental and societal setting ("The Nature of Unions", n.d). However, local unions are mainly formed to focus on smaller groups, local policy and particular employers. Ideally, local unions functioning is based on the members' needs ("The Nature of Unions", n.d). National Unions may accommodate local unions in championing for the larger representation of individuals ("The Nature of Unions", n.d). Additionally, the fore-stated unions pay much attention on set guidelines and national policy meant to assess the procedures adopted by the local unions in the recruitment, training, and support for their members. These unions also reflect what the local union do in attaining the goals of representing employees and defending their rights ("The Nature of Unions", n.d). Both local and national unions are greatly impactful in regard to the future of unionization. For instance, Group 4 Securicor (G4S) begun as a local organization in the United States to become the second largest employer globally (Paret, 2015). Global Unions, Local Power (GULP) channels its efforts in labor renewal through governance struggles. Fundamentally, GULP intends to control and exert discipline on the business practices of free trade pacts and transnational corporations. The success story of G4S exists in how the organization decided to handle its issues. For instance, the union signed a global framework agreement with the Union Network International (UNI), which championed for employer neutrality towards unions, following great anti-G4S campaign by SEIU (Paret, 2015). Globalization poses a major problem to local organizations ("The Nature of Unions", n.d). The reason behind this problem is because most commodities are produced abroad, thus unions lose both union values and membership in the strength areas of worker culture. Therefore, local unions and national unions may affect the future as seen in the gradual decrease in membership in the national level. When union membership gradually decreases, there is a possibility of workers having a direct connection with employers. 

Variances 

There exists great variance between for-profit and not-for-profit unionization. First, according to Berdon organization, not-for-profit organizations are meant to ensure that the health, spiritual, environmental, educational, and welfare needs are met on time and in the best way possible (Berdon, n.d). Most not-for-profit unionization are concerned with ensuring that their members can be able to get healthcare plans, for instance through health insurance and better and safe working conditions (Berdon, n.d). Ideally, workers who work in an environment that subjects them to danger are likely to have low productivity as compared to those whose working environment is better. On the other hand, for-profit organizations are meant to cater for their own interests as they cater for those of workers. For instance, there are numerous benefits that a worker can be subjected to as they go about their duties. For-profit organizations are more concerned with getting more members in board, since that means increased dues and payments which make it a business. Sometimes, for-profit organizations may fail to fully deliver since they are mostly based on economic gain that client representation. For instance, health care has become more of a business. Most of the activities therein are channeled towards gaining a greater market share and thus, chains such as Columbia-HCA have constantly bought everything that they deem appropriate for giving them a greater market concentration (Sackman, n.d). 

Influence on Employees 

Non-wage compensation affect employees both positively and negatively as far as social and economic factors are concerned. For instance, the monopoly effects explain the non-wage compensation forms that can be detailed by the monopoly face while collective voice effects detail the differences that can emanate from institutional response face. Monopoly power can be useful in winning additional monetary non-wage compensation forms. Additionally, monopoly effects do away with competitive results, since they are aimed at maximizing aggregate social welfare and efficiency as explained in the neoclassical economic theory. Facilitation effect is also immensely useful in intensifying employee utilization and awareness through effective coverage. Collective effect is vital in championing for the benefits that employees are likely to get, such as pension plans. 

Wellness Initiatives 

Wellness initiatives and employee safety and risk management play a major role in ensuring that the productivity of employees is also at its best. Importantly, employers have a mandate to ensure that their employees health is at its best to avoid incurring the huge healthcare costs (Loeppke, Edington & Beg, 2010). For instance, the health insurance cost tends to be the second most expensive burden for employers. However, employers cannot overlook giving their employees health insurance since good health is directly linked with productivity which ultimately leads to great yields for the company. According to a survey released by the National Business Group on Health and Towers Watson , majority of employers embrace shifting to a greater share of the health care costs to their employees. Ideally, since 1999 to 2010, the employee contribution has escalated by 128% (Loeppke, Edington & Beg, 2010). The impact of escalating costs in regard to wellness initiatives on employees is majority of the employees cannot be able to contain the constantly increasing portions of the health insurance premiums since the increasing costs are not followed by a corresponding increase in income. 

Multi-National Companies 

Multi-national companies have to adopt strategies to enable them to be able to gain relevance in global markets. However, these strategies have to be accompanied by great research since they are numerous challenges on the way. For instance, there is a challenge of rigidity among home countries. Bajaj depicts a defense mechanism that any multi-national company has to study (Dawar & Frost, 1999). Ideally, the company has to first identify the advantages that Bajaj experiences to be able to channel more resources and creativity for competitive purposes. Additionally, companies need to have right transferable assets which they can use as a platform for expansion in the country of their choice (Dawar & Frost, 1999). The great disadvantage on this strategy is that more revenue and scale of economies are needed, not forgetting value for learning. Finally, there is need for any multi-national company to align its assets with industry requirements (Dawar & Frost, 1999). This means that multi-national companies have to adopt the required technology to be able to meet the set threshold set by other competitive companies. 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, unions have played a major role in ensuring that workers are well represented in their work areas, and that employers carefully follow the set guidelines for the safe working conditions and flow of activities in the work environment. However, the rigidity of the unions have made them to lose popularity among the workers who feel that their interests are not well catered for. The main issue that the union engages in is collectively bargaining for the interests of the workers but workers have perceived the efforts by unions as futile since too little has been done in a period of more than 100 years. Unionization on the other hand serves a great purpose of ensuring that members whose interests are similar can voice their grievances through an organization and in a vocal manner. As seen above, contractual agreements place employees at a better position since they cannot be coerced to do anything that is against their will or contract. The future of unions has been threatened through the emergent issues of globalization that have deemed local organizations powerless and thus, their employees. Additionally, the organizations have also adopted better means of running from the unions. Employers have strategies through which employees can feel safe and own the organization through active participation. Ideally, one issue that has strengthened employers on this issue is the incapability of the unions to settle and attend to the interests of the members as they ought to. Therefore, unless the unions re-strategize, their future is at risk. 

References  

Porter, E. (2012). Unions' Past May Hold Key to Their Future. The New York Times. Retrieved from www.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/business/economy/unions-past-may-hold-key-to-their-future.html 

Freeman, R. B., & Hilbrich, K. (2013). Do labor unions have a future in the United States?. Harvard Library. Retrieved from dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/10488702/15855239.pdf?sequence=2 

Rowe, R. H. (2018). What Challenges Do Unions Pose for Human Resource Management? Chron. Retrieved from smallbusiness.chron.com/challenges-unions-pose-human-resource-management-69221.html 

Trebilcock, A. (n.d). Labour Relations and Human Resources Management: An Overview. Encyclopedia of Occupational Health and Safety. Retrieved from www.ilocis.org/documents/chpt21e.htm 

The National Labor Relations Board. (n.d). Employer / Union Rights and Obligations. Retrieved from www.nlrb.gov/rights-we-protect/rights/employerunion-rights-and-obligations 

The Nature of Unions. (n.d). Retrieved from saylordotorg.github.io/text_human-resource-management/s16-01-the-nature-of-unions.html 

Paret, M. (2015). Is Global Governance the Solution for Labor?: Global Unions, Local Power: The New Spirit of Transnational Labor Organizing. In  New Labor Forum  (Vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 125-128). Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications. 

Sackman, K. (n.d). The Rise of For-Profit Organizations. AFSCME. Retrieved from www.afscme.org/news/publications/health-care/the-new-health-care-delivery-system-a-guide-for-nurses/the-rise-of-for-profit-organizations 

Berdon. (n.d). Labour Unions and Not-for-Profit Organizations. Retrieved from www.berdonllp.com/industries-services/labor-unions-and-not-for-profit-organizations/ 

Dawar, N., & Frost, T. (1999). Competing with giants: Survival strategies for local companies in emerging markets.  Harvard business review ,  77 , 119-132.