Unions

Unions are a group of employees sharing common interest and goals. Unions have been around as far back as the 1970's starting with craft unions. Unions were formed to help protect employees from their employers. They are created for the purpose of protecting the rights and interests of the worker and to help resolve disputes between parties. Unions do so by negotiating labor contracts, hearing workers complaints, and then seeking out appropriate action. Unfair labor practices, as they are defined today, were committed repeatedly by employers. Such acts would include: Unsafe working conditions and environments, extremely long hours, and lack of equitable workers compensation. Union representation was clearly needed and justifiable.

In the earlier day, employers were severe on their employees who attempted to organize unions. Employers felt they would lose a good fraction of control over its employees and their organization. If an employee joined a union, the employer would be forced to bargain in good faith with the union. Employees would now have rights that are enforceable by a court of law that would not be ordinarily. For example, the employed at will law would no longer be and an employer could only discharge an employee with just cause.

Daring employees who worked in such conditions sot out union representation to fight for their rights as workers and as human beings. In today's day and age, working condition and environment, as well as workers compensation, have greatly improved. Because of new laws, better working conditions, and better pay, many people wonder if joining a union is worth the hassle associated with membership. For instance, every union member is required to pay a union membership fee, which it is a flat rate or a percentage of their pay. The money a union receives generally goes towards operations, salary expenses, a strike fund, education, and union publications.

Today's labor workforce has changed two fold. For instance, there have been an increasing number of jobs occupied by women that were not long ago. This has forced management to accommodate the needs of the non-traditional worker. For example, the need for childcare, mostly likely, would not have been needed for an industry occupied of all men. The innovation and use of technology has forced the employee to be better educated instead of strong-armed. By this I simply mean that machinery has replaced the need for those to do actual physical labor. Acceptance and implementation of diversity has also changed