Labor Unions: Are They Relevant Today?

Labor Unions: Are They Relevant Today?

Sylvia Thomas

Business 211 – Microeconomics

Professor David Culbreth

March 22, 2013

Running Head: Labor Unions

Abstract

The role of labor unions has changed due to the demand for higher wages and benefits. In the past, one in four American workers belonged to a union. A shift in the economy, negative publicity, along with corruption has limited the growth of labor unions. The effectiveness of labor unions has decreased due to their inability to prosper in a competitive environment. Their dependency on government patronage and protection has increased over the years. Businesses have developed programs to reward employees eliminating the need for unions. Women, minorities and teenager’s willingness to work for lower wages have also decreased the need of unions. The major reason for union decline is the union themselves. Unions have undermined their own success by making their product(s) so expensive that sales are being lost to less expensive foreign competitors and producers.

Unions were organized as a means to negotiate wages and benefits for union members with corporations, businesses and other organizations. The Taft-Hartley Labor Act of 1947 known or Labor Management Relations Act was sponsored by Senator Robert Alphonso Taft and Representative Fred Allan Hartley as a revision of the Wagner Act of 1935. Securing and improving working conditions and wages for union members have been a major goal for unions. Unions used collective bargaining as a means to negotiate a fair agreement or labor contract between employers and employees. Collective bargaining has been recognized internationally as a basic human right. Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights identifies the ability to organize trade unions as a fundamental human right. Employees are represented by a representative of the trade union of which the employee belongs. However, for the past several years the need for...