What is a labor union? A labor union is a legally recognized group dedicated to protecting the interests of workers. Unions represent many types of workers, such as teachers, nurses, and firefighters in the public sector; employees in the manufacturing industries; and engineers, plumbers, and roofers in the construction industry. Entertainers such as actors and writers also have unions. Labor unions negotiate various employment issues on behalf of the workers they represent, such as their salaries, benefits, and working hours.

What are the objectives of organized labor? Labor unions were formed to protect workers from the terrible injustices employers inflicted on their workers in the nineteenth century during the U.S. industrial revolution. During that time, employers subjected workers to long hours, low pay, and health risks. Women and children were often treated even worse and paid less. Labor unions formed to fight for better working conditions and employee rights. A number of these unions later united to gain more power to negotiate better working conditions. Two of the more influential unions are the American Federation of Labor (AFL), founded in 1886 to protect skilled workers, and the Industrial Workers of the World, founded in 1905 to represent mainly unskilled workers.

The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was formed in 1935 to represent entire industries rather than specific workers’ groups. The CIO was initially a separate organization within the AFL but soon split to form its own organization. In 1955, the two were reunited to form the AFL-CIO, which is still in effect today as a federation comprised of 56 member unions. The Change to Win Federation, formed in 2005 as an alternative to the AFL-CIO, is the newest organized labor union. Other prominent unions include the United Auto Workers (UAW), the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and the Service Employees International Union.

How are labor unions structured? To form a union, a group of workers must either have their employer voluntarily recognize them as a group or have a majority of workers form a bargaining unit for union representation. A bargaining unit is a group of employees that negotiates with an employer for better working conditions or pay. When a union forms, workers join and pay membership dues. Most unions have paid, full-time staff members as well as substantial numbers of volunteer workers. In addition to the dues they collect from their members, some unions create strike funds that help support workers should they strike. Union members elect officers and shop stewards who make decisions for the entire body and represent the members in dealings with management. So that unions can better represent specific interests, union locals are created by workers of the same industry, company, region, or business sector.

What is the collective bargaining process? Collective bargaining is the process that occurs when a union negotiates with an employer. The union’s goal is improving the wages, insurance and benefits, working hours, pensions, and grievance procedures for its members as a group (collectively) rather than each of them having to negotiate individually with their firms. A collective bargaining agreement is the result of such negotiations, and it forces an employer to abide by the conditions specified in the agreement. Change can be made only through subsequent negotiations.

What happens if an agreement cannot be reached through collective bargaining? If negotiating does not produce a collective bargaining agreement and both parties seem to be at an impasse, then other methods are used to settle their differences before workers go on strike. One method is mediation, a process in which a neutral third party helps the two parties reach an agreement. The mediator works with both sides to understand their genuine interests and helps each side generate proposals that address those interests. Another method is arbitration, whereby a dispute is sent to an arbitrator to resolve. An arbitrator hears both sides of a dispute, and the parties involved agree in advance that the arbitrator’s decision is final. Sometimes, arbitration is nonbinding, meaning that neither party is required to accept the arbitrator’s decision.

What happens when negotiations break down? When negotiations reach an impasse, union workers have several ways to persuade a firm to accept their demands. For example, the workers and people who are sympathetic to their cause can boycott the firm. A boycott occurs when people refuse to buy or distribute a company’s products or services. Companies have their tactics as well. One is a lockout. In a lockout, union members are not allowed to enter the firm’s premises. Lockouts are legal only if negotiations have come to an impasse and the company is defending a legitimate position.

As a last resort, union workers may vote to go on strike and agree to stop working. Strikes jeopardize the productivity of an organization, so they are used to force management into making concessions that they might not have made otherwise. Strikes also gain considerable media publicity, especially when workers picket a workplace by walking outside a company’s entrances with signs that reflect the employees’ grievances.

It is not easy to persuade a union’s members to go on strike because they risk losing income throughout the strike period. For example, a six-week strike would cost a worker earning $700 per week a total of $4,200 in lost wages. If the new contract negotiated a weekly wage increase of $1, it would take about two years to recover the lost wages. Additionally, strikers might be replaced by a firm temporarily or permanently with workers, known as strikebreakers, or scabs. Some states prohibit public safety workers, such as police officers and hospital workers, from going on strike. In these cases, workers often have “sick-outs,” during which union members are not officially on strike but instead call in sick and refuse to come to work.

Are labor unions still effective today? In the United States, the role of labor unions is declining. Today, only a little more than 10 percent of the nation’s workers are unionized.18 Many private-sector unions, such as the automobile workers and construction trade unions, have experienced dramatic reductions in their membership. This decline is the result of several factors, including a reaction to their own success by fighting for better working conditions, higher wages, and more benefits. Additionally, the introduction of technology has resulted in a shift from blue-collar–based industries to professional white-collar, service-based industries, for which unions are less common. Employers are also in a better position to outsource and offshore jobs done by union members. Despite their declining numbers, labor unions continue to be influential in many industries as well as in other countries. Efforts are under way to organize retail workers and service-sector workers, such as those in the fast-food industry.

What is the future of unions and labor–management relations? U.S. unions have begun to build alliances with unions in other countries. They recognize that when multinational corporations decide to move production abroad, for example, there might be a negative impact on local and international workers. Consequently, in an effort to protect their interests, unions must broaden their reach to try to achieve international labor solidarity. Immigration is another issue affecting unions. Immigrant workers are crossing borders and threaten to take jobs traditionally done by the members of labor unions. Unions, especially in California and Florida, continue to grapple with integrating and embracing these potential new members into their organizations. Finally, and perhaps most important, unions will need to transform themselves to survive the effects of globalization.