Why Do Employees Join Unions?
A union is an organization that represents employees’ interests to management on issues such as wages, work hours, and working conditions. Employees participate in administering the union and support its activities with union dues, fees they pay for the union’s services. The law protects employees’ rights to join and participate in unions. The law also requires employers to bargain and confer with the union over certain employment issues that affect unionized employees.
Employees join unions for different reasons. For example, in Israel, employees join unions because many believe in the social justice the union represents.4 Employees in the United States seek union representation when they (1) are dissatisfied with certain aspects of their job, (2) feel that they lack influence with management to make the needed changes, (3) believe that their pay and benefits are non-competitive; and (4) see unionization as a solution to their problems.5 The union’s best ally is bad management. If managers listen to employees, give them some say in the policies that affect their jobs, and treat them fairly, employees usually will not feel the need to organize. Managers who ignore their workers’ interests and treat them inconsistently often end up having to deal with a union.
Companies usually prefer a nonunion workforce. The primary reason is that wages are typically higher for union employees, which puts unionized companies at a competitive disadvantage if their competitors are not unionized. In addition, unions constrain what managers can and cannot do with a particular employee. For instance, a unionized employee who is doing a particularly good job usually cannot be given a merit raise or promoted over someone who has greater seniority. And many labor agreements spell out the specific work responsibilities of certain employees, which reduces flexibility in work assignments. Of course, many unionized companies flourish, and unions have some very positive social benefits. For example, a study reported that unions boosted productivity at hospitals by 16 percent compared to nonunion hospitals.6 But given the choice, most managers would prefer a nonunion environment.
The Origins of U.S. Labor Unions
Unions, as we think of them today, were largely unprotected by law in the United States until 1935. The approach of the U.S. government to unions prior to 1935 was simple: In a free market economy, the employment relationship is essentially a private one, and both employee and employer are free to accept or reject this relationship if they find it unsatisfactory. (See the discussion of employment at will in Chapter 14.)
This thinking assumes the employer and the employee to be in similar positions of power: Employees who find their compensation unfair or working conditions unreasonable are free to find another job; employers who are unhappy with an employee’s performance can fire that employee. In practice, of course, employers have considerably more power than individual employees. A large steel manufacturer does not miss one employee who quits because there is usually a ready supply of applicants to replace that person. However, a large employer can so dominate a neighborhood, city, or region that there are few or no other employment alternatives. The aircraft assembly plants in Seattle, the auto manufacturers in Detroit, the coal mine operators in Appalachia, and the tire companies in Akron are examples of employers and industries that have dominated their respective regions.
In the Great Depression of the 1930s, millions of workers lost their jobs as employers came under tremendous pressure to cut production costs. These cutbacks put even more pressure on the working class. It was in this environment that union activity as we know it was legalized by the Wagner Act (1935), which attempted to equalize the power of employers and employees. In fact, this goal explains much of the governmental and societal response to union activity during the Depression and in the years following World War II. Unions were widely supported because of the public perception that working people had little power.
Toward the end of the twentieth century, however, public perception had changed. When President Reagan ordered the firing of striking air traffic controllers on August 5, 1981, two days after they began an illegal strike, the terminated employees received little sympathy from society at large, probably because unions were widely perceived to have become too powerful. This action took place in the middle of a period of dramatic decline in strikes in the United States: From a peak of 424 in 1974, strikes decreased to 19 in 2012.7 However, unions are growing in some fields such as medicine. As unions tackle new issues and represent workers in new professions, public perception of union activities is likely to change.
The Role of the Manager in Labor Relations
When a union represents a group of employees in a company, the company needs a staff of specialists who can represent management’s interests to the union. These labor relations specialists , who are often members of the HR department, help resolve grievances, negotiate with the union over changes in the labor contract, and provide advice to top management on a labor relations strategy.
Still, it is managers who bear the major responsibility for day-to-day labor–management relations. Thus, it is important that they understand the workplace issues associated with unions. First, as we noted earlier, unions generally take hold only in firms where employees are dissatisfied with their jobs, and managers greatly influence how employees perceive their work environment. Second, where there is a union, managers are responsible for the day-to-day implementation of the terms of the labor agreement. The more effectively they carry out this responsibility, the less time the company will spend resolving labor conflicts. Third, managers need to have a basic understanding of labor law so that they do not unintentionally create a legal liability for the company. Finally, individual managers are often asked to serve on committees to hear grievances brought by union members against the company. A manager who understands general labor issues will be better prepared to hear and decide such cases.
Because the nature and function of unions are so dependent on legislation, we look at the specifics of that legislation next.