W7: The Changing Role of Unions in the American Workplace
Based upon your research into the field please discuss the changing role of unions in the American workplace. Discuss current events surrounding this issue and the role government should play in the process, if any. Do you believe the role of unions in the U.S. should increase? What role should HRM personnel play in employee relations within Organizations?
Week 7 Discussion 1: The Changing Role of Unions in the American Workplace
For many years, unions play a crucial role in the American workplace. It had been formed to ensure fair wages, rewards, and better working conditions for the employees. Unions do collaborate with businesses and governments on behalf of the employees who work in a particular job or industry (Gedye, et al 2021). Unions push the American workforce to pay a minimum of $15 wage, increased paid sick leave, and greater workplace safety. Currently, unions represent about 15 million workers. With unions, employees join together to seek improvements in their workplace. The freedom of employees to join together in unions is widely recognized as a fundamental human right (Bivens et al, 2017). Across the US, the right of the employees is being protected by the US Constitution, and government and the American workforce supports these unions’ right.
The current event that surrounds the unions in the American workplace is the decline of labor unions in the country. It seems like labor unions had lost their purpose ad may hold responsible for the declining many small and big businesses. Earlier they had extended their function and are not efficient because of the adoption of new management teams. Still, some businesses need to access labor unions. Moreover, HRM plays a crucial role in establishing employee relations within organizations.
HRM needs to be competent enough to discuss the work and labor laws and handle the management of the unions. In labor unions, HRM needs to recognize the employees and are not allowed to discuss with the representatives, stewards, and arbitrators. The organizational managers need to establish an adequate relationship with the union stewards so that they may have win-to-win situations. In the labor unions, the role of government needs to be boosted and includes enforcing labor laws, equal opportunity disputes, and right-to-work laws
References
Gedye, G., Bedayn, J., Montalvo, M., Botts, J., Duara, N. & Paz, E. (2021). What’s the role of unions in the 21st century? Retrieved on 28th July 2022, from: https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-unions-explained/
Bivens, J., Engdahl, L., Gould, E., Kroeger, T., McNicholas, C., Mishel, L., Mokhiber, Z., Sheirholz, H., Wilpert, M.V., Wilson, V. & Zipperer, B. (2017). How do today’s unions help working people? Retrieved on 28th July 2022, from: https://www.epi.org/publication/how-todays-unions-help-working-people-giving-workers-the-power-to-improve-their-jobs-and-unrig-the-economy/
