ISE EBook for Business Foundations by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781265723170
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Published: 2021-12-17T00:00:00+00:00

Managing Unionized Employees

LO 10-7 Evaluate some of the issues associated with unionized employees, including collective bargaining and dispute resolution.

Employees who are dissatisfied with their working conditions or compensation have to negotiate with management to bring about change. Dealing with management on an individual basis is not always effective, however, so employees may organize themselves into labor unions to deal with employers and to achieve better pay, hours, and working conditions. Organized employees are backed by the power of a large group that can hire specialists to represent the entire union in its dealings with management. Union workers make significantly more than nonunion employees. The United States has roughly 10.8 percent of wage and salary workers who are members of unions. On average, the median usual weekly earnings of unionized full-time and salary workers are about $200 more than their nonunion counterparts.32

labor unions

employee organizations formed to deal with employers for achieving better pay, hours, and working conditions.

However, union growth has slowed in recent years, and prospects for growth do not look good. One reason is that most blue-collar workers, the traditional members page 317of unions, have already been organized. Factories have become more automated and need fewer blue-collar workers. The United States has shifted from a manufacturing to a service economy, further reducing the demand for blue-collar workers. Moreover, in response to foreign competition, U.S. companies are scrambling to find ways to become more productive and cost-efficient. Job enrichment programs and participative management have blurred the line between management and workers. Because workers’ input on how plants are run is increasing, their need for union protection is decreasing. Many workers do not see the benefits of union membership if they do not have complaints or grievances against their employers.33

Nonetheless, labor unions have been successful in organizing blue-collar manufacturing, government, and health care workers, as well as smaller percentages of employees in other industries. Consequently, significant aspects of HRM, particularly compensation, are dictated to a large degree by union contracts at many companies. Therefore, we’ll take a brief look at collective bargaining and dispute resolution in this section.

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