Labor Relations - Essay Example

1. Besides the apparent hostility towards unions by Southern workers, both experts and workers give different reasons as to why UAW union membership and unions have declined over the past two decades. Actually, UAW membership has been reduced by 30% since the early 1980s. While the Democrats and the UAW will place blame on the Republicans for this decline, they ignore their role in aiding that membership drop. One merely requires to observe the higher-than-average unemployment rate in Detroit, home to unionized automobile plants such as GM and Ford, and the fact that the unionized plants in that region have been bailed out by the government, to come to the realization that the unionization of workplaces does not guarantee a positive economic outcome for a workplace. UAW Regional rhetorics, despite this fact, could not help themselves during the recent campaign for VW. They told the people that through their entrance into the plant, the rate of employment would increase in Tennessee. Workers who believe such rhetoric from the UAW as well as other unions will witness the unions’ inability to eliminate right-to-work legislation in states such as Michigan and Wisconsin, therefore, indicating that the UAW and other unions promise much more than they can deliver. 2. The Pantex Company’s charge claims the sickout pleaded by its 11 workers constituted a strike or work boycott, which was in breach of contract between the union, B&W, and federal labor laws. Pantex believes this move by its workers was unlawful job action, which amounted to a violation of the company’s collective bargaining contract with the union. However, regardless of the actions of these workers, the Pantex Plant remained secure and safe all this while. The NLRB receives an average of 25,000 charges annually from employers, unions, and employees concerning unfair labor practices. Board agents amass evidence and take affidavits from witnesses or the parties involved in each charge. A regional director then evaluates these findings while NLRB attorneys based in Washington review some of the cases. When sufficient evidence has been gathered to support the charge every effort is directed towards facilitating settlements between the involved parties. Where no settlement is reached, the agency issues a complaint and the case is presented before an administrative judge where the NLRB represents the party that filed that charge. Cases such as the one involving the Pantex Company are settled through mediation or dismissed by the regional directors in accordance with information presented by the agency. 3. Economists are of the opinion that increasing the minimum wage will increase business costs. They, however, insist that these increased costs will be quite modest and easily absorbed through slight increases in productivity and prices of business products. Republicans seem to be inconsistent in their opinions concerning the issue of minimum wage increase. This is because some of them are in support of increasing the minimum wage, just not as consistently as the Democrats. The Republicans are hypocritical because those in support of an increase in the minimum wage condemn increased economic regulation by the government, the same as the other Republicans who oppose the increase of the minimum wage. On the other hand, conservatives avail a convincing argument against increasing the minimum wage. In their opinion, raising the minimum wage results in unemployment since it increases business prices and labor costs, which will in turn force unskilled workers off the market. 4. Public pensions refer to contracts for fixed sums of money to be issued regularly to persons following their retirement from service. Publicly funded pensions are an example of unsustainable programs that have to be disregarded in the years to come. One thing that is certain is that systems and programs that are unsustainable have to go away and be replaced by more sustainable arrangements whether we are willing to accept this reality or not. Unsustainable public pensions have to be disregarded. Corporate welfare, on the other hand, refers to subsidy or government support of private businesses through such aspects as tax incentives. There are numerous corporate welfare features, too many count, or list. These programs are hidden within programs, with loans and grants vying with direct subsidies and tax credits to relieve United States capitalists of risk and to transfer it to taxpayers. Many of these arrangements can be discredited without causing the least disturbance to the U.S. economic performance. More likely, Americans would profit if the distortions that result if these spending and tax programs were eliminated from the market. 5. Job security is the possibility that individuals will keep their jobs. Jobs with high-level security are those where people in employment have a minimal chance of being unemployed. Factors that affect job security are inclusive of prevailing business conditions, the economy, and the personal skills of individuals. It is known that people witness high levels of job security in times of economic growth and less in recession periods. In addition, some laws, for example, the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 strengthen job security by making it unlawful to fire workers over certain issues. The unemployment rate is a precise pointer of the condition of the economy and of job security, which is tracked by economists, banks, and government officials. 6. Globalization puts national labor unions under extreme pressure because of the increasing rate of informatization and production of the economy. In recent edited collections, trade union researchers, social movement activists, and labor academics analyze concrete occurrences of successful and failed strategies to come up with possibilities as well as obstacles to transnational labor solidarity in global restructuring periods (Shelley and Calveley, 2007: 207-209). In sum, globalization has crippled the effectiveness of labor movements; therefore, trade unions are the only victims of this restructuring process. There are a number of alternative strategies in different industrial sectors that can be adopted to ensure the continuation of successful defense of workers’ interests on a global level. Therefore, despite the effect of globalization on trade unions, they continue to matter.  Read More