How the Breakup of Big Labor Is Impacting Future Labor Relations - Term Paper Example

BREAKUP OF BIG LABOR Introduction The creation of labor unions is connected with the collective concerns of employees to be able to influence the conditions and terms of their work (Bridegam, 2009). The main reasons for such unions were different, ranging from the physical conditions at the workplace and to the company policies that touched wages, benefits such as vacation, health care insurance and companies’ pensions. The employees wanted to have power with which to bargain for their interests against the management. Such power gave greater pressure on the employer and provided employees bringing up an issue by themselves. However, due to the economic changes and globalization, that influenced the modern labor market, the big labor has almost disappeared from the modern business environment. The following paper will discuss the impact the breakup made on the labor relations and will also illustrate to what extent this breakup influenced the future labor relations. The impact of the break-up of Big Labor on the future of labor relations The recent cease of the coalition of U. S. labor, which was created in 1955, has brought a renewed interest in the future of labor relations. Some experts consider such split as the other step in the slow decline of union membership, while others see its influence on the development of a new coalition that is an important step in the revitalization of unions in the United States (Meyerson, 2015). There is an essential consequence of the union split, however, it is not the single factor that can put an impact on the future of unions and labor relations as they are. On the global scale, union developments are perceived as the dynamics of a global economy with its competition in jobs and the new types of workers who decide to join unions. Despite the declining nature of unions across the decades, there were about one out of three Americans in 1950s who was involved in the big labor. On the contrary, today, this sum is eleven per cent of American workers are union members and six per cent constitute union member in the private sector. There are no unions among employees of such sectors of the economy as in high-tech, fashion and finance. Such tendency is understandable due to the new generation of people, young activists, who find unions as something left from their great-grandparents’ generation. Those under and over 30 do not notice big labor. However, everyone see the consequences of labor unions. Under the absent a U.S. union movement, the American middle class is shortened, the concentration of wealth increases, however, the corporate domination of government grows. Under the current recovery, it is difficult for unions to remain the same pressure of employers and the lack of the industrial and geographic density does not give unions chances to win (Meyerson, 2015). Besides, in those industries with weak presentation of unions, employers deployed new technologies to divide workers and reduce their economic rewards allowing these employees at the same time to be involved in the economic growth in the form of burgeoning profit (The Challenging Future of the U.S. Labor Movement, 2015). In addition, new kinds of worker centers have appeared in the absence of laws that support labor organizing. Such worker center is the English-language instruction that arranges different campaigns for the new law and regulations and also regulates the lawsuits and regulatory appeals to return millions of dollars of wages that were improperly taken from low-wage workers. The area that most influenced by the breakup of big labor is the recruiting and organizing efforts of unions (The Future of Unions, 2005). Unions may put much more emphasis on recruitment efforts in order to enhance the power of their influence and desire to build the respective coalitions. However, it is believe that challenges between different labor groups make this kind of cooperation complicated and lead to the further demolishing of unions’ bargaining power. However, competition between unions for their membership increases union activities overall and increases unions’ bargaining power. However, as Bankrate (2012) reports, unions set dues from two hundred dollars to several hundred per year offering higher wages only partially. The other risk of being in union is that while belonging to the group, one cannot make individual decision (Bankrate, 2012). There are also statements that being unionized negatively impacts the employees’ relationship, since partnership with the supervisors is built not upon the trust but as if employees have a boss, who does not do one’s part in the union. Therefore, modern governors blame unions in the aggressive attempt to decrease any benefits for what the union is fighting. Hirsch (2007) considers that labor unions are the important for the U.S. airline industry with half of all workers to be unionized and forty-nine per cent are the union members. The labor costs are the largest and thus unions determine these costs, while wages and salaries are determined in competitive labor markets. It makes possible for workers to move across companies if Figure 1. The percentage wage premium for each airline group (Hirsch, 2007). companies cannot pay enough. While for other industries, such as fashion and hi-tech unions are not the necessary organizations for its employees, the union’s bargaining in the airline industry are essential because of the threat of strikes. Unlike industrial enterprises, transport services cannot be stores and the employer, the airline owner, will lose huge sums of money in case of strike. As shown in Figure 1, the airline employees realize the wage premiums at the best extent than employees from other fields. Despite the positive consequences of big labor breakup in the U.S. in other industries, there is a considerable advantage of labor unions among the workers in the airline industry. The simplest explanation is that the U.S. pilots union strives for mutiny where it would be able to gain sizable premiums. While Delta United and U.S. Airways are cutting their wages and benefits, the America’s pilots are demanding more bonuses. The union wages add twenty per cent of wage premiums roughly. Whether the private sector with the unionized employees is reducing, the air industry is on the top. However, the airline compensation and the financial health of air carriers have the uncertain future, since the air market is very captious and the bankruptcy process happens in this industry more often than in any other. Besides, aviation is moving toward globalization and new worldwide markets create new stateside opportunities for airline unions. So far, the breakup of labor unions in such industry will only threaten the livelihood of thousands of people who use air as the main way of transport, despite the fact that such threaten can be a benefit for the few well- heeled labor bosses. Unions have failed to get the Congress and their desire to enact labor law reforms have failed as well. Big labor leaders face attacks on collective bargaining that actually threatens their ability to function. Despite the changeable labor environment, big labor is trying to adjust itself to the global economy targeting multinational companies and putting more resources in organizing employees within different industries. In terms of HR professional, the divisions of the U.S. labor movement strive to lead unions into many different directions, changing their tactics, recruiting different methods and making changes for the upcoming years. The providers of labor relations understand so far that the development of labor unions will continue and will have further more social movement. References The pros and cons of union jobs, (2012). Bankrate, Retrieved from http://www.bankrate.com/finance/personal-finance/pros-cons-union-jobs-2.aspx Bridegam, M., (2009). Unions and Labor Laws, Infobase Publishing Freeman, R. and Hilbrich, K., (2013). Do labor unions have a future in the United States? Retrieved from http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/10488702/15855239.pdf?sequence=2 Meyerson, H., (2015). If labor dies, what is next? The American Prospect, Retrieved from http://prospect.org/article/if-labor-dies-whats-next The Challenging Future of the U.S. Labor Movement, (2015).Scholars strategy network, Retrieved from http://www.scholarsstrategynetwork.org/content/challenging-future-us-labor-movement The Future of Unions, (2005). Strategic human resource management, Retrieved from http://www.shrm.org/Research/FutureWorkplaceTrends/Documents/Visions1005.pdf Read More