Can strikes be avoided & benefits/job security improve if unions & management participate on joint teams?

Question

I am doing a research paper on Union-Management cooperative programs. I was hoping to get some simple answers to include in my final paper from the yahoo world. it does not matter if you have experience with labor unions or not - My goal is to determine peoples perception of these type of programs where unions and management work together. Thanks in advance for your reply.

Answer 1

You are talking about two diametrically opposed groups. The union members want as much money for as little work as possible, while management wants to give as little money for as much work possilbe.
When you have forces that are that opposed, then you are going to have some conflict. The "can't we all just get along" approach just doesn't work in this scenario. Any organization who says that union and management have a good relationship is completely full of you-know-what. They may tolerate each other and put on a good face for the share holders, but get a couple of drinks into one or more of them and their true feelings will come out.

Answer 2

I dont think it'll ever happens. Most unions and management doesnt agree on anything. The management wants to save money for their business and the union want to give the worker health benefits. Well, that's what it is suppose to be about. Look at the strike that had happened in LA a few years back. The management cut the health benefits by half and the union went on strike. Who won? nobody the maagement lots millions and in some cases the worker lost their homes for not being able to work for a few months. so nobody win.

Answer 3

strikes can be avoided if you take out the unions. Sorry, i live in the NYC metro area, and see how long construction jobs take. Every reason points to unions. I have family members who are nurses, and in laws in construction- both management and union. They all point to the same thing. Unions.

I am sure there are some honest union executives. But its a crooked business. Please reference the NYC MTA subway union. They put an entire city up against a wall, created huge delays. On top of that, they did all this, while the vastly underpaid NYPD had to manage all the commuters on the street.

After it was all said and done, the union got nothing out of it, and the workers lost their wages from the days they were on strike. And the union head faced criminal charges.

Answer 4

No. Unfortunately strikes occur because both sides want the same thing for different reasons. If management could pay the laborers less money and cut their benefits and get away with it, they would. They could and would do it in the interest of keeping their investors happy.

If the workers could spend more time on the clock doing less work and get away with it, they would. They would and could in the interest of improving the quality of their own personal lives.

So on goes the back and forth struggle even though NOBODY on either side wants the company to go out of business and it is a constantb battle over who has the most to lose. The laborers will go on strike if they know that management has more to lose while managment will start firing and laying off laborers if they know that they have more to lose.

Answer 5

Unions themselves undermine job security in an increasingly global economy. Business owners have less incentive each year to pay higher wages and be threatened by instabilty in their labor force when many of these jobs can be out-sourced. The continuing failure of unions to adapt to changing market forces first lead to businesses migrating from union-heavy northern states into right-to-work southern states. That trend is continuing as more companies in the US abandon the US work force entirely. The trade unions in this country have destroyed the steel industry to the point that it is cheaper for countries like Japan to import the iron ore, import the fuel to make the steel, and pay to transport it to the US, and still sell it cheaper than we can. The UAW is following the steel unions right down into the ground following the philosophy of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

The impression management has about union labor is to avoid it where possible, and pay the tithe for using an over-priced, contentious laborer when forced by circumstance.

Answer 6

I would think that improved benefits (additional costs to the company) and security (again potential costs to the company), have more to do with whether the products being produced or services being provided are positioned in the market place to allow for revenue growth and profits, and less on a cozy relationship between management and union officials.

Answer 7

Dump the unions and give a management/workforce team a chance. The union would only muddle things up and charge the employee way too much for the favor. I'm obviously not one who appreciates unions.