What are some good things about unions?

Question

To me unions dont seem fair. If i am a boss, and Im kind enough to hire you, why should you strike and demand more pay. I never put a gun to your head and forced you to work for me, if you are unhappy with pay and benefits, cant you just go somewhere else and work? I understand why we had labor unions in the the late 1800's, during the guided age, but that time has come and gone.

Answer 1

The days of unions has come and gone. Given the global economic environment we live in today, unions are a drain and create a disadvantage to the companies who have them. The current situation in the American auto industry is a great example of that.
Lifetime medical insurance, company supported pensions, large salaries for bolting tires on to a car? Where do I sign?

Answer 2

A union is the worker's safety net from corruption and greed at the hands of corporate bosses. I AM NOT SAYING that unions should be able to demand whatever they like, that is abusing the system the other way around. Unionists should be no more greedy than their bosses should be.

If unions were disbanded or worse, made illegal, then it would only be a matter of time before bosses could say "you will work for $1 a day, and if you don't like it then that's just tough" Unions can be abused - but equally bosses can abuse their workforce. There have to be checks and balances in the system.

Answer 3

Hardly come & gone. The goal of Capitalism is to increase profits. Basic math: Profit = Revenue - Expenses. Decrease your expenses and you increase profit. Labor is one cost that is often looked at first along with the associated costs of Safety.

Maybe the laws are enough for all the white collar jobs, but they are not near enough for most of the blue collar jobs. Before you say "get a better job", realize that if everyone did that you would not have paper, fuel, electricity, roads, office buildings, etc. Our country is built on the backs of the working class and would collapse without them.

OSHA and Labor Laws don't mean squat unless someone is making sure a company is following the rules. If it's in a company's financial best interest to ignore the laws and regulations, they will. It's not feasible for OSHA or L & I to have a physical presence on every job site.

Answer 4

I am member of AFLCIO - better health insurance, raise in pay , more vacation time etc.

History of the Labor Movement

“Labor movement” is “the term used to designate all of the organized activities of wage earners which have as their purposes the betterment of their own conditions in the present or future.”—The American Peoples Encyclopedia.

Some claim that the refusal of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt to make bricks without straw was the first laborers’ strike, but the Israelites were not wage earners; they were slaves. (Exodus 5:15-18) Similarly, the apostle Paul’s sending of Onesimus back to Philemon does not apply to wage earners in that Onesimus was a slave.—Philemon 10-20.

The development of craft guilds, associations of craftsmen who employed laborers and apprentices, of the 14th and 15th centuries paved the way for unions. As early as 1383, according to The History of Trade Unionism, hired men “combined against their rulers and governors.”

The first labor law in England was the Ordinance of Labourers (1349 or 1350). The Statute of Apprentices (1563) codified labor relations in England for generations. By the 20th century, most countries relaxed the laws restricting unions.

The I.L.O. (International Labor Organization) was established in 1919 under Article 23 of the Covenant of the League of Nations and still exists. The covenants of the I.L.O. have been adopted into the social legislation of most nations.

Unions are permitted by law in most countries. They may be open-shop unions, in which employees may or may not join on commencing employment, or closed-shop unions, in which membership is mandatory as a condition of employment.