Union Organizing
Unions in search of new workers to join their ranks can be expected to target the lowest-hanging fruit. Thus, they will look at two key components - the areas where they have had the most success in the past and the areas in which they offer the greatest potential benefit to the prospective members. According to statistics from the US Department of Labor, males are more likely to be in a union than are females; blacks are more likely than whites or Hispanics. According to the AFL-CIO, Latino workers in a union make 51% more than their non-union counterparts. African-American members and female members also show a significantly higher wage as a result of union membership, whereas Asian-Americans, for example, only earn 4% more on average if they are in a union. Therefore, unions can be expected to target jobs that have a greater proportion of workers who are either female, African-American or Latino-American. Another aspect of their search for workers in areas where they've been successful in the past or where they offer the greatest potential benefit is the specific industry. Several industries have traditionally been highly unionized. Protection services, for example, which includes police and firefighters, has the hi
Organizations will need to be proactive, and offer the drug plans that their workers will soon demand. Women can be seen by unions as an untapped potential market, especially minority women. Prescription drugs are expensive, and a part of everyday life for many people. Thus, adequate medical plans, dental plans, some degree of prescription drug coverage, life insurance and some form of retirement savings are all items that should be made available to the workers before they unionize and demand it on their terms. This is the case in Europe, as seen on the New Internationalist website. For the first time, basic needs will be taken as a given and their importance superseded by a quality of life issue. The union will first address the most basic issues - wages and benefits. The civil service is also highly unionized - according to the Department of Labor 4 in 10 government workers belongs to a union, versus 1 in 10 private sector workers. After the basic needs listed above, workers are concerned with their health, the health of their family, and their retirement. As with protection services, it is a large occupational sector with a healthy proportion of minorities. Moreover, it is hazardous work, and the health and safety card is one that unions have played since their earliest days. The union can freely target its membership drives based on demographics such as gender and race. I feel that protection services is the most likely candidate, given that it is a male-oriented field with a healthy minority population, the most unionized group already, and a group to which the unions can offer significant potential benefit. It is largely male and in most parts of the country minority, tapping into the core of a union's desired membership - having one key trait of traditional union membership but also one trait of untapped potential. Other ways for an organization to avoid unionization are to provide strong management-labor relations.
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Acceptance Essays
