Labor Issues
Labor Unions: Aging Dinosaur or Sleeping Giant? The Labor Movement and Unionism Background and Brief History Higher wages! Shorter workdays! Better working conditions! These famous words echoed throughout the United States beginning in "1790 with the skilled craftsmen" (Dessler, 1997, p. 544). For the last two-hundred years, workers of all trades have been fighting for their rights and "seeking methods of improving their living standards, working conditions, and job security" (Boone, 1996,p.287). As time went by, these individuals came to the conclusion that if they work together collectively, they would grow stronger to get responses to their demands. This inspired into what we know today as labor unions. "A labor union is an organized group of workers whose purpose is to increase wages and influence other job conditions for its members" (Parkin, 1998,p.344). These labor unions can be divided into two types: craft unions and industrial unions (World, 1998). A craft union is "a union whose membership is restricted to workers who possess an identifiable skill" (Robinson, 1985,p. 69). These members tend to be better educated and trained, and more unified because of common interests (World, 1998). An example of
What Caused the Decline? Since the beginning of organized labor, the work place has changed in accordance with the changes in society, thus affecting the role of American labor unions. The disparity in conclusions between these reports only begins to show the uncertainty facing the labor movement. Looking at the history of management development can shed some light on yet another possible cause. Although Bush only resided for one term, he accomplished plenty in the eyes of labor. The first president of the AFL was Samuel Gompers. The percentage of workers in the $75,000 income bracket (inflation adjusted) has doubled since 1970 (American Labor, 1998). "It did this by: (1) banning certain unfair labor practices, (2) providing for secret-ballot elections and majority rule for determining whether a firm's employees were to unionize; and (3) creating the National Labor Relations Board for enforcing these two provisions" (Dessler, 1997, p. History from the 1870's to 1900's. In addition, a significant defeat occurred in organized labor. In general, Unions assist women and minorities more significantly than they do white males. Furthermore, there were perceptions that Reagan's National Relations Board (NLRB), a committee organized under the NLRA, practiced "pro-manager" tendencies (Pollock, 1985).
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Acceptance Essays
