Unionization Facing Unionization: Perspectives and Regulations Related to Labor Organization in a Public Corporation

The Big Corporation, Inc. is currently a non-unionized company, however it is currently facing a unionization campaign and must determine how best to effectively deal with this movement. There are both ethical and legal restrictions on the actions that a company can take in its efforts to deal with or perhaps counter unionization efforts, and it is essential to fully understand these restrictions before engaging in any actions as a response to this unionization drive. Even more essential, perhaps, is understanding the position of labor and employees that are taking part in the unionization drive; there are likely significant issues or complaints regarding the relationship between management and labor that have led to the unionization drive and thus that management will have to deal with in one way or another. The following pages detail labor's perspective on the issue and the constraints on management in order to provide a more comprehensive action plan for Big Corporation, Inc.

Labor's Perspective

There are many reasons that laborer would prefer to work in a unionized company as opposed to a non-union shop. Likewise, maintaining a lack of formal organizational structures amongst a labor force can also be preferable in other circumstances and perspectives. The reasons unionization is seen as beneficial and at times as detrimental by labor forces are both philosophical and directly practical, and are briefly detailed in the following paragraphs.

Practical reasons for unionization at this point probably outweigh the philosophical and ethical reasons given for unionization, which is the reverse of what the case was at the start of the twentieth century. In many industries, there is clear and direct evidence that unionized employees earn wages higher than that of their non-union counterparts, and this has been the case for several decades (Foster 2003). Even though non-union wages have actually been rising faster in the past period, union wages remain significantly higher and have shown greater stability across industries (Foster 2003). Union workers also...

These better benefits packages create greater stability in the financial and familial lives of the union employees, creating other benefits that are less easily measured in a quantifiable manner (AFL-CIO 2011). These directly practical reasons all make it more advantageous in the eyes of many laborers to unionize rather than remain unorganized.
There are also purely ethical or philosophical reasons that unions are preferred for many workers. Having a union is in and of itself an assertion of the rights of laborers to be treated as independent negotiating entities that the management side of a business must contend with. The right to unionize is also fraught with historical and social significance that transcends any of the practical or explicit ethical reasons for unionization. Unions are also capable of granting a sense of community and of solidarity to workers, which is definitely preferred by some.

The primary difference in the way employees view a unionized workplace vs. A non-union work environment is in the relationship that exists between labor and management. If there is a strong relationship of respect and communication between labor and management in a given company without a union, developing into an organized union would likely seem unnecessarily adversarial and aggressive, as well as a major complicating factor in this relationship. If, on the other hand, there is already an adversarial or authoritarian relationship between labor and management, a union can be viewed as a way for workers to gain equality with the management, and to earn respect for the value that they add to the company. A unionized workplace that started out with such an adversarial relationship would likely be seen as a more calm, open, and respected place to work, with better opportunities for growth and advancement and greater transparency in the hierarchy, power structures, and policies of the company towards its foundational labor force.

Restrictions on Management

Publicly traded companies…