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¶ … Workers Union Be Removed?
Workers' unions basically emanated from the hard, bitter, and normally aggressive fights between labor and capital. Most of these aggressive and violent struggles focused on the division of the product of labor into profits and wages. Many workers formed and were united into unions because they were left seemingly helpless when capitalists dealt directly with individual laborers. However, the formation of workers' unions didn't help in stopping the exploitation of workers by capitalists. As the struggles for the division of the product of labor into profits and wages has continued to date, the workers' unions have primarily enabled workers to resist in groups. One of the major questions that have been raised in the recent past is whether or not these workers' unions should be removed and their importance in today's working environment and workforce. The question has led to the concern on whether workers' unions should be removed or maintained in today's working environment. The most appropriate answer to this question is that workers' unions should not be removed because of several reasons including
Brief History of Workers' unions:
As previously mentioned, workers' unions were formed as a reaction to the aggressive battles regarding the division of the product of work into profits and wages for laborers. In addition to this, the formation of these unions was stimulated by the capitalists' exploitations of workers ("What's Wrong with the Labor Unions?" n.d.). During the immediate period after their formation, capitalists who owned means of production like mines, factories, mills, and railroads tried to destroy these unions. The capitalists also attempted to lower wages and get more production from laborers due to competition and profit motives from their rivals.
On the contrary, workers who belonged to these unions resisted and attempted to force increases in wages as they were driven by ordinary ambitions and absolute necessity. The resultant battles over the product of labor were not mere struggles between individual workers and their employers. They were struggles between the different classes in the capital-labor relationship i.e. The working class and the capitalist class.
Removal of Workers' unions:
Impact on Workers' Compensation:
One of the major reasons for the maintenance of workers' unions in the modern working environment is the considerable impact on the compensation and work live of both the unionized and non-unionized laborers. According to Mishel & Walters (2003), workers' unions increase their wages by approximately 20% and increase compensation in both wages and benefits by an estimated 28%. These unions have also been successful in lessening wage inequality because they increase more wages for low- and middle-wage laborers as compared to those of higher-wages workers. Actually, these unions have played an integral role in the increase of wages for blue-collar jobs than the white-collar jobs as well as for laborers without college degrees.
Workers' unions have also had a significant impact on the compensation and wages of non-unionized laborers. Actually, it's been reported that the impact of these unions on the total wages for non-union employees is nearly as much as it is on the total wages of union employees. This is largely because strong workers unions have been able to establish a pay standard that non-union employers follow. For instance non-unionized high school graduates in industries that are 25% unionized receive an extra 5% pay as compared to similar workers whose industries are less unionized. Therefore workers' unions should not be removed because of their impact in the compensation and total wages of both the unionized and non-unionized employees.
Impact on Workers' Benefits:
The benefits provided to employees have been positively impacted by workers' unions since they give employees…
References:
Madland, D. & Walter, K. (2009, February 18). Unions Are Good for the American Economy.
Retrieved March 5, 2012, from http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2009/02/efca_factsheets.html
Mishel, L. & Walters, M. (2003, August 26). How Unions Help All Workers. Retrieved March 5,
2012, from http://www.epi.org/publication/briefingpapers_bp143/
Important? Retrieved March 5, 2012, from http://www.mlive.com/opinion/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/04/our_turn_column_are_labor_unio.html
"What's Wrong with the Labor Unions?" (n.d.). Socialist Labor Party of America. Retrieved March 5, 2012, from http://www.slp.org/res_state_htm/wrongunions.html
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