The relevance of unions in contemporary America for employees, employers, and taxpayers

Relevance of Unions in America:

Unions are organizations whose primary role is to negotiate with corporations, businesses and other organizations on behalf of union members. Trade unions usually represent workers who work at a particular type of job such as the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). In contrast, industrial unions represent workers employed in a particular industry like the United Auto Workers (UAW). At the prime of the industrial revolution era, unions played a key role in securing better working conditions and wages for employees. Consequently, many unions formed in various fields like manufacturing and resource companies, textile factories, mines and steel mills. While they have spread into various industries, a large percentage of union membership can be found in utilities, transportation and government ("Unions: Do They Help?," 2009)

There are several concerns that have prompted the questioning of the role and relevance of unions in present day America. First, with the advent of the information age, a knowledge economy has risen that is served by knowledge workers rather than labor numbers. Automated machines perform the majority of repetitive manufacturing tasks from yesteryears. Employers now seek employees who work smarter, not harder; proven by the fact that the fastest-growing occupations have been technical, professional, and managerial in nature. The present day high demand jobs include web designers, mobile application developers, interior decorators, and public-relations specialists (Sherk, 2008). Such labor that is valued and paid based on individual skills and is unlikely to form unions to standardize pay or working conditions. This is in stark contrast to the boisterous manufacturing economy of the 1930s where manual labor was in great demand and unions served employees whose unique talents and skills made little difference on an assembly line.

Secondly industry deregulation, increased international competition and labor mobility have made it harder for unions to operate. This because several major industries, in the pursuit of maintaining profitability in a highly competitive global market, have partially or wholly moved manufacturing plants offshore to countries with cheaper labor forces. This means that locally there is more labor chasing and less work and the law of supply and demand has made it harder for unions to have enough bargaining power. Therefore, it's not surprising that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that while in 1983 union membership rate was 20.1%; it has declined to a membership rate of 11.8% in 2011. Of these public-sector workers have a union membership rate that is five times higher than that of private-sector workers i.e. 6.9% ("Union Members Summary," 2012).

The overall value of unions has also been found wanting. While unions have been able to push for better pay and working conditions, few have considered the effects of such increments to employers and the economy at large. Employers don't create money to pay for increased labor costs out of thin air. They also use their position to pass the bill onto consumers, who pay through higher prices to cater for the added cost of the union-wage bill. Higher priced goods in turn mean less expenditure on local goods and more on cheaper foreign imports.