How Unions HR and Governments Work Towards Worker Safety

Unions, HRM and Government Intervention Unions, human resources management personnel, and government interventions all set about addressing worker rights and safety in different ways. For instance, in the early 20th century, unethical companies were exploiting child labor and allowing unsafe practices to continue at workplace environments. The government finally enacted laws curbing these activities: it created the 40-hour work week, the minimum age law, and the Food and Drug Administration to oversee regulatory practices and ensure safety in production.

This is primarily the way that government intervenes -- through laws and rules and regulations. Unions and human resources management personnel, however, address these issues different. Human resources attempts to ease situations under company control and to impact workers through direct action and leadership skills. Jacqui, Cairncross and Lamont (2014), for instance, observe that identifying the needs of employees allows managers to steer their workers towards the goals of the organization by supporting them from behind.

For example, by meeting the emotional needs of workers through the implementation of EI, a positive workplace culture can be effected and substantial employee development undertaken -- and this helps to ensure that workers' rights and safety needs are being met because it puts the worker at the front and center of the organization, focusing on the worker first and foremost in order to make sure he is happy and effectively productive.

Moreover, by focusing on the positive effects that employees have not only on each other and the organization but also in the community, managers can support the sense of self-worth in employees that helps to build stronger relationships and a more productive environment. Workers respond well to the idea that they are engaged in work that is both beneficial to themselves and to the world around them, according to Rogers, Jiang, Rogers and Intindola (2015).

In fact, there are many ways that human resources management personnel can participate in this kind of leadership that helps promote workers rights. One way to do it is to provide managerial support that incentivizes the workers within the company: plans like profit-sharing, health care, and a good 401k are examples. Showing employees that their concerns are the organization's concerns sets the tone and the necessary example that managers and team leaders want their workers to show to customers and to the organization in return.

It is a reciprocal relationship at root and one that is based upon the notion that all people want to be cared for. However, sometimes managers have their hands tied because the companies they work for do not want to generate or foster a positive workplace culture, which leaves managers in the lurch. This is where unions come into play, because they can help to stick up for workers' rights when company owners and directors dismiss the worker as secondary in the quest for ever greater profits.

A good HRM staff will put people over profits and a good company will do the same -- pursuing success the way Southwest Airlines does by putting people first. But this is not always the case with companies and thus unions enter into the question as a result. As Beer et al. (1984) note, "Workers councils and collective bargaining are examples of legislated governance mechanisms that serve the same purpose" (p. 21) as the aims of the human resources management personnel team which is attempting to appease all stakeholders within an organization.

Only in this case, the union that oversees the collective bargaining on behalf of the worker is representing the worker and the workers' rights within the company. Employees join labor unions because the union represents the rights of the employee in the bargaining process with the company. This can be helpful as there can be a lot of subtle nuances within a contract that only an experienced representative would understand.

Another reason employees join labor unions is to have solidarity with other employees, which allows them to exercise grievances more effectively. A union is an organization that is meant to look out for the interests and rights of laborers, so an employee will join the union for these two reasons: to protect his interests and to better assert his rights.

Two reasons that organizations prefer that unions do not represent their employees is that unions can often bog down the contract process and put up obstacles in the way of what the organization wants to accomplish in terms of employee compensation. The other reason is that the organization might feel that the union is taking advantage of their role by squeezing the corporation for everything it can get, thus cutting into the organization's profits.

Thus, the two reasons organizations might prefer that employees not join unions are: more bureaucratic red tape to deal with, and the possibility of losing profits through over-compensation resulting from union's wielding too much power. Benefits that unions can provide for an employer are better and safer communication channels between employees and employers, and an ordered way of negotiating contracts (instead of having to hash it out with each individual employee, the union represents them all, thus simplifying the process).

Thus, unions can benefit employers by simplifying the relations with employees and providing an ordered channel for communications. Thus unions have unique roles for different groups, depending on who or what they are representing -- but there may be some overlap just as there may be with human resources management personnel, when it comes to identifying the needs of both workers and managers/owners in a company.

The purpose of the union and or HRM personnel is to be able to bridge whatever gaps exist and work towards a solution that both can employees and owners can live by. When it comes to the following quote -- "Workers in the modern workplaces of America are well protected and well supported" -- it is difficult to make a universal statement of agreement or disagreement. Workers can be protected well if they work for a good company that looks out.