Why Labor Unions Prefer Seniority Strategies

Labor Relations

Unions give lots of credit to workers who have seniority because unions are known for their wiliness to repay loyalty, for one thing. If a worker has been in a union for a lengthy period of time that shows dedication to the union and the company; and also it shows respect for the union leadership. According to journalist Gregory Hamel, gaining seniority in a union takes a long time, so workers may be "reluctant to quit their jobs because doing so might erase their seniority" (Hamel, 2012). A new hire in a union will receive a certain base pay rate, and a worker who has been in the union for five years would also receive that base pay rate "plus an additional amount based upon years of service" (Hamel, p. 1). Union workers with seniority may get more vacation time, and in the event of a layoff, new workers would be laid off before those with seniority. In a non-union shop, workers often are paid based on how well they perform on the job, or what their training is coming into the job; this is the main difference between union shops and non-union shops.

Discussion ONE (continued): I am not totally confident that managers can always make a judgment as to differences in performance between two employees. Performance management systems must first identify the tasks and "deliverables to be completed, expected results and & #8230; standards that will be used to evaluate performance" of all employees (HR Council). The employee must be trained, evaluated, and frequently assessed as to how well he or she is completed expected tasks (in comparison to another's performance). "Continuous coaching" should give a worker all the tools he or she needs. If the manager can provide frequent feedback to the employee about what he is doing right and what he needs work on, that can be helpful to the worker (HR Council). But there are always more important things for managers to do apart from constant evaluation of workers. Human bias and personality preferences can easily enter into the evaluation process, so I believe it is highly unlikely that management can consistently, effectively judge legitimate differences between 2 employees.

Discussion TWO: The work schedule I would prefer would be the compressed work week. There are two types of compressed work weeks presented by the University of California at Merced (UC Merced). One is working 10 hours for four days instead of 8 hours for five. This gives the employee a three day weekend, which many people (including myself) prefer to a two day weekend. It seems like Saturday (on a typical 2-day weekend) is a day of kind of coming down from the stress and Sunday is a relaxed day but all of a sudden it's Monday again. With a compressed 4/10 work week, Friday is the day I decompress, and then I have two days to relax. The UC Merced site also points to a 9/80 compressed schedule. That is 80 hours worked over 9 days instead of ten, a slight difference from 4.10.

There are many reasons that employees request a compressed work week, according to UC Merced. They may have commuting issues (long drives) and would rather make those longer drives only 4 days a week rather than 5; they may have caregiving issues (finding a child care center and only having to put your child in that facility 4 days rather than 5; and it may serve the needs of the employee to go to classes (continuing education) or become involved in community service (UC Merced).