Lqbor Relations Project Labor Relations

Lqbor Relations Project Labor Relations Project In the United States, Canada and other advanced countries, labor unions are legal workers' representatives and the union activities largely centered on the collective bargaining over wages and improvement of working conditions of union members. Unions remain important actors in the United States, and unions fight for the issues such as wages, trade policy and improvement of healthcare for membership. Labor unions also assist in minimizing the income disparities; guarantee a secured income, as well as improving standard of living of industrial society.

"Unions also aimed at correcting imbalances in income distribution through maintaining "solidarity wages" that minimized differentials between workers. Unions also they adopted an inclusive approach to workers outside the union, and provided a variety of services which made them non-competing groups in the world of work." (Jose, 2006 P. 2). Formation of Unions started in the 19th Century. In 1880s, Knights of Labor was the major force in the United States that fought for the labor cause, however, the organization collapsed due to poor management.

In the late 1800s, organized labor union became politically vocal in the United States. The American Federation of Labor also emerged and coalition of many national unions assisted in resolving many jurisdictional disputes during the period. However, there was a rapid growth of unionism in the United States between 1900 and 1919, which was followed by a long years of decline until there was a promulgation of the Wagner Act of 1935 that induced the labor movement in the United States.

However, after the Second World War, unions formed the backbone element of Modern liberalism and New Deal Coalition in the United States, and the percentages of workers belonging to union reached 35% in 1954. (Marinas & Condruz-Bacescu 2006). In 1970, unions became major players in the U.S. national politics usually taking the side of the Democrats. In 1979, union members were estimated to reach 21 million and between 1970s and 1980s, labor leaders provided stiff opposition to trade liberalization, which include North American Free Trade, and World Trade Organization.

For more than 3 decades, labor unions fought for higher trade barriers, and labor unions lobbied for higher tariffs and quotas as well as outright bans on imported steel from China. (Griswold, 2010). Presently, labor unions are under the two umbrellas of CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) and AFL (American Federation of Labor) and both organizations play active roles in politics and economic issues. Despite the significant impact of union in 1980s in the United States, the unions experience a steady decline in the membership participations since 1980s.

The decline in union membership is more pronounced in private sectors than public sectors. Since the middle of 20th century, there has been a decline in the American labor movement. In the early 50s, approximately one-third of American workers belonged to unions, however, at present, only one-tenth of American workers belong labor unions.

This project formulates research objective to enhance professional understanding on labor relations and unions Research Objectives To provide understanding on the changes that is needed for unions to maintain support from the community, their membership, and the employers. To provide understanding on the impact of politics on membership decline. In the last few decades, there has been a drastic decline of labor unions membership and political influence has contributed to the decline in the unions' membership.

To investigate the generational aspects, such as baby boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y, influencing labor unions and continue to do so. To investigate other external dynamics, such as global workforce, that has impacts on labor unions. To understand the strategies that Labor Unions need to adopt to remain active and viable in the 21st century. Impact of Politics on Unions Membership Decline The decline of the union membership started around 1960s where workers collective voice started to weaken and unions' influence waned.

Major factors leading to the decline in the unions' membership is partly due to the increase in the income inequality and wages stagnation. Devinatz (2011) argues that number of worker joining the union has declined since 1980, and the peak of union popularity was in 1954 when union membership reached 34%. The erosion of the industrial union within the key manufacturing sector in the United States has been a major contributor to the overall decline of union membership in the United States.

Since the last three decades, there has been a crisis in the key manufacturing sectors such as auto, steel and rubber, and the effect results in a crisis of private sector unionism. A recent statistics reveals that unions only registered 6.9% of union members from private sectors and the decline of unions' membership has been attributed to the inability of labor organizations to successfully win bargaining with employers and increase in the number of emerging industries that have sprung up in the United States.

While union membership has relatively declined in the private sector, however, there is a considerable increase in the number of union members in the public sector. Typically, employees of federal, state and municipal governments who are members of unions are five times larger than union members in the private sector. At present, there are approximately 36.2% of public employees belonging to unions. Despite the larger percentages of public workers joining the unions, union membership has drastically declined in the United States compared to other industrialized countries.

In 2010, the union density was 11.4% compared to the 27.5% in Canada, 18.6% in German and 70% in Finland. Estreicher, (2010) argue that since the unions in the United States have not been able to realize their primary objectives, they often use politics to realize their primary objective at the bargaining table. However, fundamental factors leading to the decline of union membership within the private sectors have been attributed to the political influence.

Since 1950s, American unions remain the engine of the important political factors both through coalition with the activist organization and mobilization of their members. In 1970s and 1980s, unions have been able to mobilize their members to support a political party that supported their interests. However, in the present political environment, the influence of union over political parties has declined drastically. The U.S. Democratic Party has realized that the only strategy to win the consent of people is to generate employment and increase people standard of living.

Present economic situation in the United States has made parties in the United States to focus more on economic issues and not align with political lobbyists. With drastic decline in the union membership within the private sectors in the United States, the union's members have faced challenges in mobilizing people to support a political party to achieve their objective. In the United States, union implements three objectives: workers' recognition, wealth redistribution and representing workers in the political parties and legal arenas.

To drive up the wage and benefits of workers, labor unions have sought political remedies. Before 1950s, American labor unions routinely played a major role in politics. They used their substantial organizing power to influence presidential, congressional, state and local elections. During this period, labor leaders have been able to enjoy the privilege of politicians especially, officials of Democratic Party. In 1964, the strong link between labor unions and Democratic Party made 90% of union members to cast their votes for Lyndon Johnson in the Presidential election.

However, the decline in the union membership has weakened the ability of labor to mobilize their members to vote for a particular political party. The decline in the labors' membership has left million of workers in the United States to participate in any political party they wish. Between 1940s and 1950s, there had been a tremendous increase in the union membership.

With large union membership during the period, unions possess the force to mobilize workers to vote for a particular political party, and union could influence the large turnout of their members during political campaigns. However, between 1980s and 1990s, there was drastic decline of union membership leading to the shrinking of union forces. The union in the United States no longer possesses power to influence the decision of the political parties.

With the declining power of union over the decision pf political actors, the political parties in the United States do not considers unions as forces that could bring them to power. Thus, the issue of unions influencing union's members to support a particular political party in the United States has declined drastically. With increase in the unemployment rates in the United States, many workers have realized that they have to stick to the decision of their employers to keep their jobs.

In the contemporary technological and globalize environment, the U.S. firms continued to face competitions from firms from other industrialized countries and emerging economy. To cut costs, many older factories have resulted to automation to save labor costs, and unions have sought the varieties of measures to protect jobs with limited success. In the face of domestic and foreign competitions, management is ready to hire strikebreakers to replace workers when the strike is over. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired many striking air traffic controllers employed by Federal Aviation Administration.

In the face of various challenges confronting labor unions, the union membership drastically, continue to decline. Since support from political party has declined, many workers believe that union's ability to protect their interests has drastically declined, and thus, many private workers belief that it is no longer necessary to be union members. Roberts, (1997) argue that labor unions have faced hard times and sustained membership loss. The hard times ranging from diminishing influence of bargaining to the intense of global competition and technological changes.

Added to the political influence that contributes to the decline of the union, there are other external dynamics affecting labor unions. Globalization has been identified as the one of the external dynamic that has impact on the unions' strategies. External Dynamics affecting the Labor Unions One of the external dynamics having impact on labor unions is globalization. The concept globalization refers to the process of internal integration.

Although, human interaction over a long distance has existed for thousands of years, however, rapid development of ICT (information communication technology) and development of internet technology have assisted in the global integration. Typically, the advent of electronic communication notable internet and mobile phones has assisted in connecting billions of people worldwide. The western political theory has presupposed the existence of territorial borders where state borders are delineated. The political theory argues that there is a clear delineation of domestic affair from foreign affairs.

However, the advent of globalization has posed fundamental challenges to the traditional assumption of political theory, and it is no longer evident that states could delineate domestic affairs from foreign affairs. In the contemporary international systems, state could not parade as being sufficient. With advent of globalization, states have noticed that they have limited control of social and economic relations that transcend across national border. The economic theory also argues that fundamental objective of firm is to maximize profits.

Many firms in the United States have taken the advantages of globalization to shift from the United States and locate their factories in the countries where labor costs are lower and there is less agitation of labor unions. In the contemporary competitive business environment, many manufacturing companies have continued to shift from the United States labor market to other foreign labor market to maximize profits.

Pitts (2008) argues that the aims to maximize profits and lower the labor costs have made many manufacturing companies to move out of the United States and locate their manufacturing plants in the developing countries in Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and South America. Across the Unite States, firms are now pursing the process re-engineering, automation and labor outsourcing to decline costs and increase the corporate profits. In the United States and other Western Europe, the production costs are very high with increase in workers' benefits and wages.

The actions of unions in driving up wages have led to the increase in the costs of productions. The escalation of the production costs and workers' demand for higher wages have forced many corporations to take different actions such as process improvement programs, and other innovation such as computerization, production facility automation, and the use robotics to lower costs. Recent development of telecommunication has eliminated the trade barriers and has made many companies to outsource their production facilities to the developing countries.

More importantly, globalization has assisted many firms in the United States to source for highly skilled workers outside the United States. Many firms in the United States no longer rely on local workers to complete their works; it is now possible for firms to employee labor from any part of the world with impact of internet technology. In a bid to cut labor costs, many organizations are now outsourcing part of their business process to developing countries.

Since the beginning of 2000s, firms in the United States have continued outsourcing significant number of it jobs, customer's relations jobs, and advertising jobs to developing countries such as India and Singapore. The issue has had great influence on union's power and ability of union to influence employers for higher wages has weakened drastically. With drastic decline of the labor forces, "union leaders blame globalization for their declining membership and power can point to a lot of circumstantial evidence to support their fears.

The share of private-sector American workers who belong to labor unions peaked at 36% in 1953-54, then declined slowly through die 1960s and more sharply beginning in the early 1970s. By 2006, private-sector union density had fallen below 8%." (Griswold, 2010 P. 184). "Union membership has not only shrunk during the era of globalization but unions have become less militant.

In a survey of 15 major industrialized countries, not including the United States, the number of days per worker lost due to strikes was 1,641 in the 1960s, 2,586 in the 1970s, 1,632 in the 1980s, and a mere 658 in the 1990s." (Griswold, 2010 P. 185). Economic theory reveals that growing international competitions among firms continue to damage the interests of labor and influence the labor unions. As products face more competition in the global markets, there would be a greater elasticity of demand for labor.

This indicates that demand for labor will be more sensitive to changes in wages. Typically, firms will be forced to reduce number of workers employed because firms would not be able to pass the high labor costs to consumer since their products are facing stiff competitions within the global market place since it is possible for consumers to shift to substitute products offered at lower prices.

Griswold, (2010) argues the ability of employers to reduce number of workers could force government to make laws less friendly to labor unions because government needs to create jobs for the whole population and not to decline employment opportunities in the country. Globalization could also put pressure on government to take the side of management in the name global competitive markets. More importantly, technology has contributed to the increase in the competitions that firm face in the global market environment, and therefore wakening the unions bargaining power.

A spread of internet technology has opened the more sectors to competitions and reducing barriers to enter the industry. Typically, the internet has allowed several firms to enter the markets and compete with more established companies in the U.S. And thereby declining firms' profits and bargaining power of unions. Apart from the impact of globalization on unions, baby boomers, generation X and generation Y have also influenced the labor unions.

Generational aspects having influence on Labor Unions and will continue to do so Baby boomers are the largest group in the United States population and they contribute to the largest number of workers in the United States. Baby boomers represent 28% of the U.S. population, and account to the 43% of the total workforce in the United States. Baby boomers are people born between 1946 and 1964, and many people in this group belong to women liberation and civil right movement.

In the United States, almost half of baby boomer have high school diploma or equivalent and nearly 40% of baby boomers have earned at least an Associates Degree. (ASHHRA, 2010). Fig 1: Generation Distribution in the U.S. As being revealed in Fig 1, generation X represents only 14% of the population in the United States and approximately 21% of U.S. belongs to this group and this group was born between 1965 and 1976. Generation X is often described as self-reliant and 40% of people in this group have earned at a college or university degree.

They are able to gain advantages with their academic degrees. Most of them are self-confidence and technological literate. However, generation Y constitutes approximately 27% of the U.S. population. Many people in this generation have not yet entered the workforce, and generation Y constitutes about 27% of workforce in the United States. Typically, the future of U.S. industries depends on this generation. (ASHHRA, 2010). Description of the three generations reveals that baby boomers will have more impact on the unions and will continue to influence the American unions.

Compared to other generation group in the United States, baby boomers constitute the largest percentage of union member. In the United States, baby boomers account for the 43% of the total workforce. Thus, their large membership in the unions often influences the union. More importantly, many baby boomers are in the position of authorities in several private and public organizations, and they have ability to influence the labor unions more than other generations.

Based on different influence that could weaken power of union in the global competitive environment, the report provides the changes that unions need to implement to maintain support for their membership, employers and community at large. Changes Unions need to maintain to achieve support from their Membership, Employers and the Community Facing the decline of union membership in the contemporary globalize environment, unions needs to re-organize their strategies to maintain membership support, employers and community support.

Unions have to realized that their ability to threaten employers with strike could no longer hold in the present globalize environment. Labor unions need to realize the influence of globalization on their power, thus, labor unions need to develop worldwide support network to promote workers' interest. As multinational corporations are shifting to less developed countries to source for cheap labor, labor unions should team up with non-governmental organizations to promote the interest of workers globally.

Unions could use this tactics to improve workers' condition, improve rights of workers globally and at the same time using this tactic to retain.