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Teamsters Union is a general workers' union based in the United States and Canada. The operating structure of the union is based around functional departments. These are Accounting & Budget, Affiliates & Automated Records, Capital Strategies, Communications, Drive Accounting, Economics & Contracts, Federal Legislation and Regulation, Field and Political Action, Human Rights Commission, Information Systems, International Auditors, Legal, Organizing, Safety and Health, Strategic Research and Campaigns and Training & Development. The union is also organized in terms of its membership. The different structural elements are the local unions, joint councils, trade divisions and conferences and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. There are hundreds if not thousands of local unions, representing different workplaces.
The Teamsters union has some issues, for example, there are complains that its demands are too excessive (Smith, 2012), that it calculates dues structure unfairly (Tweh, 2013) and that it is causing resentment in its workplaces (Halme, 2013). However, the Union also seeks to tip the balance of bargaining power more in the favor of workers, and that is something it generally does.
The structure of the organization, with the different divisions, represents a unique take on organizational structure. The functional structure has several advantages. These include that the people working within these divions are specialists. Each division has its own set of resources, so in theory there should always be adequate resources for each job that needs to be done. There are disadvantages, however, in that there is increased communication and coordination difficulties (Griffin, 2013).. It is a challenge to coordinate union-wide initiatives with this many divisions, and the divisions heads might cultivate too much power to allow for centralized decision-making. Overall, there are significant risks with the functional structure, especially when it is divided among as many functions as the Teamsters have.
References
Halme, D. (2013) IKEA lockout to bust Teamsters in BC. The Stand. Retrieved December 8, 2013 from http://www.thestand.org/2013/07/ikea-lockout-aims-to-bust-union-in-b-c/
Tweh, B. (2013). Teamsters members say union calculates dues structure unfairly. NWI Times. Retrieved December 8, 2013 from http://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/teamsters-members-say-union-calculates-dues-structure-unfairly/article_3069621d-348b-5569-b71d-d34c1ad4c75b.html
Griffin, D. (2013). Functional organization structure advantages. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved December 8, 2013 from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/functional-organizational-structure-advantages-3721.html
Smith, K. (2012) The Teamsters union is taking away our Twinkies. Forbes. Retrieved December 8, 2013 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/kylesmith/2012/02/15/the-teamsters-union-is-taking-away-our-twinkies/
Teamsters.org. (2013). About. Teamsters.org Retrieved December 7, 2013 from http://teamster.org/about
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