Union Songs

¶ … strikes are an important part of the collective bargaining process. This does not mean that a strike has to happen with every collective bargaining agreement, but the threat of a strike does create a certain motivation for management to negotiate. The same can be said of management lockouts, which serve the same function. Collective bargaining exists as a right, enshrined in the National Labor Relations Act. Section 7 of the Act grants employees the right to strike for the purpose of collective bargaining (NLRB, 1997).

The point of granting the right to strike is to increase the bargaining power of employees during a collective bargaining. Technically, in a workplace where the employees are organized, they are only legally bound to work when they are under contract. If they are out of contract, they may continue to work, but are not bound to. Thus, they have the right to strike in this situation, to withhold their labor in order to increase their bargaining power by inflicting financial harm on their employers.

This is an important part of the collective bargaining process because it restores a balance of bargaining power. Individual employees lack any bargaining power deriving from withholding their services, but a union does derive power from this. This power balances the right of the employer to withhold work (lockout) as the result of not having a collective bargaining agreement. One of the objectives of the NLRA was to establish principles for fair and equitable collective bargaining, and the right to strike has always been a part of those principles.

Again, however, this does not mean that a strike has to occur. In that sense, it is not that strikes are essential to reaching a collective agreement. But they are an important part of the process, because the threat of work stoppage balances the respective power of management and labor in a collective bargaining situation. Discussion #2 Union songs are important because they serve as a rallying point.

The point of organizing labor is so that the workers present a united front to management, and that this gives them better bargaining power. The collective bargaining only works, however, when the union is united. Thus, one of the important things for labor is that it needs to ensure that the workers remain united. Songs, slogans, posters, rallies, and social events are all means by which unions can build camaraderie among their members, and instil the union values among the workers.

Songs play an important role, therefore, in building the unity needed to give the union power in collective negotiations. The following link is to a set of union songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilLzEUaw_YI These songs illustrate the structure of union songs. They are simple in structure, and repetitive lyrically. The core themes are unity, a desire to fight, and highlighting the value of working together in order to achieve union objectives. The songs encourage union culture among.