What are labor unions?

Labor unions have played an important role in the lives of many people over the last century or so. They have played a key role in improving the lives of workers. There are some people who wonder if they are really still necessary. After all the laws to protect workers are much better than they used to be. That being said there is a pretty strong belief that unions remain relevant.

Labor unions are an organization of workers that have joined together for the purpose of the improving working conditions. The main way that they do this is through collective bargaining. The union will negotiate with the employer on behalf of its members to establish what the wages and working conditions will be. By negotiating together the employees have a better bargaining position which will usually result in them getting better terms than the employees could have gotten on their own.

Labor unions really got started during the period of the industrial revolution when the new machinery that was used in manufacturing greatly reduced the skill that was involved in doing the job. The result was that it became much easier to replace an employee which is what many owners did. They would simply announce that they were cutting wages and anybody who did not accept it was simply fired. This naturally drove wages down as the employers had all of the power. In order to combat this unions started to form to allow the workers to negotiate together.

The way that labor unions are able to increase the negotiating power of the workers is by organizing industrial action. This normally takes the form of strikes but there are other methods that can be used. While replacing one employee may be possible for the company replacing all of them is much more of a problem. This is usually made worse by the fact that when employees do go on strike they usually block replacement workers from going into the plant. The shut down that follows this will cost the employer a considerable amount of money so it is usually in their best interests to negotiate a settlement rather than allow the strike to continue.

The relationship between labor unions and employers is not always adversarial. In the past unions used to provide their employees with things like health insurance and disability protection. These days this is usually provided by the government but there are a number of other things that the union may provide to the employee like training for a more skilled job. In many cases the employer finds that these services are actually beneficial to the company and will actually work with the union to help provide them. Ultimately the goal of the union is the best interest of the employee and this includes as strong and financially stable company.