Should companies oppose unions Why or why not?

Answer 1

Hi, Well, companies will almost always oppose union representation for it's workers. It's the workers that usually seek union representation. Usually for several reasons including; better wages, better working conditions, having a grievance process, etc. If you have a business owner or boss that disrespects you, it's nice to have the union to go to and file a grievance. Then the union rep brings the problem to the attention of "management" to have it resolved without the worker feeling intimidated or having their job threatened. My experience with unions was in the trucking industry. The companies that weren't unionized treated their workers very well and paid good (union) wages. So you see, just the thought (or threat) of the workers voting in the union can keep a company from taking advantage of it's workers. Keep in mind that unions can be a two edged sword though. I had a friend that worked at a machine shop and before the union was voted in the wages were good and the working conditions were good. It was a very laid back place where if you stretched your coffee break or lunch a few minutes or stopped to talk to a co-worker on the way back from the restroom nobody cared. Well, somebody got the bright idea that if the guys voted in the union, maybe they could negotiate a better wage, etc. First of all the owner was heartbroken that "his guys" would do that to him and secondly and more importantly, the place became a prison. A 10 minute break was a 10 minute break!! Etc. Etc. You get the idea. Long story short. Ask yourself and your co-workers if you "need" union representation. Do you get a fair wage? Are working conditions OK? Are you forced to work overtime? Etc. Good luck and God Bless Hi I think that you have to look at the history of trade unions and the reasons they came into being. You have to remember that anything you are given as an employee comes out of company profits, or more importantly stockholder profits. So do you think a company wants to give you Veterans Day or Presidents Day off an pay you for it? No, of course not. A factory owner would like you working fourteen hours a day, 6 days a week, with only Christmas Day off. No such thing as overtime at time and a half. And you either took the job at the rate you were told you would be paid (which of course was as little as possible) or you looked elsewhere. These conditions sound extreme, yet in 1900 these were very much conditions for working men in America and Europe. So in order to get better conditions, groups of men all doing the same work, like weavers or steampipe fitters decided that they could only get a better deal if they formed a Guild (later a union) and went to the employers to negotiate better conditions for all of them, or they would stop working. This was the only power they had...they were skilled craftsmen and if they stopped working the factory owners couldn't suddenly pull 500 steamfitters out of their bung holes. So, they negotiated with the guilds, maybe an extra dollar a week, maybe 12 hour days instead of 14, maybe a paid day off for Thanksgiving. The problem for a union is that there are many unskilled positions that, if everyone walked off the job, the employer could replace the entire workforce and train them up within a week. This is why unions at McDonalds or Wal-Mart are not as strong as the Airline Pilots Union. But the real battles between unions and owners were in the first half of the 20th century when massive groups like auto workers tried to organize. They would strike and go on a picket line, and the owners, most noticeably Henry Ford who detested the idea that his workers might hold any power over him, bought in armed thugs to break up the picket lines, clubbing and shooting men, women and children, and starving the strikers back to work. By persevering and dying on the picket lines, ordinary men and women like those at Ford's Dearborn plant have won by their blood all the things you take for granted at work now. The 8-hour day did not become standard until the 1950s. The 5-day week in the 60s. The paid vacation days, the maternity leave pay, health insurance, even things like OSHA, who annoy bosses by making them spend money to stop you from falling into a blast furnace, are a direct result of unions fighting the power of management. If you have a strong stomach you might read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, which describes American workplaces before OSHA or the FDA. I warn you though, there are some VERY strong scenes in this book. You could also do a search on the Dearborn strike.