Unions were created to fight for employees rights. Generally they handle employee dissatisfaction. This an entail bad working conditions, low pay or long hours. Labor unions fought for workers rights during and after the industrial revolution. At first they weren´t recognized by law and largely unprotected. This changed in the US after 1935 during the great depression. Governments tried to equalize the power between employees and their employers. Unions did great work during this period but as of late they have been seen to be overreaching and to powerful. From my own experience in Belgium, unions have a bad reputation especially the railway unions as they go on strike multiple times a year. Employers generally don´t like unions in their company as it drives up their costs and increases the risks for strikes. One of the benefits for employees is that managers manage their liabilities better and generally get terms of labor. Large employers can dominate a city’s or regions job market in these regions unions are a great equalizer of power.
In the US there are several important laws related to unions. The Wagner Act is one of the major laws. It attempts to equalize the power between employers and employees. This was done by protecting a workers right to protest, strike, form unions, do collective negotiation and allow picketing. This law was seen as a little to powerful so the Taft-Hartley act was created to protect employers and employees by imposing some limits to the Wagner act. Lastly the Landrum-griffin act protects union members and their participation. You can´t get fired for joining or creating a union.
Labor relations in the United States and different countries
Labor relations in the US are characterized in several ways. The American unions can be seen as business unionism, where a union is run like a business. These unions look out for employees wages, benefits and job security. Unions are also tailored to the type of jobs, different jobs or companies have different unions. Unions in the Us focus on collective bargaining and the use of labor contracts. They negotiate the terms of these contracts with the management of the company Unions in the US are largely seen as the adversary of employers and management. In some ways unions memberships have been shrinking but in the public sector and blue-collar labor forces they are still very powerful. Unions in the public sector are more limited in their power because of the essential needs of their services and high degree of bureaucracy.
Germany and Japan two other big economical powers have achieved a more equal and cooperative relationship between unions and employers. Germany uses councils and co-decision making in order to resolve work discussions. The councils consist of members of the board of directors and union representatives. They negotiate wages within an in industry. There exists something similar in Belgium where minimum wages are negotiated for an entire sector, along with workers rights, safety and other work related issues. These are published in a Collective work agreement. In the Germany the cooperation between enterprise unions and management have let to a decrease in strikes, an increase in productivity and greater security. Japan has an equally beneficial relationship between the two parties involved. Economic environments and situation are still able to put pressure on the relationship.
Generally in the US, unions focus only on economic issues. This isn´t the case in other countries. Often political views are involved within the unions. In countries like France, Belgium and Spain there is a high degree of political involvement. As for Belgium there are several unions such as the Socialist union or ACV which is the general Christian union. Which used to be related to church in the past but not anymore. There are also unions for employers.
Labor relations strategy
Labor relations strategy is a plan on how a company will deal with unions. Companies can either accept or reject unions. Companies who accept unions see them as legitimate employee representatives and have meaningful discussions and negotiations with them. Union avoidance occurs when management don´t want unions to form. Managers will try to suppress union forming by threating to remove incentives for people who join. This can cause to backfire or lead to bad pr.
Managing the labor relations process
Labor relations process involves three different phases. First you need to start by organizing a union. When there is a significant interest in unionization there will be a certification election. When a company accepts unions is shouldn´t interfere with this however, when a company doesn´t want a union they will try to influence the outcome of this election. If the election fails their can´t be another one for 12 months. After a union if formed you enter the second stage where negotiations will start, this is called collective bargaining. This is to discuss terms of labor in the contracts. This consists of wages, hours and work conditions. There are 2 forms of bargaining, a union can either chose to be disruptive or integrative. Disruptive negotiation threats and other more aggressive approaches in order to convince them of the downsides if you disagree. Integrative means you try to convince the other sides of the positives of you demands. Lastly in the third phase everything is put in to a contract and applied for the entire workforce.
Impacts of unions on the human resource management
Unions have a massive impact on human resource management. It affects every part of the hrm responsibilities. For example staffing will be more focused on seniority rather than merit. Performance management will be heavily influenced and limited while training programs will be more important. In the US companies with a union have a smaller turnover because employees have a good way to display dissatisfaction and in general the wages are also higher. The benfifits will also be better.
US employers step up anti-unionization efforts as pandemic spurs activism (Sainato, M. 2020)
During the corona crisis employers have been opposing unionization elections. While activism and uncertainty have plagued workers over safety protection, job security and in the face of an economic shutdown. Employers have been using the difficulty of covid in order to delay union elections. One company froze all elections however came to ab agreement for mail-in elections. For many workers the need for a union has been increasing. In the meantime some company´s have been holding union avoidance meetings. Some employees demand a Covid bonus as they feel like they put them selves in danger. In one case a hospital where nurses wanted to start a union, the hospital pushed back as much as possible. The hospital demands in person votes while this puts the patients and employees at risk. Eventually the union vote passed.
Public sector strikes to hit Germany next week over wages (ap. 2020)
German workers in public sectors will start giving short-term strike warnings as the latest round of negotiations have failed. This warning was given the 20th of September 2020, with a one week notice. Strike warnings in Germany are often used as a tactic to put pressure on employers. The union demands a 4.8% raise or a minimum of 150 euro. The government negotiators say they want to look for a long-term solution however, the current demands are to high. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer called the weekend talks “constructive,” but said there were still “hurdles to overcome.” There are some really difficult hurdles to overcome especially relating to corona.
References
Gómez-Mejía, L.R., Balkin, D.B., Cardy, R.L. 2016. Managing Human Resources. Eight edition, Global edition. Pearson. London
Sainato, M. 2020. US employers step up anti-unionization efforts as pandemic spurs activism. URL:activismhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/18/us-employers-unions-pandemic-activism. accessed 16.11.2020
AP. 2020. Public sector strikes to hit Germany next week over wages. URL: https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-germany-labor-negotiations-strikes-4ba688c7134c2d794344aa999fbf3c53. accessed 16.11.2020
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