Labor Unions?

Question

This seems strange to me, but I've been told that many people disagree with, and even hate, labor unions. Now, given that benefits for employees, higher wages and shorter working days can affect a company's overall profit and productivity, I can understand why owners and management may resent unions. But I can't imagine why a regular worker would hate them. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

Answer 1

Regular workers dont like them for the same reason that economists dont like the minimum wage...It makes people lose jobs. Labor unions require higher wages, better working conditions, etc. So most companies will just send jobs overseas instead of suffering the cost of paying Americans more.

Answer 2

It also makes it sometimes impossible to get a job. If you are lucky enough to get hired by the company then you almost always have to automatically pay union dues.  It makes incentive for companies to cut labor force and Besides sending jobs overseas companies will invest more heavily in machinery to reduce total labor need rather than just hire more workers.

Answer 3

unions tend to fall into a trap of wanting to fight management and not allow individual performance to be rewarded.  So an ambitious person who is looking to get promoted through the ranks might see the union as an obstacle to getting individual recognition.   In general, the best performers in a job tend to resent some of the effects of a union.  The poor performers value the protection the union can provide.

If you are in an environment where management can exploit the workers, you need a union.  If there is competition for skilled workers and pay rates are good in non-union employers, then the union is probably just getting in your way.

So, unions are good for you when there is a risk of being exploited, or you need leverage and bargaining power.  But they are not very useful, and fairly expensive, if the supply of qualified employees is tight.  Then you don't need the union to negotiate a good deal on your own.