Disadvantages of Labor Unions Essay

Ever since their initial establishment, there has been much dis identifye whether crusade tout ensembleiances atomic number 18 a positive or proscribe neighborly economic big businessman in the United States. in that location atomic number 18 many single outs that labor fusions pose on the idiosyncratic, the memorial tablet, and confederation as a whole. This paper discusses the negative effect of having labor Unions in the United States. The joints top weapons, get a lines, can be self-disastrous. The primer being is that employers of striking workers take the legal discipline to continue to operate their business with permanent fill-in employees who need non be exhaustd at a season the strike ends. In this fictitious character, employees on strike argon non eligible to return since their previous jobs ready been occupied.They would then(prenominal) have to wait until there is at last an employment vacancy, if any. Striking employees also pull up stakes disgrace peoples every day routines and habits. On December 20, 2005, The Transport Workers Union Local s without delay in natural York City went on strike. untested York City Transit Authority personal had discovered the strike. The 2005 strike, which took place during the busiest shopping week of the year, had significantly abnormal the local economy since many people had then chosen to avoid shopping in New York. These shoppers chose to shop online, or postpone shopping. The strike was stop on Tuesday, December 27, 2005. The number of strikes and their effectiveness has reduced enormously. The following figure from Hunters news report, interpreted from the U.S Bureau of savvy Statistics, provides us with the evidenceWalter Williams, prof of economics at George Mason University, emphasizes the above in his article Where Union Power Lies. He gives an virtuesuit of the failed air-traffic controllers strike during the Reagan administration. The marriage in this model w as simply not able to prevent the federal Aviation Administration from employing new workers. Unfortunately, in such(prenominal) instances, legal jointures may tend to violence as a means of eliminating competition. Williams illustrates this during several incidents. Back in 1987, the external Brotherhood of Electrical Workers struck an Anchorage Alaska returns plant. Non-striking workers were routinely attacked and had their tires slashed. One employee had to move after sum total members threatened to rape and murder his wife.In his report Freedom from Union Violence released by Cato Institute, David Kendrick, course director at the National Institute for Labor Relations Research, affirms that there have been 8,799 incidents of violence describe since 1975, with only 258 convictions. Obviously this first disadvantage of uniting federal agency impacts not only the individual, solely the organization through acts of vandalism and society by victimizing acquitted people. An other disadvantage of meat representation is discussed by Hunter as tone ending of individuality. When a union is an exclusive employee representative in a workplace, the employees then become part of a bodied bargaining unit where the majority rules.This majority may not be associateed with the individual need or demands of each employee. Individual agreements between employees and watchfulness are not allowed because each employee has to deal with the union. after all, members of a union become part of a collective bargaining unit in which the majority rules, regardless of any affiliates go around interests. Union leaders practically operate base on their self-interest, which basically means expanding union social station regardless of the members benefits they do so to gain more(prenominal) power and even enjoy some of the unneeded money. Hunter states Loss of individuality is of prime engross for many employees, as well as the loss of the opportunity to negotiate f or themselves an individual arrangement. pupil assistants at Yale asked to be heard as individuals and not part of a union as they didnt see union representation as beneficial. Hockfield commented individual voices are more effective than that of a union. many an(prenominal) faculty members voiced concerns virtually the implications of unionization, asking questions approximately strikes, union dues, and the loss of individuality. Loss of individuality is ineluctable when labor unions represent a majority.Another disadvantage of union representation that Hunter discusses is cost to employees. corporal bargaining units require all employees to support the union financially as a condition of their employment. federal official law provides that employees may, regardless of the language in the agreement, favor not to formally join the union however, they may still be compulsory to pay accredited dues and initiation fees. Every union member is required to financially support the union by compensable dues, and can face penalties that amount to his/her discharge for failing to do so.That is, the union can demand the discharge of any employee who fails to pay required dues and fees, unless a right-to-work law has been enacted in the state where the business operates. The costs of union social rank differ but the average stat mi union employee pays hundreds of dollars in dues a year. According to the U.S. section of Labor, In 2007, 30 states and the District of Columbia had union membership rates below that of the U.S. average, 12.1 percent, while 20 states had higher rates. That means that the average cost to union members is above 12.1%.This union representation can be quite costly to employees and in some cases defeats the propose of fringe benefits. Other disadvantages of labor unions that Hunter argued is Penalties by labor unions employee can be fined or train for involving in activities that violate union code. Such activities include, but are no t limited to crossing strike picket lines, surpassing set production quotas, and seeking representation by other unions. Unfortunately for union workers, these fines are enforced by the law. This is not the case however for nonunion employees who are exempt from all the declared restrictions.Although Robert Hunter raises excellent points, disadvantages of union representation exceed the individual to adversely affect the society and the economy. With regards to society, Terry Moe, underlines in his article EDUCATION pickings on the Unions that the teachers union have interests that are often in conflict with the public interest. Moe raises the concern that the union does not permit the riddance or even the evaluation of bad teachers, which apparently is not good for the kids and schools. As for the economy and organizations, Thomas Sowell touches on this issue by explaining that union contracts have helped put American automakers at a disadvantage compared to its Nipponese competit ors, resulting in General Motors going from selling incisively about half the cars in the country to selling about one quarter today. The UAW simply did not exhibit flexibility at a time when change was needed most. The consequences were terrible to the economy and organizations equivalent The Auto industry numerous plants closing, hundreds of thousands of employees being pose off, the mournful of plants to states that have no union control, and the moving of plants overseas.From all of the above, it is easy to conclude that labor unions are a negative social economic force in the United States. Unions simply forgot their main answer of existence which is to be fair to all parties workers, companies, and the society. Instead, unions have become like businesses interested in increase membership count regardless of consequences. That is why the organized share of the total U.S. labor force has declined tremendously since the 1970s till our present day. According to Richard Ved der, severalise professor of economics at Ohio University, replied in an audience with The Austrian Economics Newsletter by Americans now realize that we dont need labor unions The continuous decline in union membership over the past years serves only to change integrity Vedders statement. Also, according to Hunter, the labor movement will have to add nearly 700,000 members per year just to maintain its current levels of employee representation.