Importance of Unions in the Society - Term Paper Example

Importance of Unions in the Society Importance of Unions in the Society A union can be described as a group of organized workers, who come together to make collective efforts towards earning themselves recognition and justice through amending their terms of work. Through the formation of unions, workers are capable of making changes to work issues such as the wages they earn, the work hours they spend, benefits, health and safety of workplaces, job training, and many other issues that are work related. Among many other nations, the United States’ law allows all workers regardless of age, to join unions. This is because it is believed unions are part of human empowerment factors. Unions are meant to protect workers from exploitation by the management for which they work. Greed among the organization officials has currently become unpredictable. A union helps members of the organizations to work against the greed in case it comes their way. To show the great impact of unions, research has indicated that one average worker in a union is paid a wage that is 30% higher than the wage paid to a non member. This is evidence that it is advisable for every worker to identify the unions they fit in and join them. Forming a union is easy within an organization. Formation of a union begins with the expression of interest among a large number of employees. If the majority of the workers expresses an interest for the formation of a union, the management is forced to consider their request. Permission is granted, and the employees form the union. It could begin with a small portion of the workers, and due to the growth of the team and advantages experienced, the number of union members becomes bigger with time. This is how people organize themselves and make up a successful team. This team becomes active whenever there is an issue in the organization that exploits the employees in that field. There are several benefits of joining a union in the society. Firstly, unions help in creating democracy among the workers in their places of work. Democracy is one of the greatest factors that govern the comfort of an employee in a particular working environment. Every employee feels secure and comfortable in an environment where his or her views, opinions, and requests are listened to and addressed. This is the type of environment where democracy is enhanced amongst the employees (Harcourt & Wood, 2004). The reason it becomes a comfortable working environment for them is that any issue that an employee complains about is taken care of effectively, and they are treated fairly. It is not always that a deliberate action of the management causes discomfort to employees during their work hours. Some issues come up without the knowledge of the management. Such issues can only be solved through speaking up of the employee in a working environment that supports democracy. In an environment without democracy, it is a culture that employees are not free to express their requirements and experiences to the management during their working hours. Instead, they are supposed to focus and invest their time in actions relevant to the business goals. In addition, in such an environment, employees rarely receive promotional gifts to motivate them towards better performance. The attitude cultivated in many employers and managers is that they have to exert pressure to the employees to make them work hard. This kind of pressure becomes stressful within the working environment, and may even affect the health of a worker. Contrary, in a democratic working environment, the workers are well treated and rewarded, as their suggestions are taken seriously and implemented. This makes them feel motivated to go to work, as they are not overworked and maltreated while at work. Workers win benefits, proper working hours, and a favorable environment for socializing at work. This helps the workers to perform their duties jovially and with a passion. This automatically leads to high-quality performance. This kind of performance brings about success in the various fields people work (Harcourt & Wood, 2004). A society of successful people is a society where happiness prevails, and developments take place regularly. Success unites people in the society, and they are able to perform various projects with unity. In a society of united and successful members, problems arising are easily taken care of within the least time possible. Therefore, the cause of success in a society of united members is a democratic working environment. A democratic working environment is created through the formation of unions at workplaces. This chain implies that one of the impacts of unions in the society is the democracy of employees within the organization. Apart from the creation of a democratic environment in the workplaces, unions help in the protection of workers against violation of their rights. Several employee rights ought to be observed by each employer in organizations. Some of these rights include the health and safety right, offering of leaves, fair wages and many others. Some employers fail to observe these rights in the course of working with their employees. Sometimes, this becomes a major issue, as employees in most cases are not able to take legal actions against the employer. This may happen out of inferiority in different ways. The employee may decide to hold back the action as they fear to lose the job. In addition, they may lack the capability of hiring a lawyer, and this makes them fail to sue the employer. In order to reach out to such helpless employees, the unions have currently come up. In the modern society, whenever the employers fail to offer due rights to the employees, they unite in a union and conduct actions against this vice. In most cases, with the empowerment of unions, employees conduct industrial actions, capturing the attention of relevant authorities in order for their rights to be observed and fulfilled (Post, 2000). This has been working out across the globe, as employers take actions directed to the fulfillment of the needs of these employees. Some of the reasons employers honor the requests with immediate effect are to secure and protect the reputation of the organization, to regain the workflow in the organization and escape allegations. Whenever an industrial action is taking place, the workers of the specified organization hold demonstrations in streets and other surrounding areas. As news spread across the nation for the local organizations and across the globe for international organizations, the public is alerted about mismanagement acts that are taking place in the specified organization. This reflects a bad image to the people in the market and a poor reputation for the entire organization. With a poor reputation, it might be the beginning of poor performance of the firm in the specified field. To clear this mess, the management sector decides to take care of the needs that cause the industrial actions. Secondly, during such an industrial action, the employees of the specific sector are usually inactive. Productivity is low, and the amount of profits earned is sliced with time. For this reason, the employers and officials in charge do not allow the strikes to take long. They end up finding the solutions demanded by these employees and implementing them within the least time possible. This way, the voice of the employees is heard, and their rights are respected. During a strike by workers of a specific organization, the allegations by the striking workers befall a specific part of the management. The management sector might experience a lot of trouble because of the accusations by the employees in public. To take care of this situation, the management is forced to attend to the needs of these employees with immediate effect. This is the power of unions. Through unions, strikes are held, and rights of employees are implemented. This promotes justice in the society, as people are fairly treated right from their workplaces (Post, 2000). Thirdly, apart from being an advantage to the workers, unions are also of great importance to the organization, entire society, and the nation. This is because, with the advantages unions bring to workers, the employees feel motivated to work with a passion, and they are capable of increasing productivity in the organization. Therefore, this chain of success begins with the firm. Employees, being well paid, with the health and security assurance, the overtime rewards and with all rights observed they have a good working environment, which leaves them with no excuse of poor quality labor. This increases the productivity in that particular firm. It also facilitates the realization of more profits within the organization. Increased profits in an organization initiate growth and expansion in that particular organization. When a firm is productive, it influences the growth of the industry and trade is stimulated in the nation. In the business sector, unions have stimulated the business activities that take place within a nation. This way, the government is able to earn more revenue and implement helpful projects within the nation. This is how economic growth is boosted in a nation. When the business sector runs smoothly, it is most likely to attract foreign investors. This again brings to the government foreign currency, which helps in growth of the economy. With all these developments in society, members of the subject society are capable of earning themselves a living. With a stable economic growth, the people are able to raise their standards of living and life becomes easier. The unemployment problem facing all nations in the world is solved in the course of this chain initiated by unions. In other words, this assures most members in the society of earning income (Post, 2000). Sequentially, the dependency rate among the members of the society reduces. With a lower dependency rate, developments begin taking place within the society. With many people being employed, idleness among some members of the society reduces. Research shows that idleness is a key cause of crimes within the society and employment resolves this. When people are occupied and with a salary at the end of the month, the rate of crime reduces in societies. To some extent, this improves on peace and security among the members of the society. This chain is initiated by the existence of unions, by the fact that people are able to attain a favorable working environment. The good news is the fact that unions spread all over the nation easily, making it easy to create an impact that affects the whole nation positively. Unions are hence relevant in all nations across the globe. They bring about empowerment that has positive influences in societies (Harcourt & Wood, 2004). In addition to a democratic workplace, unions have helped to build democracy in nations. This has helped to transmit the democratic benefits from workers in the country to the citizens of the involved nations and societies. Unions have currently been spread all over the world. In nations where unions have begun forming, they have greatly spread as citizens have realized the importance of these unions. When people from different fields embrace unions, the act becomes widespread in the whole nation. This way, citizens all over the nation and societies practice their democratic rights and fight for equality. In such a nation, these fights are transferred, from business to politics. A government that leads such a nation experiences industrial actions from different sectors of the nation, in case issues come up. Such a government becomes keen in the way of governance, and all human rights are observed. Similarly, the nation becomes peaceful, and life becomes safer and smoother. Where democracy is practiced, citizens learn to fight for their rights and exploitation is dealt with vigorously. This makes up a peaceful nation that attracts foreign investors. Attracting foreign investors stimulates the bilateral trade in the nation. This again boosts the economy. People in the nation are able to secure employment making a big step in solving many of national problems that come up out of citizens lacking employment. Crimes in the nation reduce and economic growth is established and stimulated with time. Having created stable grounds for foreign trade and investors, the nation makes progress, which reaches out to the members of the societies in the nation. Tourists are also attracted to these kinds of nations. No tourist wants to visit a nation where there is no peace, unity, justice and security. Bearing in mind that these are some of the vices that unions fight against, it means they are the determining factors to such massive developments in a nation (Gorman & McLean, 2009). Many government officials that are against the formation of these unions fail to bear such information in mind. Many figure it out as the war of the public against the government whenever people carry out industrial action. However, the real agenda is usually different. The government should view striking citizens as friends to developments in the nation’s economy. Every industrial action is an alert of rectifications that need attention. Through these rectifications, improvements are made where the government is failing. This way, the nation’s economy is shaped in a way it will accommodate developments. This is helpful mostly in the developing countries. Without making these changes as requested by striking officials, the economy gives way to vices such as corruption. With the existence of these vices, no substantial progress is made. Therefore, to evaluate the performance of the economy, and the smooth flow if developments, the government can compare the number of strikes that has been taking place over the years. Clearly, a government handling frequent strikes has a great problem in leadership and serving the citizens. The same way, an organization where industrial action is the order of the day, implies that no positive progress has been taking place. Unions have also helped to create social and business groups in societies, where people come together with an aim of making life better within the industries the members belong. The developments that take place in such groups include the offering of loans, further training and more. Of these services, the most common one is the loans offered to members of unions in order to handle their financial constraints. With loans from the union, the members are able to spend more than they earn. With the funds, they are able to initiate businesses and multiply their income. When unions promote members in establishing businesses, they contribute to circulating the money within the economy. Increasing the number of investors stimulates trade, and employment opportunities within the nation are increased. This helps to earn the government revenue and to attract foreign investors as well. Apart from offering members with funds to startup businesses, the unions also invest as a group. This again builds up the foundation of business in a country, offers employment to the unemployed and attracts foreign investors into the country. Primarily, any union focusing on making investments, whether through sponsoring members or investing as a group stimulates trade and participates in the growth of the economy. However, unions are different; some will not focus on investing but offering further education to members. To the member individually, this helps them to better their skills and advance in employment levels. A well-educated member has a chance of being promoted easily. This way, they improve on the amount earned monthly, and later on the standards of living. To the organization they work in, the member who advances in education becomes of great use as their services’ quality automatically increases. This stimulates higher standards of production in the particular organization. Sequentially, raised production levels contribute to earnings of more profits within the organization. This means the organization performs well as compared to earlier on and it is capable of earning more market shares. To the society and the nation, training of the union members increases their productivity. They are capable of performing better in nation building. This involves the building of a stable economy. In some nations, taxation increases as the more the trained workers earn, the more they are taxed, which positively influences government revenue. Increased government revenue helps in accomplishing the public projects and creating a stable economy (Gorman & McLean, 2009). In conclusion, unions are of great importance to the members of every society. Forming a union solidifies unity among the members, and they are able to accomplish many things together. Developments experienced in a particular organization are connected to the nation and the society. When these developments bring about the growth of the economy, people in the society enjoy infrastructural developments. These developments improve the lives of the people. Where there are unions, members of the society are treated fairly and exploitation of the members by the political forces and the management sectors of organizations are controlled. This gives a conducive and peaceful environment to live in for the society members. With the promotion of peace, developments in the society are stimulated. In organizations, unions help to promote the rights of workers. The rights to health protection, fair wages, and many others are observed through actions of members of the unions. When every member of the organization is paid fairly, success and developments within the societies they belong are boosted. In addition, unions have helped to establish investments in the nation. This stimulates trade within a certain nation. With stimulated trade, the members of the society are able to engage in helpful economic activities that end up earning them a living. This creates employment opportunities and stimulation of economic activities. Having this stimulation, these members become occupied. The members that were idle and jobless are able to earn income instead of lazing around. A reduction of criminal activities takes place. Research has shown that with nothing to do, the rate of criminal acts in societies increase. Having engaged in various jobs, these people take part in the building of the economy. As unions fight for justice and fairness, the government is forced to solve the issues that affect the members of the public. With all the documented benefits that come along with the formation of unions in different sectors of the nation and to the societies, both the government and members of the society should not overlook formation of unions. References Gorman, L. & McLean, D. (2009). Media and Society Into the 21st Century: A Historical Introduction. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Harcourt, M. & Wood, G. E. (2004). Trade Unions and Democracy: Strategies and Perspectives. Oxford: Manchester University Press. Post, S. G. (2000). More Lasting Unions: Christianity, the Family, and Society. Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000. Read More