Wal-Mart and Union Membership - Research Paper Example

?Running Headers: Wal-Mart’s Human Resources Policies: Union Memberships Module Wal-Mart opposed unionized workers for the right reasons. Wal-Mart may have more disadvantages than advantages if they allow union membership. The biggest disadvantage for Wal-Mart in allowing union membership to its employees is that it will lose its bargaining power in implementing its human resources policy. If union membership is allowed to workers Wal-Mart will become dependent on the Trade Unions and will lose the current state of independence in its own decisions that it greatly enjoys presently. Furthermore, union members can create much more havoc for the organization than individual workers. They can put more pressure on Wal-Mart by threatening to strike, go-slow or not to obey the management. This will create havoc not only for the organization, but will also create inconvenience for the Wal-Mart customers. The only advantage of having a union is that Wal-Mart will have to consult only the union when implementing its human resource policies rather than to consult the individual workers separately. It will also ease the government’s regulations in the industry as the government would know that the trade union is there to represent the interest of workers. Another advantage of Trade Unions for Wal-Mart is that it will make sure that all the grievances and resentment of workers are heard before they become an issue and hence it will result in better employee-employer relationship which will lead to smooth functioning of the organization. Hence, we can see that although Wal-Mart enjoys certain advantages when working with unions, but these are greatly outnumbered by the disadvantages of working with unions. (Daft, 1996) 2) Employee gains a lot of advantages if they have union membership. The greatest advantage that it renders to the workers is strength in numbers. The bigger a group of workers demanding certain right, the more pressure it can put on the management and hence there are more chances that the management would give in to their demands. This encourages more and more employees to join the union and enjoy the benefits of being strong and more vocal. Another advantage for union membership is the Trade Union fund which is given in the form of allowances to its members in case they need them. It is disbursed to members who are going through a period of illness, trauma or any other kind of problem that requires them to use these funds of part of these funds. Similarly, Union membership allows the employees to communicate more actively with the government and press them to legislate for acts that promote workers’ rights and also increase job security. However, there are certain disadvantages of a union member also. Employees have to pay certain amount annually to the union as a membership fee. This puts an additional burden on employees. Individual employees cannot press for their demand and they lose their voice at the expense of what the large majority wants. Hence, one can say that although the union membership is beneficial for workers, it can also bring disharmony and conflict of interest among workers which can lead to other organization-wide problems. (Daft, 1996) 3) There can economics, social and ethical consequences of Wal-Mart trying to stop allowing its workers to hold a union membership. Many pressure groups will turn against Wal-Mart. They will declare Wal-Mart as an organization that does not support workers’ rights. This will lead to loss of goodwill and bad reputation for the company. Many customers might turn away from buying from Wal-Mart which will lead to loss of revenue for the company. It will also discourage workers joining Wal-Mart as they would see it as an organization that does not respect their rights and they are being treated not so well. This will lead to a decrease in supply of workers who want to join Wal-Mart and it will have to pay the workers who want to join Wal-Mart higher wages (Bamford, 2003). This can again lead to less of profitability in the income statement of Wal-Mart. It is wrong ethically as well. Wal-Mart is depriving workers of their basic right. This can be challenged in the law and since many injunctions in the US constitution encourage workers to form union it can lead to heavy fines being levied to the organization which will once again erode the profitability of the organization and will give it a bad press and name. Many people will also challenge this move on the grounds that Wal-Mart is allowing union membership in other countries and not in the USA. This can lead to further ethical, legal and social consequences for the organization. (Velasquez, 2003) 4) The Wagner Act which is more commonly known as National Labor Relations Act gives workers the permission to form union in the private sector if they feel there is a need. National Labor Relations Act also prohibits employees to discriminate workers on the basis of union membership and makes it obligatory for the organizations like Wal-Mart to recognize the union and its leadership if there is one. After the original NLRA or National Labor Relations Act there were several other laws, acts and injunctions that were promulgated by the US Congress which either limited the powers of the Unions or gave them more autonomy (Cornell University Law School, 2011). The conclusion that can be made here is that the United States of America’s law recognized the workers efforts to form unions and encourages it. Since, Wal-Mart is not recognizing this right; they can be in trouble and can be sued in the court of Law. As far as the ethics are concerned, whatever Wal-Mart is doing is not ethical. They are violating one of the basic rights of the workers. This is wrong both legally and ethically. Although law and ethics are different things, but whatever Wal-Mart is doing is confronting the both of these facets. Wal-Mart should seriously reconsider its decision and should keep in mind that it is recognizing the similar workers’ right in China and some other countries and therefore they will have to accept this right in the US aw well, otherwise the reputation of Wal-Mart can suffer great damage. (Velasquez, 2011) References: Bamford, Collin.(2003). Economics for As Level. OUP Cornell University Law School. (2011). NLRB ACT. Retrieved on 17 Aug 2011. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/29/usc_sup_01_29_10_7_20_II.html Daft, Richard. (1994). Management. The Dryden Publication Velasquez, Manuel. (2004). Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases. Prentice Hall Read More