Joining A Trade Union Essay

If I attended the meeting that was held at the local church in regards of discussion of joining the United Food and Commercial Workers’ Union, the NLRA would protect me because they don’t just protect us employees trying to unionize, but they protect us employees whose conduct is to defend and the reporting of work conditions for the benefit of fellow employees. According to Labor Law the NLRA “Typical protected concerted activities include union organizing, the discussion of unionization among employees, and the attempt by one employee to solicit union support from another employee.”
The NLRA protects us by giving us workers the right to be represented by Unions, and that discriminating against employees based on Union involvement or refusing
to engage in collective bargaining with a Union is illegal. The NLRA gives us the right to join unions without fear of management retaliation. The National Labor Relations Board combined with The National Labor Relations Act oversees the relationship between employers, unions, and union members. Under the NLRA, the employer has a legal duty to bargain in good faith with the workers. In other words, whether the employer likes this idea or not, they are forced to bargain with the workers with respect to working conditions. Once you are a confirmed labor union you fall under the legal protections of the NLRA. So in general, an argument supporting unionization is that in America a labor union is all you have when it comes to true workplace democracy. All other methods are ultimately controlled by the employer and can be changed or brought to an end whenever they feel like it. Enforcing these right and prohibited employers from committing unfair labor practices that might discourage organizing or prevent workers from negotiating a union contract.
I wouldn’t attend the meeting invite that was presented to me because I don’t feel like I would want to join a union.
The labor market has evolved and labor unions are becoming less and less relevant in today's economy. In case you get into trouble with management you can always go to human resources or to the government for assistance. No one should be forced to join a union. According to the reading of Labor Relations, “The opening section of the Norris-LaGuardia Act established that government recognized that the job is more important to a worker than a worker is to a corporation.” Joining a union is a personal decision. Good companies and certain industries are never unionized. A good company will take care of their employees because it is the right thing to do. There is no need to create a fight and everyone can discuss issues and cooperate. When a company decides that it's their money and therefore their way or else, then workers need a little help from each other. Joining the union, the pay would only increase to cover the cost of the dues. There would be no more "open door policies and all issues would have to go through your union representative. In my opinion, if I don't think my job is treating me well, I have the ability to negotiate myself and leave for another job if necessary. Keeping in mind though that your employer can still terminate you for other reasons if you are an at will employee. For example, you don't have an employment contract, and your position
is not covered by a collective bargaining agreement, so you are not in a labor union.