Why We Need Unions
17 May 2011
Why We Still Need Unions Labor unions have been around since the late 1700’s, but they were not always recognized as unions. Originally they were just a group of people banded together to get their voices heard. The strengthening of the carpenters, and other trades people, made an appearance in America in the 1866s found on aflcio.org labor history time line (“labor”). During this time, workers came together to reduce the working day and fight for safer working conditions. As the years continued so did the unions. They fought for workers rights, not only shorter work days and better working conditions, but they also fought for fair wages, days off, paid vacations, unemployment, and workman’s compensation. All the great benefits we have in our work places today, that we take for granted. Most people do not remember or even know what the unions have done for us. A union has unlimited benefits but the main benefit is a union will fight for the needs of an employee, reduce unemployment and give a worker benefits he otherwise would have to pay for. The unions have given the common worker a voice in the work place, helped keep the middle class from being eliminated, increase productivity in companies, and so much more. How can there be so many anti-union groups of people, when the union does so much good for the everyday America? Countries with stronger union relationships show increases in production and decreases in unemployment compared to the state side industries. The union’s skilled workers and demand for rightful pay keeps this country from becoming a country of rich and poor. It also prevents the squeezing out of the middle class. Unionized companies keep management and shareholders from being overpaid while the people that break their backs get almost nothing. In the United States on average a CEO makes 17.5 times the amount of the everyday hard working American who works full time. On average, Japan’s CEO’s only makes 11.6 times more
Why We Still Need Unions Labor unions have been around since the late 1700’s, but they were not always recognized as unions. Originally they were just a group of people banded together to get their voices heard. The strengthening of the carpenters, and other trades people, made an appearance in America in the 1866s found on aflcio.org labor history time line (“labor”). During this time, workers came together to reduce the working day and fight for safer working conditions. As the years continued so did the unions. They fought for workers rights, not only shorter work days and better working conditions, but they also fought for fair wages, days off, paid vacations, unemployment, and workman’s compensation. All the great benefits we have in our work places today, that we take for granted. Most people do not remember or even know what the unions have done for us. A union has unlimited benefits but the main benefit is a union will fight for the needs of an employee, reduce unemployment and give a worker benefits he otherwise would have to pay for. The unions have given the common worker a voice in the work place, helped keep the middle class from being eliminated, increase productivity in companies, and so much more. How can there be so many anti-union groups of people, when the union does so much good for the everyday America? Countries with stronger union relationships show increases in production and decreases in unemployment compared to the state side industries. The union’s skilled workers and demand for rightful pay keeps this country from becoming a country of rich and poor. It also prevents the squeezing out of the middle class. Unionized companies keep management and shareholders from being overpaid while the people that break their backs get almost nothing. In the United States on average a CEO makes 17.5 times the amount of the everyday hard working American who works full time. On average, Japan’s CEO’s only makes 11.6 times more
Cited: FreedomWorks, 04 Mar. 2011. Web. 05 Apr. 2011. Dray, Philip. There Is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America. New York: Doubleday, 2010 ERLICH, MARK. "Holding the Union Together When the Economy Is Coming Apart." Dissent 58.1 (2011): 66-71 Klein, Ezra. "Do We Still Need Unions? Yes." Newsweek 7 Mar. 2011: 18. Expanded Academic ASAP Miller, George. "Employee Free Choice." The Nation 282.5 6 Mar. 2006: 17. Academic Search Premier Richards, Lawrence. Union-free America: Workers and Antiunion Culture. Urbana: University of Illinois, 2008