Negatives+of+Unions


 * What are some of the problems with unions today? Do they hold back economic growth and productivity? Should unions have the right to strike?**

Unions generally dont like change and are almost afraid of it fearing that their world and ideas will dissapear. this phobia of progress is not economically viable in any developed nation especially Australia with its economy moving forward in leaps and bounds due to the demands of China and the subsequent mining boom. Also many Unions seek to have an obligation for their members to only be in full time work again showing its aged views that true blue australians have full time employment when most of society now view casual employment as a normal thing suited to a type of lifestyle. Another negative of unions is that as older members of society wish to re-enter the workforce due to the skills shortages unions block them 'a lot of our people want to offer part-time employment to older workers, but union regulations and union attitudes won't allow it.' http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bigidea/stories/s1097588.htm One of the main reasons for workers to make unions is for a pay increase and yes maybe through that unions efforts they do get a pay rise. However the union's taxing of its members will most probably eliminate most if not all of that pay increase. in the word of one nurse recruter 'On a long-term basis, unions can mean less money. Unions negotiate through collective bargaining agreements. They often times go for several years, and are so rigid that they can be prohibitive to hospitals that want to improve wages. For example, I was recruiting EEG techs at a facility in Minnesota. My client was paying approximately $5 below market. I advised my client to increase the compensation, so they approached the union about wanting to increase the wages for EEG techs. The union said that the wages would only be approved if the increase applied to every employee in the hospital. Obviously management balked at the offer, and all of the EEG techs have quit since that time. The facility is now fully staffed by traveling EEG techs.' http://www.nurse-forum.com/nurses-6667-0.html

The top two reasons why employees form a union is low pay and poor working conditions. In the nursing profession, poor working conditions are usually associated with the shortage of nurses. This makes the nurse to patient ratio difficult to manage. On wages, basic economics tells us that when the supply of nurses goes down and the demand for nurses increases, then the price for their services should go up. The average wage for nurses has been increasing by 10-25% a year for the last several years.

Also it sometimes expensive to join a union and by the examples above it sometimes can be more of a disadvantage having a connection to a union (some bosses do dislike the fact there is a third-party involved) with increase of wages. This can be clearly seen in the case above in relation to the nurse where she tried to get a pay increase with the unions help but the hospital rejected the claim because if they put her wages up they must put everybody’s wages up. So there was no increase. But the average wage for nurses has been increasing by 10-25% a year for the last several years. So there was no need for a union.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++] Each of the “editions” of the Accord (and there were eight of them) specified how, when and where pay improvements could be secured. Pay rises were no longer won - they were awarded and any union which tried to step outside the very strict stipulations of the Accord was quickly and severely punished. The airline pilots' dispute in 1989 is the most obvious example of the Government response to rogue union action, though there were a number of others.

In August 1996, 31% of the work force were in unions, according to statistics released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on February 3, compared to 33% in August 1995. Ten years ago the figure was 46%. There has also been a decline in absolute numbers of unionised workers. In August, 2.19 million workers were in unions, compared with 2.28 million in August 1995. Ninety thousand workers have left unions in just one year. The rate of decline of union membership has also increased in the '90s. In the 1980s the percentage of union membership fell by 1% a year; since 1992 it has fallen by 2% a year. The unions are facing a huge crisis. Why is union membership falling, and what can be done about it? When I worked as a recruitment officer with the communications union, I encountered a number of responses from workers which helped to explain the answers to these questions. For a while I concentrated on recruiting workers in the Telstra shops. There are 16 shops in metropolitan Sydney. My job was to join administrative officers, customer sales officers and technicians to the union. I would rock up to a workplace and introduce myself as being from the union. Then I would chat and listen to what they had to say about their work, about their views on Telstra and what they thought of unions. The majority of workers (about 60%) were neutral or semi-apathetic. There was a small group of anti-union workers, who had had a bad experience or believed unions were bad. And there was an even smaller group who strongly supported unions and were in favour of collectivity. Workers would say that unions do nothing; unions are troublemakers and strike too much. I also heard the more realistic criticism that unions are too close to management. Staff I met would say, ``Look, I don't need a union. I can look after myself. I can just get a promotion." Others would say, ``I'm disillusioned. Nothing can be done. Why should I join a union?" Many workers could not see the advantage of being in a union; many were very individualistic and others felt that little could be done. It is hardly surprising that workers felt these things after 13 years of the ALP-ACTU Accord, under which their working lives worsened and little campaigning occurred. Working people are not dumb, and they have learned a few lessons. The fact that union leaderships have not led, and have in fact hampered, many struggles has led to many workers asking why they should fight, if they are going to lose anyway. I remember one worker telling me,``What can we do? Look at what happened in Victoria. They tried there, but they lost." Why do workers join unions? Workers join unions largely to have their jobs protected, so that their working lives can be improved, so they can have some dignity and hope. They don't join for discount goods. If workers wanted to buy cheap goods, they could go to a Grace Brothers stocktake sale. Union membership is falling because workers have no confidence that their jobs and working conditions will be protected, let alone improved. The ALP's Accord -- which meant that real wages were slashed, conditions traded off and struggles suffocated -- was devastating for union membership. It led to a decline in struggles and campaigns, and the consequence of this is the loss of a whole generation of union activists. Young people today are the hardest to join to unions. Most barely know what a union is. Many workers believe the union-bashing in the //Daily Telegraph,// for example -- that unions cause trouble and strike too much, even though strikes are at their lowest for 40 years. Workers cannot contrast this propaganda with a visible, public, mobilised workers' movement. They believe it, and it becomes an obstacle to them joining a union. One reason often given for the decline in union membership is the structural change which is occurring in many industries. More and more work is part time and casual in nature. The size of the highly unionised public service has been reduced. These changes have occurred across all western societies. Yet in Canada, for example, there has not been a decline in union membership because the unions have responded to the changes. The fact that these changes have occurred is symptomatic of unions not seriously campaigning to defend permanent work and the public service. To increase union membership, a serious fight is needed to combat the Howard and employer offensive, of which the passing of the Workplace Relations Act is just the beginning. We don't need a token fight, like after August 19, when unions did nothing to stop the bill, but a sustained campaign to show workers that unions will defend their interests and restore hope that things can be won. Opportunities for militant grassroots campaigns are certainly there. But don't be too surprised when the union membership figures come out again next year, and have fallen again.
 * It should come as little surprise that union membership has fallen yet again. The percentage of workers who are in unions has been declining for more than 20 years now.**

In 1953, 63 per cent of the Australian workforce was unionised, making it one of the highest percentages in the world. A steady decline set in and by 1982 the percentage had dropped to 55 percent. From then on the decline became acute. By 1990 the percentage had dropped to 41 per cent and this decline shows no sign of abating. Now it is about 40 percent of the workforce. By the end of this decade it could be down to 30 percent and early in the next century the percentage of unions in the workforce be as low as 20 percent, if the present rate of decline continues. -- Unions played an important part in the formation and the development of the Australian Labor Party. It has often been elected to government, both federally and in the states, of Australia. The Labor Party link gave the unions the strength to pressure it to introduce pro-union legislation. --
 * There is a growing feeling in the community, that some unions are not interested in a strong economy or a democratic society.


 * Above all, unions of the future will not attract members if they are tied to a totalitarian foreign power, like the former Soviet Union.


 * Too many small and ineffective unions. It is believed that like in Germany who only has 19 unions, if Australia decided to have a smaller and more dedicated ammount of unions, then they can pay greater attention and exert more resources into the Australian cummity.**

Much as I'd rather not accept it, while unions have done a lot of good and have helped workers avoid exploitation, they also seem to have helped //workers// exploit //employers//. Perhaps it has been a gradual shift over time, with unions slowly accumulating more and more power. (Perhaps not -- again, I welcome [|your thoughts].) Unions can have the power to impede a company's ability to compete and thrive. A firm might be in desperate trouble, yet its unions may be unwilling to bend or compromise in order to help the company survive. Many employers find themselves left very inflexible when they have union contracts to abide by. Some more problems with unions: > > *Because there are so many unions, many Australians do not know where to start, what to invest in and who to trust.
 * Why unions are problematic**
 * Anti-competitiveness. The Socialstudieshelp.com website suggests that, "unions. are victims of their own success. Unions raised their wages substantially above the wages paid to nonunion workers. Therefore, many union-made products have become so expensive that sales were lost to less expensive foreign competitors and nonunion producers."
 * A decline in the value of merit. In many union settings, workers can't advance much or at all on their merits, but must generally progress within the limits defined by union contracts. Employers may have trouble weeding out ineffective employees if they belong to unions. In theory, at least, unionized workers might become so comfortable and protected that they lose the incentive to work hard for their employer. And outstanding employees might lose their get-up-and-go if there's no incentive to excel -- or worse, if they're pressured by the union to not go the extra mile.

Another problem with unions today has arisen from their high wages. They used their power and fought in order to get their wages higher than that of non-union workers, so know due to their high wages, the price of the products made by them are also much more expansive than that of less expensive foreign competitors. This in turn caused the sale of their products to drop as more consumers were buying the less expensive foreign made products. In work places of unions, workers can not exactly advance or move forward as they have to progress only within the limits defined by the union contracts. Along with this, union workers are generally hard to fire as they are protected by the union. With knowledge of this protection, workers belonging to unions may simply choose not to work as hard as they could or even to their ability. **
 * What are some of the problems with unions today? Do they hold back economic growth and productivity? Should unions have the right to strike? **
 *  As unions have gained more and more power over the years, many employers these days find it very hard when in desperate trouble to save their company and yet the unions are unwilling to compromise to help save the business. Unions in these types of cases cause employers to be left stranded when they have these union contracts to abide by.
 *  Yes, unions do hold back economic growth. They do not like change and do their best to stop workers excelling. **
 *  In cases where the work conditions are unfair then yes unions should have the right to strike, however, union workers are generally those who have the best working conditions. They receive better pay and have more flexibility. Union workers should not need to go on strike; it is simply a matter of greed in most places when unions do go on strike.

---Mallory---

**  Are unions good or bad? Now having made the above points, I want to clarify that there are many good things that unions accomplish. Unions can be very effective in establishing communication and protocols between employees and management. Bottom line, the success of your union depends on the strength of union management and the unions understanding of the healthcare industry. They must have experience working in industries that have experiences dramatic shortages. Unions were incredibly useful back when Jimmy Hoffa started them. However, their need is passed, along with the rise of human rights

Unions cause inflation, since their effect is to artificially increase wages. As a result, employees can immediately afford more. By buying more, demand increases faster then does supply, so the price goes up restore the balance. And then, the employees can no longer afford the product. So the union goes on strike, and the whole cycle starts again.

Unions cause un-employment, because they drive up wages, and companies can no longer afford to employ as many workers. So, they lay off.

Unions force all members to tote the union line. Meaning to work for a firm that has a union, you MUST go on strike when they want, you MUST pay union dues, and you lose your individuality to excel at work and get paid and promoted more than others doing the same job  5 negatives of unions:   1.  You have to pay union dues. 2. You are sometimes restricted in what you can say or do about work-related situations. 3. You may have to go on strike when you don't want to. 4. You have to accept union decisions when you may not necessarily agree with them. 5. You sometimes cannot freely speak out against the union without serious repercussions.   Unions can go both ways. They can be good for something’s and worse for others. It depends what situation you are in as well. Kate =)