What Are the Benefits of a Union Shop?

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Union Organizing Issues

What are the differences from the employer's viewpoint, in operating a union-free environment vs. A unionized environment?

Eric Dontigney, writing in the Houston Chronicle for Demand Media, explains that while unions do provide certain benefits to employees, including legal representation and pensions, unions do not "necessarily represent a panacea to all the woes of working life" (Dontigney, 2015). Non-unionized workplaces also provide advantages to business owners as well as employees, and in fact business owners operating in non-unionized workplaces enjoy what Dontigney calls "…considerably more freedom in the dismissal process."

When there is a union, there can be long-drawn-out formal processes involved in dismissing (firing) an employee. But without a union, Dontigney explains that business owners "avoid" those long drawn-out dismissal proceedings, and business owners can "…dismiss employees for contract violations" and owners can simply decide not to renew a worker's contract or "…simply end employment without specific reason" (p. 1). Because management can move "easily" to fire employees that have failed to be productive, or employees that are "disruptive" in the workplace, having a non-union workplace has its advantages for management and business owners.

Maintaining what Dontigney calls a "congenial work environment" is always important in terms of productivity and profitability for a business, and when there is no union this atmosphere is easier to create (p. 1). Moreover, a business owner in a non-union workplace doesn't have to deal with pre-determined raises and promotions that union can impose on businesses. For example, Dontigney mentioned that unions negotiate deals in which the person with the most time on a particular job gets the promotion, "rather than the person with the best chance of doing the job successfully" (p. 1). Hence, in a non-union environment management can promote a worker based on ability not longevity; "merit-based promotions can prove very effective in moving talent" into positions that the business management sees as most pivotal (p.

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1).

Also, in a non-union shop employees can go directly to a manager or foreman or executive and be his or her own negotiator for a raise, for a better benefit package or for a more favorable position within the company. But unions "tie the hands of both employers and employees" when it comes to benefits, contracts and wages, because union leadership is the "sole representative for employees," and all interaction with management comes from union leaders, Dontigney (p. 2).

Pros and Cons -- Unions vs. Non-Unions: Journalist Flora Richards-Gustafson writes that in a unionized workforce, employees get higher wages as a general rule. The author of another article in the Houston Chronicle points out that the "increase in wages may come at the expense of fewer jobs"; that said, union workers are likely to get more benefits than workers in a non-union environment (p. 2). While it is true that union members are in general paid more than non-union workers, union workers pay dues, and those dues can be fairly steep so it can take away from the fact that union workers get higher wages.

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