We don’t need unions anymore
It is a hot issue discussed widely whether American workers still need unions or not. People hold different ideas on it. Some people support it, considering it can probably benefits the workers, while others oppose this action from the perspective of the company, because they
think it will be harmful to the company financial ability or it will not even work for workers. It is possible that unions were really needed during the 19th and early 20th Century to give hard working Americans rights and security. But are unions really needed in the modern workplace? Definitely not,we don’t need unions anymore. In fact, in today’s unbalanced economic climate, they’re more worthless, even harmful than ever. Let’s examine some of the benefits and see why they are now cancers.
Firstly, unions are making people ignore the employees’ unique talents and skills. With no denying, machines has took most of the manufacturing works nowadays, those repetitive works are no longer available for normal workers, even they are, the oversea labors are much cheaper than domestic ones. Mr. James Sherk, now the senior policy analyst in labor economics at The Heritage Foundation, pointed out that “Employer now want employees with individual insights and abilities.” 《Sherk, 652》Sadly it is not a goal of any unions. While union raising the wage, somewhere people are suffering for being “balanced”。 “Union-negotiated, seniority-based promotions and raises feel like chains to workers who want to get ahead.”《Sherk, 652》 Possibly the original union organizers had a good intention, but now, unions are real cancers. Are there any differences between such unionized workers and machines? Hopefully yes.Union supporters are claiming that workers need freedom, but which is better, keep improving yourself or stay “balanced” and one day get kicked out of the society
for being useless? Meanwhile, the low quality of workers will finally cause the company bankrupt. And of course, people can’t blame unions since it was they themselves
who voted to be “represented”。
Another point is that unions are not authoritative
enough. While John Lewis claimed that unionization is opposed to communism and“it recognizes fully and unreservedly the institution of private property“《Lewis, 647》。Former National Labor Relations Board member Charles Cohen testified before Congress: “In my experience, agreements unions made are almost always the product of external leverage by unions, rather than an internal groundswell from unrepresented employees.” What if they are just paying themselves high fees for little or even no work? Who’s going to make sure unions are doing their jobs? Who’s going to protect unions from mafias and other threats? According to a congressional research made by Gerald Mayer, the union membership as a percentage of total U.S. labor force has decreased about 50% in the last 20 years. Obviously the lack of supervision and all of those concerns are leading to the loss of credibility of unions now, and it will only get worse in the future.
Wait! Who’s going to protect workers from being unfairly treated if we just abandon the unions? From a union man’s view, Fielding Poe argued that “Sometimes everyone needs a defender and an advocate.” 《Poe, 651》 Yes it’s true we need a strong supporter, but on contrary to “if your employer or customer could get away with paying you 50 cents per hour, they would” 《Poe, 651》， from the perspective of the greater market, the companies and the workers are actually fighting for the same goal,
that is, to make profit and live. In this case, there is only one way for those labor-intensive companies to live----be nice to all the workers and let them work with full passion. The better companies are doing, the better they would treat their employees, and vice versa. Are there any need to take risk of making the workers sleepy and lazy or even get on strike so that the companies can save that little currency? Absolutely not, the better benefit can always encourage workers to do better jobs. In other words, companies are now forced to be nice to their workers, or they will not be able to win the competition with other companies. From this point of view, workers themselves are the strongest back shields, what they need to do is work harder and let the company know how important it is to keep such a profitable worker. And yes, no need for unions.
The American dream could be built on workers unionized for the right to work. ----the right to work with their dignity, the right to work as a part of their lives freely. However, no matter low efficiency with high wages or other unrespect concerns are unacceptable. Besides even if there are some acts passing to manage the unions, it’s much better to solve the problems from the point. But since unions still have many supporters now, we cannot yet abandon the whole unions system or make any desirable points which satisfy everyone. Thus the question still remains anyways
Works cited
1: Sherk. James.
“Do Americans today still need labor unions?” Practical Argument: A Text and
Anthology. Ed: Laurie Kirszner. Stephen R. Mandell. Boston. Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2011. Page 652-654. Print.
2:”So called
’Neutrality’” Unionfacts.com, n.p. n.d. Web. 15 June. 2014.
3: Lewis. John.
“Labor and the nation” Practical Argument: A Text and Anthology. Ed: Laurie
Kirszner. Stephen R. Mandell. Boston. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. Page 645-649.
Print.
4. Mayer. Gerald. “Union
membership trends in the United States”。 Washington, DC: Congressional Research
Service. 2004. Web. 20 June. 2014
5. Poe. Fielding. ”Watch
out for stereotypes of labor unions” Practical Argument: A Text and
Anthology. Ed: Laurie Kirszner. Stephen R. Mandell. Boston. Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2011. Page 650-651. Print.