Today many people have a motivation to attend school and later college to become educated and eventually be able to get a job that they will be able to support themselves and possibly their families with. However, this has not always been the case. Work prior to the Industrial Revolution for most meant labor intensive jobs working in the fields and growing their own food. The only training given was on the job training. Not many people went to college and few graduated from high school. Once the Industrial Revolution took root, people started to shift towards moving to the city and working in factories that would mass produce various important goods, like cars. Although these were still labor intensive jobs, they were a step up for most because of their increased wages. Eventually this type of “factory work” changed and evolved with the creation of labor unions.
Labor unions back then held meetings to discuss working conditions with the company the employees worked for as well as wages. At first, many companies made labor unions illegal. In fact, Henry Ford himself is to have believed to have a goon squad that would go around trying to break labor unions up within his company. However, membership in labor unions today is sometimes required in order to be employed with certain companies. But, recently the state where many of these labor unions were founded, Michigan, is slowly fading away. With the creation of new legislature called the Right to Work laws, it is now illegal to require financial support of a union as a condition of employment in Michigan as well as twenty-three others. Indiana, a neighboring state to Michigan, has seen vast improvements in their job market by passing the Right to Work laws. However, several labor unions like the AFL-CIO disputes the claims of Indiana’s increased job market by saying it was bound to happen for other reasons. What do you think about the decline of labor unions? Do you think that they are important in how our culture has been shaped? Do you think they are a necessary component and should be mandatory that all workers be a part of?
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/28/right-to-work-impact-uncertain/2026755/
Labor unions have brought us many benefits, including better working conditions and higher wages. However, as David Brooks points out, some issues do arise in the matter of public sector vs. private sector unions.
ReplyDeleteI believe labor unions were very beneficial, in the past. When there were no laws or regulations in the workforce it was necessary for the workers to get what they needed. Now, with so many laws and regulations protecting the workers today, I believe required support of unions is a bit overkill. If you want to be a part of the union then by all means, go for it, but if you do not support what they stand for then I do not see how it is right to require monthly dues to the union just to stay employed.
ReplyDelete