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Example research essay topic: 19 Th Century Labor Unions - 1,046 words

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The growth of labor unions around the world have provided a more secure work environment for many workers. This was not always the case. Still today many workers are not receiving the proper payment or working conditions. Labor Union is an association of workers that seeks to improve the economic and social well being of its members through group action. A labor union represents its member negotiations with an employer over all aspects of an employment contract, including wages and working conditions. By giving workers a united voice, a union can try to negotiate higher wages, shorter hours, and better benefits.

Benefits such as insurance and retirement plans. When an employer and union cannot reach a mutual decisions through a bargaining the union may conduct a strike. A strike is an organized work stoppage. In many countries, labor unions have official affiliations with political partie and seek to bring about social change through legislative and political action. The United States has a tradition of so called business unionism, In which the main goal of the labor union is to improve wages and working conditions. Unions in the United States often engage in political activities.

These political activities include lobbying for legislation that furthers the aims of the labor movement and providing financial support candidate that are friendly to union causes. The first association of workers, merchant associations and craft associations, formed during the Middle Ages in Europe. Merchant associations, which arose in the 11 th century consisted of the merchants and traders in a city who banded together. Craft associations, first formed in the 12 th century, that included people who were engaged in particular craft, ad they gradually deprived merchant associations of their power.

In time the members of the crafts unions organized their own associations to seek higher wages and improved working conditions. These associations are considered the forerunners of labor unions because of their emphasis on wages and the working conditions. The earliest actual labor unions arose in Western Europe and the United States at the end of the 18 th century and the beginning of the 19 th century. They were formed be skilled crafts workers in reaction to the rapid changes in the economic environment brought about by industrialization. The concentration of work in large factories left workers increasingly dependent upon their employers. The early labor unions in Europe encountered resistance from employers and government.

In England, laws were passed in 1800 declaring tat combinations of workers to improve their wages or hours were illegal conspiracies in restraint of trade. Similar restrictive labor laws were passed in other European countries. Gradually social reforms pressed for laws to relieve the effects of industrialization on workers. England passed a law requiring government factory inspectors in 1833. France made a child labor law in 1841 and that following year Austria did the same.

Resistance from employers made many early labor laws ineffective. In the early 19 th century all aspects of the employment contract, including wages and hours of work. This usually resulted from direct negotiation between employers and individual workers, Because of the imbalance of power which favored employers. Labor unions began to form In the 19 th century to help relieve the damaging effects of industrialization on workers. Most important the long hours and low pay that factory work entailed. The earliest organization of workers in the United States appeared in New York City, Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania, shortly before percent of wage earners there.

Unions represented about 25 percent of Germany's nonagricultural workforce and about 65 percent of Italy's. Traditionally, there have been two main types of labor unions in the United States, craft unions and industrial unions. A craft union organizes workers employed in the same occupation, regardless of where they work. Examples of craft unions are electricians and carpenters. The American Federation of Labor (AFL), which formed in 1886, became the countrys first organization of craft unions.

The second type of union, the industrial union, organizes all workers in a particular industry, regardless of the workers class. Examples of industrial unions includes the American Steel Industry and the United Mine Workers of America. These unions organize all workers in the steel industry and in the mining industry, respectively regardless of the workers particular tasks. The Committee for Industrial Organization, formed within the AFL in 1935. In the United States, workers can become members of a union by voting to certify a union as their collective bargaining agent.

Voting typically occurs after thirty percent of the workers petition for a certification election. The union wins the right to represent the workers if it obtains the votes of fifty percent on more of the workers who will make up he bargaining unit. If the union wins the certification election, management has a legal obligation to bargain in good faith with the union chosen by the workers. Workers who become dissatisfied with their union representation can use the same process to petition for a de-certification election.

Some states give workers the right not to join a union, even if they work in a unionized establishment. These laws, called the right- to- work laws, prohibit unions from requiring that workers become union members as a condition of employment in unionized firms. In 2000, twenty one states had right-to-work laws. Due to the fact that in the United States can freely choose whether to join unions, economists argue that workers will vote for certification only if the union can make the worker better off. The key thing is that improvements in employment conditions come with a price. The unions demands for higher wages, shorter hours, or more valuable benefits typically raise the firms costs of production.

These higher costs may encourage the firm to cut back on its employment or lay off some workers by subcontracting with cheaper labor markets in other states or counties. A union is not always a good thing. If everyone only worked eight hour days not much would get done. Do to the auto industry being part of the union the domestic car companies where not able to compete with the foreign car producers. Teachers, farmers, business managers etc. work more then the designated hours.

There is a good side to the growth in the union and a bad side.


Free research essays on topics related to: labor laws, labor unions, working conditions, 19 th century, higher wages

Research essay sample on 19 Th Century Labor Unions

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