Labour Union Pros And Cons

Labour unions were created under the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt to protect workers during the Great Depression. At the time, many companies would give workers low paying jobs with longer hours, usually in unsafe conditions with poor treatment and few benefits. Unions were created to strengthen the say of employees and fight back against the practices of these companies through the Wagner Act of 1935, which allowed employees to create or join unions to collectively bargain with their employers. Additionally, the act created a National Labor Relations Board which heard and resolved labour disputes, prevents unfair labour practices, discriminating against workers in unions and stops employees from refusing to bargain with employees.
The Taft-Hartley Act prohibited the use of closed shops, where employees could only hire members in good standing within their trade union, as well as prohibiting agency shops, where employees must pay labour dues regardless of if they are in the union and specifying what constituted as “unfair labour practices”. Modifying that was the Landrum-Griffin Act, which instituted federal penalties for members that didn’t pay dues to make unions a more democratic process and stop the influence of organized crime, and gave greater freedom to the states to set their own labour relation laws.
Nowadays, most members of unions belong to one of two organizations, the American Federation of Labor–Congress of Industrial Organizations or the Change to Win Federation, where both continue to work with advancing policies that support workers in the United States and Canada. Yet unlike the early 1900s, only 11.7% of the workforce currently remains in unions, with that number steadily dropping, many think due to the rise of workers in the private sector. Other reasons for the decline may include the globalization of the market, technological changes and the decrease in manufacturing within the United