Labor Unions Essay

The union then negotiates with their employers on behalf of the workers. There are many advantages and disadvantages of being involved in a union both for the employees and employers. However, it’s imperative that a worker belongs to a labor union and in most countries, its legal and much advocated for that a worker belongs to a union for the protection of their own rights. Employers are also advised to have their workers unionized to avoid confrontations and unnecessary disputes with their workers. This therefore adds weight to the reasons why these unions are important. This is to ensure that workers are protected from abuse by their employers. It also accords them an opportunity to pursue justice in case they feel that their employers are unfair.

Families receive better benefits through the help of labor unions. Benefits like medical care are a struggle to the non-unionized. When family care is considered, union workers had 89%of their benefits costs covered by their employers while non-unionized workers had just 66% of their benefit costs covered2. The result of high wages above markets rate increases production costs. Companies will pass on the cost of these higher wages to consumers through higher prices and this result in reduced sales, revenue, and competitiveness. Employers will also be forced to reduce the number of workers or to outsource the work to countries with cheaper costs of labor due to the pressure caused by extensively high wages. These in return lead to high costs of living and unemployment levels go high as a result of companies scale down on labor force due to the high wage bill of many workers.