Regulation of Unions Essay

Unions will then be highlighted with their roles, functions, and advantages and disadvantages are given. The roles are quite important as they will determine whether the stand taken is the right one based on facts that will be provided. The essay will then continue and focus on industrial relation policies which are quite important aspects of people who are employed with the different types and their importance being highlighted. One particular industrial policy will then be selected and analyzed in detail and recommendations on how the government can handle it will then be given. The essay will then end with a conclusion made from the thoughts brought out in the essay. Unions A union is a worker’s organization whose members aim to achieve goals that are common by coming together.

Some of these goals usually include better salaries and wages for the members, improvement of the safety standards, improved working conditions and benefits and protection of the trade’s integrity (Cooper & Ellem, 540). This creates a monopoly of the workers which they wield and use as their bargaining power. Like any other form of organization, it has leaders with different ranks who are usually voted in and it is these leaders who hold talks and bargain with employers on behalf of its members. It also has a constitution that details their governance and to which members have to subscribe. Criticisms Unions have been accused of increasing the cost to employers which has resulted in outsourcing to other countries where the cost of production will be cheaper and this will result in unemployment in the affected country.

Another accusation is that unions tend to only benefit its members at the expense of other people including workers who are non-members and the consumers. There are also claims that some union leaders may insight other unions in order to leverage themselves to get paid or better deals. How Unions Fight for Rights Unions use different methods in order to push for their agendas. Collective bargaining is one such method in which the management and union leaders come together and discuss the terms and conditions (Cooper & Ellem, 540). The government regulation also helps in ensuring accountability although it seems prudent that the time and money invested in regulating unions should have been invested in industrial relations policy changes and legislation. However, it is improved relations in the workplace that are needed instead of regulations Industrial Relations (IR) This can be defined as the relationship that exists in a workplace setting between employers and employees and is mostly associated with unions.

It examines the various situations that exist in the relationship between an employer and employee. It has three perspectives which view the employer-employee relationship differently. The pluralist perspective brings up the existence of different groups in an organization each having set goals and their own leaders and the groups are usually unions and the employers. Some of these countries have policies put in place and have set policies which ensures that certain jobs are only reserved for their citizens and that migrants can only do other jobs. Although these policies are to serve and protect the interests of their citizens, they are outdated and a barrier to global integration. The governments should pass legislation that put in place policies that allow migrant requires with the proper skill set to be able to work in fields that they qualify to work in.

Policies should also be put in place to ensure that migrant workers receive equal benefits as citizens and if they get stable employment can allow passage for their families. The construction industry benefitted from the passing of the fairworks bill although its implementation was a challenge. For a long time, society expected men to do some kind of jobs while women would mostly stay at home. However, this changed and women receive education the same as men and thus are eligible to do jobs that men do. There have however been many cases of complaints in which women claim they are given easier work while men are given the harder work. This is disadvantageous to them as it makes the men get promotions while they stagnate.

Another issue is the maternity leave in which men face inequality as the issue of paternity leave is not being observed by most companies. Demographics of a country also influence this policy especially in countries where the aging population is high coupled with declining fertilities; Setting up of breastfeeding areas and daycares at work is also a good benefit of these policies. Other policies which should, however, be considered include leave options for elderly care and paternal allowances and leave since most of the policies tend to favor women. The governments this need to focus on these policies in order to avoid people leaving their jobs in order to take care of their families. Enforcement of these policies by the governments has not been enforced which has resulted in scenarios where workers taking maternity leave are only paid for only a few numbers of months they are on leave and not all (Baird, 263).

Furthermore, parental leave entitlement access can be a very complicated exercise which is tiresome and thus the government should make efforts and legislation to streamline this process. Conclusion Industrial relation policies are important as they guide the manner through which the relationship between employers and employees will go. Australia has done a number of legislation and even passed the Fair Work Bill in order to deal with these issues. It, however, puts a lot of focus on the regulation of unions as opposed to dealing with current issues of industrial relation policies. There should be a law that deals with the workplace setting and penalties for any contraventions should be put in place. The current policies should also be subjected to scrutiny as they are not clearly being enforced a good example is that one of maternity and parental leave.