Essay on Labour Unions

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Organizational Environments Differences between a Unionized and Non-unionized Workplace
&
Unions in Canadian Workplace

Sara Soltanzadeh
Fairleigh Dickinson University
842,Cambie street ,Vancouver

Sarah.s@student.fdu.edu

July 16, 2013

A union is an organization of workers joined together for a common purpose, for mutual aid and protection, to engage in concerted activity and collective bargaining, to elevate their conditions of life and labor. It is an organization by which ordinary people come together to accomplish extraordinary things. By joining together, we have more of a say in our working lives. With a union we can negotiate with our employers for better wages and benefits, fair treatment, safe working conditions and a harassment-free workplace. These goals can be achieved because of the strength which comes from our unity- a very old and widely used concept. Groups have the potential to recognize the power that comes from joining together to work toward common goals. [1] Unions are based on the idea that a group is stronger than an individual. We join unions to further our common goals. Through unions we achieve a strong voice, one that cannot be easily dismissed by management.
Multifaceted challenges can arise when in a unionized environment. The biggest is being flexibility. Most union workers like to work for a stipulated time period and they take in-between breaks during the day, irrespective of the workload. This makes it difficult for managers to influx new ideas of working, as all changes must be in compliance to the union. This kind of an environment might adversely affect mutual exchange of work areas, in cases where seasonal changes are required. Secondly communication can pose a problem in some cases. It has been seen in many occasions that individual opinions are not taken into consideration and not all the members of the union are included in meetings and discussions. In other cases people have been seen to misuse the liberty and norms that the Union has to offer, mostly pertaining to sick leaves .Many workers misuse these “leaves”.
Moreover to all the above problems a nice workfriendly environment can be created mostly by following these cardinal points: 1. It is quite obvious that the laws in a unionized work are complicated, Therefore It' is mandatory that all workers acclimatize themselves with the union laws and A thorough understanding of the contract is a must. This will in turn help all the workers to understand the true nature of al discussions and help them in questionnaire sessions. 2. It is highly recommended that all the workers always comply to the union’s demands and act as a partner .Going against a particular union won’t solve any particular issue. Mutual understanding is a prime requisite so that communications can be smooth and ideas can flow. 3. It is a fact that in most cases managers only communicate with union representatives when there is a hiatus. Thus a trustworthy relationship fails to be built. The higher authority should take initiative to interact with all the people in order to build a certain level of understanding. 4. Lastly, it should be kept in mind that the union fulfills a vital role for employees. Managers should avoid a pessimistic thought that union representatives are always wrong and they always cause problems. All the positive changes made by the union must be respected and appreciated and these ideas should always be taken into consideration in cases where negotiations are to be made.

Research conducted by the Canadian Labor Congress, Leger and Nanos clearly shows that Canadians views on unions are not reflected in Canada’s tax and labor laws. No other country still allows union leaders to operate like they do in Canada. Canadian union leaders have a number of powers and
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