Impact of Unions on Employee and Employer Relation

Employer or employee, both remain Men, but the only difference is that one works for the other under specified and agreed on conditions that must be fulfilled to ensure mutual satisfaction of both parties. However, often on one side or the other, often happens that the terms or conditions that were to serve as the basis of the work agreement are often baffled at the expense of the other party, hence leading inevitably to controversies of varied amplitude and nature. This then in turn encourages negative workplace relationships, lack of satisfaction, and organizational attachment. There then appears to be a crucial need to regulate this employer-employee relationship (also known as an employment relationship) to avoid abuse, hence trade unions become vital to ensure the protection and enhancement of interest of workers at their respective workplaces (Introduction to trading unions | indirect).?

A high drop in membership has been experienced by most European trade unions, throughout the last few decades and brought about in 2007 economic and financial crisis, however not sufficient for a clear resolution on the stability position of trade unions (Pochet, 2015). So according to pocket, we then turn to question ourselves, are trade unions really helping workers at the workplace? if yes then why this turnover?.? It seems clear that trade unions have both positive and negative impacts on workers and hence on the employer-employee relationship. So it is legitimate to question who the trade union really benefits, the employer or employee?? How do they affect the employer-employee relationship?

According to Walters and Mishel (2003), compensation of workers members of trade union and those who are not a member of the trade union have been greatly impacted by these trade unions, whereby they clearly state that “Unions raise wages of unionized workers by roughly 20% and raise compensation, including both wages and benefits, by about 28%.?

In addition to that, Walters and Mishel (2003) emphasize the advantages that trade unions have brought to workers such as reduction in wage inequality between the blue-collar and white-collar workers, setting of ubiquitous payment standards followed by the member and non-member employers, benefiting of job advantages such as paid leaves, where they precise that 8% to 28% of worker are more likely to profit from health insurance from employers as well as other advantages. Based on their assertions, it is clear that trade-union greatly empower workers hence affecting the employer-to-employee relationship positively. “Unions play a pivotal role both in securing legislated labour protections and rights such as safety and health, overtime, and family/medical leave and in enforcing those rights on the job” Walters and Mishel (2003). Everything comes at a cost, so the cost of empowering workers and giving them more advantages at the workplace is clear that in the financial perspective, it is not of great advantage to employers since it means that employers need to spend more money in following regulations put in place by these trade-unions. The fact workers have these advantages does not mean that trade unions have no disadvantages to workers, especially for non-members. Some of these disadvantages according to Unions and Pettinger (2019)? are unemployment due to high labour competitive market (high pays, mean employers should get the best workers for the pay too in order to balance the expenses), inflation due to high wages pushed up by powerful unions, productivity loss due to strikes, confrontations and difficulty to have an impact due to lack of organization

Contrary to what it might seem, trade unions are not only profitable to workers but are also beneficial to employers because they permit an employer to negotiate wages with greater simplicity, greater employee satisfaction resulting in higher productivity, reduction in employee turnover and better competitiveness due to ease in the change process (How far can trade unions benefit managers as well as workers? – The WritePass Journal, 2016).

Finally, it is clear that trade unions contribute negatively and positively to both workers and employers. However, it turns out that it better the employer-to-employee relationship due to the formality and advantages brought about by trade unions to both parties, but it should be noted that it equally stresses this relationship since it profits more to the workers.?

References

The WritePass Journal. 2016. How far can trade unions benefit managers as well as workers? – The WritePass Journal. [online] Available at: <https://writepass.com/journal/2016/08/how-far-can-trade-unions-benefit-managers-as-well-as-workers/#:~:text=On%20the%20other%20hand%2C%20however,as%20well%20enhance%20employee%20satisfaction.> [Accessed 2 May 2021].

nidirect. Introduction to trade unions | nidirect. [online] Available at: <https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/introduction-trade-unions#:~:text=One%20of%20a%20trade%20union's,close%20working%20relationships%20with%20employers.&text=negotiate%20agreements%20with%20employers%20on%20pay%20and%20conditions> [Accessed 2 May 2021].

Pochet, P., 2015. Are Trade Unions In Crisis?. [online] Social Europe. Available at: <https://www.socialeurope.eu/trade-unions-crisis> [Accessed 2 May 2021].

Unions, A. and Pettinger, T., 2019. Advantages and Disadvantages of Trades Unions. [online] Econ.economicshelp.org. Available at: <https://econ.economicshelp.org/2007/04/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-trades.html> [Accessed 2 May 2021].

Walters, M. and Mishel, L., 2003. How unions help all workers. [online] Economic Policy Institute. Available at: <https://www.epi.org/publication/briefingpapers_bp143/#:~:text=Unions%20reduce%20wage%20inequality%20because,standard%20that%20nonunion%20employers%20follow.> [Accessed 2 May 2021].