Pros and Cons of Union Representation

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the pros and cons of union representations. Union representations started off by fighting for the rights of workers, but as the time went on they grew and ended up turning it into a business.  “The union decides how to trade off pay, benefits, and other working conditions at the bargaining table. Ostensibly, the union will negotiate better terms collectively than the workers could individually (1).” We will discuss pros and cons of union representation in the view of an individual, organization, and society.

In the perspective of an individual I believe there are more pros than cons. One pro would be the union pay of workers. According to unioplus.org, the union people make 30% more than non-union workers. Another benefit is health coverage. Union Plus states, that 92% of union workers have job-related health coverage versus 68% of non-union workers. Union workers are also more likely to have guaranteed pension than non-union workers. Another advantage for individuals working with the union is their rate of pay. As stated previously union workers on average are paid at least 30% more than non-union workers.  Looking at various websites there is a huge pay increase between the union and non-union workers. Some as much as $10 and others $10,000 a year. The fact that no other non-union company can get union contracts is a benefit for employees. This allows them to have more job security as well .

From an organizational perspective the union representation is at times a downfall for them. The company I work for has to deal with the union at times and it can be so challenging. Union requires everything to be dealt in a certain way. A few issues we come across when dealing with the union are how people are paid, time, whether it be overtime hours, lunch, and if they have to be paid by a certain day. We’ve had instances where the checks run late for reasons out of our hands and we end up having to pay them x amount for that. For a company it can also be hard to staff certain places. We at times send people to a union state and the union isn’t happy we are there, which causes issues with our guys. Another issue with staffing, some guys is affiliated with a different union therefore they will not accept the people we send. One pro to union representation is a lot of times they offer higher rates.