Labor Unions
A labor union is an organization of workers who have come together with a common goal to improve basically or maintain the conditions of their employment in their organization. By collective action, employees can promote and protect their interest through collective bargaining of trade unions. Organizations have embraced the positive and negative images of collective bargaining to improve and maintain conducive working conditions of their employees as indicated by Hirsch (1991). In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Article 23, subsection 4 has provided the right to join labor unions.
Labor unions serve two important fundamental roles in an organization – create a bridge between the management and impose the sense of discipline and responsibility in the workers. One of the benefits of collective bargaining in an organization is to secure fair wages for employees and increase their opportunities for promotion and training. Furthermore, labor unions improve the conditions of working of the employees in a company and safeguard the security of tenure. The role of collective bargaining has also led to the provision of educational and recreational facilities to the workers in enterprises. Broadening and understanding workers through labor unions have facilitated technological advancement in the organizations thus improving productivity. Labor unions correlate the employees’ interests with that of the organization by promoting individual and collective welfare. Corporate image shows the way in which an enterprise, its functions and the products and services in relation to outsiders as indicated by Nguyen (2001). An example of a company with a reputable corporate image is Apple through their welfare programs.
However, labor unions have been accused of favoring the employees who have secure jobs at the expense of customers, shareholders, and outside workers. The increased cost of unionism in the United States and many advanced economies has led to the outsourcing of labor to Africa, Asia and Latin America making it more efficient to work there. A common example of a company with a poor corporate image is Walmart. Walmart have been involved in poor practices like underpaying of women and neglect of pregnant workers affecting its corporate image status Ostendorf (2015).
References
Hirsch, B. T. (1991). Introduction [to Labor Unions and the Economic Performance of Firms].
Nguyen, N., & Leblanc, G. (2001). Corporate image and corporate reputation in customers’ retention decisions in services. Journal of retailing and Consumer Services, 8(4), 227-236.
Chris Ostendorf (2015) 10 reasons you should never, ever shop at Walmart. The Daily Dot. Retrieved 19 April 2016, from http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/walmart-labor-unions-bad-company/
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