Assignment:
Employee Relations
Kevin posted,
Unions serve a number of purposes especially for the employees they look after. However, they have consequences associated with them that are favorable for the employer. The facts suggest that the unions are not good for the business or for the nation. They have a number of drawbacks, which are as follows. Unions damage the industry they are in. As a result of their bargaining, they force the employers to pay massive pensions and other benefits to the employees. These benefits add financial stress to the organization they are working in. An example of this is GM and Chrysler which required bailout packages to restore their poor conditions. They were forced to do so because the unions made them pay huge pensions to their employees. The companies were not able to recover them unless they sold their vehicles at a higher rate. This decreased their sales, lowering their profits (Maranjian, 2014) Unions in the education sector are frequently demanding increased investment in the education sector highlighting that the education sector is highly underfunded. Once these funds are allocated, the same cry starts again after a couple of years. No matter what the level of funding is, the union of the teachers is never satisfied with the funds they receive.
Unions also force the government to hire a greater number of employees at wages that are higher than the market rates. Although the same job can be done by a less number of employees who are paid at lower rates, unions interfere and make the government spend the taxpayers money on unnecessary recruitments. This ads further burden on the economy of the country (Hawkins, 2011). Similarly, many other points can be elaborated indicating the bad impact unions have had on the country. They have caused financial as well as economic loss to the nation. They should be banned or restricted in their powers so that they are able to look after the welfare of the employees but no force the government or any private company to make facilities available that are not beneficial for the country.
References
Hawkins, J. (2011, March 08). 5 Reasons Unions Are Bad For America. Retrieved Sept 02, 2017, from https://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2011/03/08/5-reasons-unions-are-bad-for-america-n1180613
Maranjian, S. (2014, Nov 22). Unions: Good or Bad? Retrieved Sept 02, 2017, from https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/11/22/unions-good-or-bad.aspx