Essay Example on Building Better Relationships Through Trade Unions

Trade unions, which are also called organized labor or industrial unions, play vital roles in safeguarding the interests of the employees and bargaining for better working relations with their employers. Although trade unions and employers have different goals, they should build highly cooperative relationships with each other for the benefit of their organizations. The concepts and lessons that I have learned after taking IDRL 215 have strengthened my opinion that there is a need for labor unions and employers to enter into strategic partnerships for mutual benefits. In this course, I have gained an understanding of two critical points that have changed how I should approach the question about the need for strong union-employers partnership.

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First, a strategic collaboration between labor unions and employers not only empowers human resources, but it also results in a high-performance workplace. The two outcomes are undoubtedly necessary for organizational success in today's highly competitive global markets. The partnership, notably, facilitates the achievement of the two goals since it averts adversarial relations between employers and the workers. Ideas and concepts of IDRL 215, particularly in the topic of the evolution of unions, support my opinion. Importantly, here, I learned that the past labor associations engaged in antagonistic collective bargaining agreements that adversely impacted their relations with the employers. In response to such approaches, management employed strategies to protect its traditional rights of workplace organization, decision making, and control over the workers (Gunderson & Ponak, 2016). In today's ever-more competitive environment; however, unions and employers need to work together as partners to avoid antagonistic relationships that have negative impacts on both the workers and the organization.

Secondly, a good management-union partnership helps everyone to deal with traditional and also emerging labor issues that develop as global markets evolve. Such a relationship has many potential benefits for unions, workers, and management as it creates an environment where the parties solve their problems amicably. For unions, the collaboration places them in a better position to gain strength, credibility, and recruit more members. The possible gains to the workers may include an increase in job security, more responsibility, and less supervision (Gunderson & Ponak, 2016). Also, it results in more decision making opportunities and better response to employee needs. The management as well stands to benefit from higher customer satisfaction and an increase in revenue, lower costs, and better product quality. The point here is that the strategic alliance enhances the capacity of organizations and trade unions to address an array of issues that arise in the workplace through joint decision making. This way, the partners would be working for mutual gain, suggesting that unions would be stronger, workers would be better off, and organizations would be competitive in the long-run.

In my research, I found several organizations that have benefited from the good employer-union strategic alliance. One of them is Avamere, an American healthcare company. Through the partnership with Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the organization has recorded higher standards for staffing, lower costs, better nursing care, and more satisfied employees (Gunderson & Ponak, 2016). Also, it has resulted in higher compensation for workers, better outcomes for patients, and an improvement in the working environment.

Conclusion

Strategic alliance or partnership between labor unions and employers is necessary as it contributes to an array of benefits to workers and the organization. Both employees and employers stand to benefit from the collaboration, as it discourages the adversarial relationship between the partners. In the future, American employers will most likely partner with labor unions to foster good relationships, which are vital for their reputation and success.

Reference

Gunderson, M., & Ponak, A. M. (2016). Union-management relations. Cengage Learning. https://www.cengage.com/resource_uploads/downloads/1305511069_532004.pdf