how organized labor works
workers participate in organized labor by joining a union that negotiates with their employer on their behalf because unions represent a large number of workers they are able to extract higher salaries and benefits than most workers could get by negotiating alone in most countries union formation is regulated by a government agency such as the national labor relations board nlrb in the united states employees who want to organize their workplace must first sign a union card granting the union the right to represent them once a workplace has enough signatures workers can file for a union election in that workplace if a majority of non management employees vote for the union it will be given the power to negotiate with management on behalf of all employees there are two types of unions the horizontal union in which all members share a common skill and the vertical union composed of workers from across the same industry the national education association nea is the largest labor union in the united states with nearly three million members its goal is to advocate for education professionals and unite its members to fulfill the promise of public education federal law prohibits employers from punishing or retaliating against any employee for union activities history of organized labororganized labor grew out of the industrial revolution as production shifted from agriculture to increasingly large factories the pursuit of higher profits led to strenuous working conditions and long hours in the early days of industrialization it was not uncommon for employees to be on the job seven days a week working shifts of twelve or even fourteen hours since workers could be easily replaced they could not demand better working conditions and were often fired if they were injured on the job child labor wage theft and other unfair practices were also common there were 14 million unionized workers in the united states in 2021 that s 10 3 of the total workforce the first successful unions in the united states organized skilled laborers such as railway workers the american federation of labor founded in 1881 sought to bring together the country s nascent trade unions under a single association at the same time radical unions like the industrial workers of the world sought to organize all workers regardless of their skill employers fiercely resisted unionization efforts often using strikebreakers and lockouts to prevent workers from organizing in some cases government and police authorities used violence to quell labor unrest ultimately organized labor was able to win significant improvements such as the eight hour day paid weekends and job security the wagner act signed by franklin roosevelt in 1935 enshrined the rights of workers to organize and form unions advantages and disadvantages of organized labororganized labor plays an important role in protecting workers rights advocates claim that workers in unionized industries typically enjoy higher salaries longer vacations and better benefits than those who are not represented by a union even workers who are not members of the union tend to have higher salaries as a result of union activity naturally companies are less enthusiastic about organized labor some say that the increased cost of a unionized workforce increases the price of their products ultimately making their companies less competitive on the world market many point to the decline of the u s auto industry as companies were unable to pivot effectively due to the cost of adhering to their union contracts some companies such as starbucks or amazon have each spent millions of dollars to defeat union organization efforts walmart for example claimed that the increased costs of a unionized workforce would require them to increase their prices other retailers used walmart s example as leverage to renegotiate with their unions claiming that they would have to cut salaries or eliminate jobs to remain competitive with walmart otherwise this is known as the walmart effect unions can negotiate higher salaries and benefits than most workers can negotiate on their own union negotiations can result in higher salaries even for those who are not union members high union salaries increase the cost of company products unionized companies may have to reduce employment numbers in order to remain competitive 