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Union Leadership and Administration: Key Skills for Union Leaders

Union Leadership and Administration: Key Skills for Union Leaders


The basic purpose to create or join a union is to give voice to the workers. In these unions the problems faced by the workers are discussed, and then respective measures are taken to eradicate them. These unions are not the place for the workers alone, it can help
their families as well. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 gives most of the workers the right in United States to join or form a union. "It just did not include agricultural workers, railroad and airline workers or public employees, whose freedom to choose union membership is covered by other laws". (AFL-CIO).

There is a common belief that union members get increased wages, added job security, retirement benefits, health care and lot more then non-union members. The recent surveys and reports prove the same. According to the survey conducted by United States Department of Labor "in 2005, full-time wage and salary workers who were union members had median usual weekly earnings of $801, compared with a median of $622 for wage and salary workers who were not represented by unions" (United States Department of Labor). On the other hand, there is discrimination in pay standards between men and woman. Women earn much less as compared to men but the women who are members of union get paid more then other women. This is the reason union members usually are more satisfied about their jobs and their pay and benefits.

These unions have not only worked for their own member benefits but for the whole labor community. Unions have played a strong role in establishing and enforcing labor laws, which includes "protections that give workers unemployment insurance, social security, safety and health standards in the workplace, and the 40-hour week with extra pay for overtime". (Economic Policy Institute). Apart from that union supporters also claim "that the labour movement brought an end to child labor practices, improved work safety, increased wages for both union and non-union workers, raised the entire society's standard of living, reduced the hours in a work week, fought for and won public education for children, and brought a host of other benefits to working class families". (Wikipedia).
Unions are not just created to voice their rights, they give awareness of the rights and protection, educate the members about the laws set for them and how to work effectively under them. Many unions are engaging themselves in positive activities such as social and environmental issues.


Employees in a Union

The unions usually have a whole setup such as is found in any organization. It can have president, vice presidents, secretaries, trustees and a group of employees. Usually the board is selected through election for a specified number of years in which all the members can vote. It is the duty of the board to set the terms and policies for the union. There can be full time workers as well as part time workers. The salaries set for them will be in accordance to the funds for the union.


Bargaining unit

"Bargaining unit does the process of negotiation between representatives of workers (usually union officials) and management to determine the conditions of employment". (Encyclopedia Britannica). The negotiations can cover wages, benefits, promotions, hours of work and any other concern laid by the union. It can be said that the bargaining unit is the hub for the communication between the union and the office management (Here we specified the office management but the bargaining can be on industrial and government level as well) which means stronger the bargaining power of unions, the stronger the union would be to fulfill the requirements of its members.

Bargaining unit can either be centralized or decentralized. The institutional approach however says that the centralized collective bargaining system will weaken the competition and unions will hence grow strong. A centralized system of collective bargaining will then be able to demand higher wages and more benefits (Constantine Manasakis, Emmanuel Petrakis). The reason for this could be that the firm has an urge to cooperate more with them rather than others.


Union Leader

Union leader is the most important member on whom the union's productivity and effectiveness will be dependant. The union leader should have some set of qualities that can be a very strong personality, outspoken, ability to lead and honesty with the union. The leaders are chosen through elections.


Unions' Efforts

Amy Offner a former student at Harvard writes about the sit in there. The workers at Harvard were getting roughly $9 per hour. After mobilizing for more than two hours, they planned a sit in the school's main administration building. The sit in lasted for 21 days and after negotiations today, workers on the university campus earn almost $11 per hour. This wage set is for the non-unionized workers as well.

Labor board sided with the union after which some 1300 workers in New York City hospitals could be represented by a union. These workers can get overtime pay (The New York Times).

Apart from the two examples, unions throughout the country are working for betterment of the members need. The American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations is the United States largest and fastest growing public service employees union, it consists of more than 1.4 million members (AFSCME In the Public Service). Apart from this there are many small union organizations on the national and local levels that are effortlessly working.


Unions in Trouble: What to Do?

There was news last year about Wal-Mart closing its unionized store in Canada (Personnel Today). Other such reports are also heard often. Apart from that unions are getting bad names and negative reports about them are coming. There has been a great deal of work done by the unions throughout the country but for some reason it does not get as much highlight as the negative reports are getting. In these circumstances a strategy is needed to built the unions a place that gives no one a chance to close or put restrictions on. The unions should not just be a nuisance for the others that holds protests, have strikes and chants slogans, the work done should be more productive and beneficial in nature for the members and not only the members but also for the organization they are dealing with. Unions should benefit the whole society not just the workers it is associated with.


Strategizing Union

There is a question arising about whether union leaders have a strategy or not. A report published about the automobile industry stated that the unions constantly threaten the companies to have a strike or hold a protest but they don't seem to have any strategy for that (Socialist Worker Online). In this context a need to set forward some plan for them is essential.

Aaron Brenner have given some key elements to strategize the union, although some elements may be contradictive but some very imperative points are mentioned here. The most important point he wrote were that leadership should be willing to follow the strategy and build solidarity in the members as it will strengthen the cause. If the leaders have some disagreement they should not be to open about it as it will have a negative effect on the cause, members and eventually the union. Meetings should be held on a regular basis that is open for all the members. Under the next few headings we will be giving a basic idea on the strategizing and improvement of the unions.


Choosing leader

Union leader is the most important member on whom the union's productivity and effectiveness will be dependant. The union leader should have some set of qualities as said above which can be a very strong personality, outspoken, ability to lead and honesty with the union. Most leaders are chosen based upon their ethical skills, strong interpersonal relations and experience. Elections held should be open and fair. The members should be educated about the importance of the election and what to see in a leader. There should be proper and honest convincing before the elections. The members should be active it is the responsibility of the members in the end to decide the leader on whose hand lies their future.


Responsibilities of Leader

The leader plays an imperative role in the unions. The key responsibilities of the leader would be strategizing and empowering the union. He should make sure all the workers are working effectively. He should be well aware of any activity happening in the union. A complete plan should be there for activities such as mobilizing the members, holding protests, strike etc.

Certain characteristics essential for a good leader are mentioned here. The leader should not be too enthusiastic about the power he gets; instead he should be enthusiastic about the work he does in his tenure. The leaders need to talk to the members to build a connection, to understand their problems and needs. They have the responsibility of running the union in whatever efficient or inefficient manner. The union leader need not have any personal motive behind. The leaders need to be in connection with the members, to understand their problems. Meetings should be held on a regular basis that is open for all the members.


Strategize Bargaining

The bargaining units success will be the victory for the cause the union was working on. A bargaining unit should be prepared all the time in order to give productive results and should follow a certain strategy. When developing wage and fringe benefits proposal a certain research is needed such as employer's ability to pay and then calculation of the wages accordingly. It ought to be well aware of the employer's and the company's terms and conditions. Start early negotiating so both have enough time to look at their capability. Make sure the rules and regulations are followed all the time.


Membership Loyalty

In a union people can go in favor or your policies and decision, they can go against it or there may be a majority who won't be interested. Mobilizing the members before any decision will make the work easy. Keep in mind the members are the strength of your organization, without them the union doesn't exist. Motivate the members to participate in all the activities even if it's not of their interest. There can be times when members go against the union's policy and want to leave it but through proper convincing their loyalty can be won back.


Outside Support

The members' support is of course essential but then increasing the outside support will also prove beneficial. With the TV channels and newspaper not leaving even small news unions should stay in touch with this media. Calling for press conferences, writing press releases and giving interviews will not only help bring the channels behind you but also the community can be convinced to support the cause as well.


Solidarity

Solidarity in a work place will give encouraging results as will it give in a union. There should be certain factors that guarantee solidarity in the union. Mentoring is needed to persuade people to come towards a single point agenda.

There are many workplaces where several unions are there to represent different groups of workers. This should not be the case, as it will help the employer because the force wouldn't be strong enough to convince him. All the unions should come under one platform and construct a proper approach towards problem solving. This would be more productive as in terms of result.


Protests

When starting a protest a formula should be set. It should include how the protest will begin and through what steps it has to be taken, when if needed the strike has to be observed and what to do if all the measures fail. A plan to organize and motivate the members should also be set forward in this formula. Preparation and setting a strategy before beginning the protests and strike would be beneficial for the purpose of achieving the goal. It will also ensure the protests are carried on legal grounds.


Illegal Activities

There should be no tolerance policy against any aggressive and violent activities going on in the union. There is amalgamation of some dishonest people who destroy the entire repute of the unions. They engage themselves in such activities as breaking rules and going an extra hand ahead to fight for their rights, which in the end hurts the union a great deal. And any such activity will give bad names to the entire union structure that will result in closure of the union's activity.


Unions for Betterment of Society

There was report about an agreement to promote the learning and skills at work between investors and union in the UK (Personneltoday.com). Agreements of this kind are needed to build a good repot and bridge the differences among the unions and the industries. Other report says that majority of the union leaders work with the environmentalists (Greg LeRoy). Unions should take more part in these sorts of activities for the betterment of the society which will in turn give good name for the organization.







Works Cited
AFL-CIO. Union Facts. n.d.. 17 Nov. 2006 <http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/faq/>.
AFSCME In the Public Service. What is AFSCME? n.d.. 17 Nov. 2006 <http://www.afscme.org/about/396.cfm>.
Brenner, Aaron. Key Elements of an inside Strategy. n.d. Troublemaker's Website. 17 Nov. 2006 <http://www.troublemakershandbook.org/Text/Inside%20Strategies/keyelemen ts.htm>.
Economic Policy Institute. Unions Give Us More Than Just A Holiday. 26 Aug. 2003. 17 Nov. 2006 <http://www.epinet.org/newsroom/releases/03/08/030826unions-pr.pdf>.
Encyclopedia Britannica. Collective Bargaining. n.d.. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 17 Nov. 2006 <http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9361139>.
LeRoy, Greg. Labor Leaders As Smart Growth Advocates. How Union Leaders See Suburban Sprawl and Work for Smart Growth Solutions. Aug. 2003. Good Jobs First. 17 Nov. 2006 < http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/pdf/clcsurvey.pdf>.
Manasakis, Constantine & Petrakis, Emmanuel. Union structure and firms' incentives for cooperative R&D investments. October 2004. October 2004. Department of Economics, University of Crete, Greece. 17 Nov. 2006 <http://www.econ.uoi.gr/seminaria_ergasias/SemPaper-Manasakis.pdf>.
Offner, Amy. Winning a Sit in. n.d. Troublemaker's Website. 17 Nov. 2006 <http://www.troublemakershandbook.org/Text/Strikes/harvard Sit-In.htm>.
Personneltoday.com. Unions link with Investors in People to boost workplace skills. 13 June 2006. 17 Nov. 2006 <http://www.personneltoday.com/Articles/2006/06/13/35853/Unions+link+with+Investors+in+People+to+boost+workplace.html>.
Personneltoday.com. Wal-Mart to close store with unionised staff. 10 Feb. 2005. 17 Nov. 2006 <http://www.personneltoday.com/Articles/2005/02/10/27925/Wal-Mart+to+close+store+with+unionised+staff.html>.
Socialist Worker Online. What we Think. Do union leaders have a strategy? n.d. 17 Nov. 2006 <http://www.socialistworker.org/2005-1/546/546_03_AFLCIO.shtml.
The New York Times. Union Wins Long Battle With City. 25 May 2006. 17 Nov. 2006 <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/25/nyregion/25mbrfs-brief-002.html?ex=1163912400&en=c7491175a2d8c709&ei=5070>.
United States Department of Labor. Union Members Summary. 2005. News Bureau of Labor Statistics. 17 Nov. 2006 <http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm>.
Wikipedia. Trade Union. n.d.. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 17 Nov. 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_union>.
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Posted by: Jeffrey J. Thomson

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