Three Sides Of Labor Unions Essay, Research Paper

Summarize the three arguments on labor unions.

To start with, the Conservatives believe that labor unions are bad. They feel that labor unions have too much power for their size. Labor unions use this power as blackmail against companies, by becoming labor monopolies. They ask too much of companies, causing either the company to shut down, or to supply more money for the employees. Conservatives also believe that labor unions lead to recession because they cause wages to go up, and that causes prices to go up, which leads to lower outputs.

The Liberals believe that labor unions are good. They believe that labor unions are necessary for fair wages. Before labor unions the workers did not have the upper hand. Unions create higher wages, better working conditions, and also more benefits, like compensation, and security. Liberals believe that unions are necessary to achieve a balance between workers and firms, and to regulate wages and the work environment, and also to protect the workers. The liberals feel that without the labor unions workers would be working hard for little money in horrible working conditions.

Finally the radicals believe that unions have caused a lot of good overall, but that they need to speak politically for all workers, not just their own union workers. The labor unions have divided the work force into two parts, union and non-union. Radicals see the union as offering job security, higher wages, and benefits, lacking a political view, organizing labor supply, keeping wages down in recession periods so that profit does not drop, supporting the capitalist system, and acting as an organizer to discipline workers and firms. From an elitist point of view the unions are seen as the enemy increasing the gap between workers and firms. But from an essential point of view they are seen as good because they bring the workers together.

In general labor unions, like anything else, have both positive and negative aspects. The Conservatives seem to focus on the negative, while the Liberals are focusing on the positive, and the Radicals are assessing both sides simultaneously