Labor Management Relations

Posted by Winnie Melda on November 26th, 2018

1. An individual can be both pro-union as well as pro-employer as two attributes do not have to be in contention in so long as the employer is treating the employee appropriately. Unions play the role of ensuring that the right of the employees are protected and promoted by the employer. Thus, if the employees are receiving the treatment from the employer, the common assertion thus is that there is no need of them being anti-employer unless they want to be controversial. Thus being pro-union does not imply that one has to by default be the anti employer. Yes, it is possible for an individual to be anti-union and at the same time claim to support the views of employees. Being fair implies standing for what is right and not on what side one stands. In that case, one does not have to be for the union to support legitimately employees who have genuine claims.
2. The similarities include the fact both bodies represented both the skilled as well as the unskilled employees of the time. The two bodies used almost similar tactics in the realization of their objectives. These included boycotts; strikes that they employed in making the employers address their concerns.  There are differences between the two bodies which begin with their objectives. Knights of Labor intended to abolish child labor, attain equal pay about the similar work, to attain an 8-hour working day as well as the formation of the bureau of statistics in the federal government. The IWO, on the other hand, wanted a unitary huge union that controls the means of production as well as distribution.  Regarding their tactics, IWO preferred strikes and direct action while KoL preferred arbitration and boycotts.
3. The yellow dog contracts limited activities of the union as employers used them to ensure that the employees did not join unions, thus making it impossible for the unions to have adequate members for their activities. Through these contracts, the employee would have to sign that they will abstain from any involvement in a labor union to get employment. Through the injunctions courts issued orders that made it illegal for the unions to conduct activities such as strikes and demonstrations. Thus, it was very difficult for the unions to carry out their activities in an environment that made it illegal for them to carry out any events supporting the oppressed employees.
4. The fact that that almost all the adults working in the US are the member of a union implies that these unions have major memberships. These unions represent employees working in different sectors of the American economy. The huge membership by itself offers the presidents of these unions significant power in that if they were to call for a major strike, the entire economy could come to a standstill. The other attribute that makes these presidents very powerful is the fact that these memberships translate into votes during the various election. All politicians seek the endorsement of these unions as getting their endorsements implies millions of votes. In that case, the politicians have to trend carefully in any issues dealing with unions to protect their election and reelection bids. These attributes thus present these presidents with the ability to accumulate immense power as well as authority.

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in customized term papers if you need a similar paper you can place your order for research paper custom.