What do you think are the goals or objectives of unions? Do you think unions are good or bad and why? Do you know any union members and what benefits they get that they would not get without the union. What are your thoughts on the concept of comparative worth. (See page 352.)

After your initial post, respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts. Your initial post should be at least six complete sentences and your reply to your classmates’ posts should be at least three complete sentences.

these are reply of my classmates

Unions goals and objectives – A Union formed in a competitive labor market can use a strike to threat bargain for higher wages. The effect of a strike threat as a change of the shape of a supply curve. At first the supply curve would have the usual positive slope. After the strike, employers face a supply curve with a kink. EMployers would have to raise the wage above what the union demands. Another goal for a union would be to bargain for the greatest total wages paid to all of its members. This would happen at the point where the labor demand curve is unit elastic. This wage would create an excess supply of labor. This can be maintained by, first come first serve basis, limiting hours per year, and higher competition for jobs.

I believe unions are good for employees and are an obstacle for employers. Employees are benefited by unions because they are created on behalf of their employee rights. Employers have to abide by rules that are implemented by the unions and are held accountable for possible on the job mishaps that could end up in dealing large amounts of money for the employee.

My father worked for Sunset Scavengers/Recology for 20+ years. This occupation is union based. From the behaviors of the company, the union was absolutely needed to protect the employees. My father sacrificed his body through labor for his company, undergoing more than a dozen surgeries in which he has been left disabled. As soon as the company could cut him loose with minimal benefits and no pension they did. Luckily the union for the employees investigated this and determined it was a wrongful act committed by the company and my father wasn’t left stranding. But that doesn’t happen all the time and many employees are left without a leg to stand on after their separation from the company.

Comparative Worth is the concept that men and women should be paid equally for the positions that have comparable skills and responsibilities. I don’t think this should even be an argument. If people have the same qualifications for similar positions, why should one get paid higher or lesser because of gender? It’s ludacris that this is even still a discussion within the workplace. Equality of wages should be covered across the board for genders, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientation, ect. If someone has the right qualification, they should be compensated for their work the same as anyone else in the same position. The workplace has no room for segregation.

Labor Unions are a collective groups of people who objectives serve for the betterment of its members. A tool that labor unions uses is the strikes in order to control the labor market which allows them to demand higher wages. If the company allows the raise in wages then this causes a shift in the supply curve. This causes higher wages but less workers who are paid in the process. This control of the labor is powerful but the arguments can made when effective wage theory if this is really necessary.

I think that labor unions can be a net positive in labor markets that aren’t protected. For example, games developers often work long hours and there are no guarantees on overtime pay. A formation of an union can step in to reduce the amount of “crunch” and make sure that overtime pay is paid out. In this industry, I think that unions can be great in labor protection practices. While at the same time, the shift in wages maybe damaging to workers in the long run. In the book, they talk about how high labor wages have causes only the people currently employ to benefit. If the demand curve is inelastic, then people can lose their jobs and all the workers who remain only benefit.

With comparative worth, I think the idea has potential but quantifying wages differences is quite difficult. As stated in the book, comparative worth does not account for supply and demand so a boom in an industry may cause wages to be inflexible. In addition, the process seems subjective and its hard to say which job would need higher or lower pay changes. Comparative worth is a good idea of having wages be equal between genders, race or other categories. Although, I think the idea needs more refinement in order to have effective change in labor markets.