1. Chapter 10 LABOR UNIONS

2. A. THE RISE OF LABOR UNIONS 1. The rise was brought on by unsafe conditions, long workdays, and poor wages 2. There were no laws against child labor 3. Workday = 12 to 14 hours a day, sometimes in deadly conditions 4. Sweatshops were commonplace - people work long hours for very low pay 5. Labor unions were formed to improve conditions since the 19th century

3. 6. A labor union is an organization that fights for workers’ rights, wages and benefits in a specific industry 7. Management are the overseers of the workers who are hired to keep costs down, who, in turn produce as much as possible in order to make a profit 8. 1st modern union = 1866 to 1872 = National Labor Union (NLU) - fought for 8 hr work day

4. LABOR UNIONS

5. B. PROS and CONS of UNIONS 1. Pros: a) Provides an 8 hr wk day and 40 hr work week b) Overtime pay for more that 8 hrs a day c) health benefits including medical care and compensation when hurt d) vacation pay, sick pay, and time off for baby or ill relative e) Quality of work may be better than non-unionized labor

6. 2. Cons: a) Many believe individual workers can bargain with management b) Production costs go up because of demand for higher pay c) Can divide and disrupt companies d) Quality of work may not be as good as non-unionized labor

8. C. DO YOU HAVE TO JOIN? 1. If your job is part of a union - you should join 2. Must pay union dues in order to receive benefits - they support the union 3. In a union shop, new employees must join the union after 60 or 90 days 4. In an agency shop, employees don’t have to join but still pay dues 5. If your state has right-to-work laws, you don’t have to join a union 6. 1947 – Taft-Hartley Act - outlawed closed shop (union only workers) and allows for right-to- work laws

9. D. UNIONS AND MANAGEMENT 1. Fringe benefits - health care, vacations, sick days, etc – just what workers want 2. Management wants to keep workers’ “fringe” benefits costs down 3. Both sides will meet through collective bargaining – meeting to work out acceptable agreements through compromise 4. If no agreement takes place, the union may strike (call for a work stoppage) 5. Management may hire “scab” workers - nonunion workers hired to take the place of those on strike

11. 6. Unions may call for boycotts - telling consumers not to buy a company’s products which could hurt the profits for the company 7. Management may choose to lockout employees – it will close its doors to workers, which means they won’t get paid! 8. Tactics could result in violence at the work place! 9. Both sides could go to arbitration - whatever the arbitrator decides, both sides would come to an agreement

12. E. UNIONS TODAY 1. The number of people in unions has decrease in the past 20 years 2. Decreases have occurred (1) since there are fewer jobs in an industry, (2) people don’t believe unions are as strong, and (3) Competition from foreign countries 3. Unions have agreed to either give up wage increases for job security or have promised to maintain workers benefits instead of trying to increase them

13. F. AFL-CIO 1. The American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations 2. Includes 70 unions and 13 million members 3. AFL - skilled craft workers 4. CIO – unskilled assembly line workers 5. Joined together to try and improve conditions for all forms of labor