Global Labor and Production Angela Berst
August 29, 2008
3:24pm
Sociology 202
Unions: What works- and what doesn’t
International competition for customers is high so businesses need to do their best to succeed. In order to keep business running smoothly management and employees need to work together. Doing this is not easy because labor laws do not allow it. Involvement groups, where managers and employees converse together the ways to enhance business, are illegal. The National Labor Relations Act has not been updated since the 1930’s. During that time workers and business owners were against each other so workers joined unions in order to protect their interests. Employee involvement was originally banned because lawmakers thought that owners would “create employer-dominated company unions”. Now, workers are only allowed to speak to their employers through a labor union. This causes great difficulty because only twenty percent of workers want to be in a union while the other eighty percent do not. American workers right to chose to join a union is at risk because of the Employee Free Choice Act. A company would be unionized if enough workers were to publically sign a paper that says they want to join a union. Undecided workers could be pressured into joining a union which would be an unfair decision. So workers need to be able to maintain their right to vote on their decision to organize. I think that by updating the National Labor Relations Act will allow organizations of management and employees to exist. Which will then allow businesses to be better connected, initially making them more successful. The success of businesses would end up affecting the economy positively.

Feulner, Ed. "Unions: What works-and what doesn't." The News and Observer. 29 Aug. 2008. 29 Aug. 2008 .