Free Essay with Analysis of the Videos about Labour Unions

Video 1: Unions Creating Chaos in Your Business?

The video by Employee Relations Expert Jason Greer focuses on the radical perspective of labor relation. The video considers the significant aspects of union organization such as the union organizing tactics, identifying the science of union activity before getting out of control, and an effective union avoidance tool that can be accessed by the employees as well as the managers without any inconvenience. The speaker assumes that all the unions often creates chaos to get what they want. According to the speaker, the unions often seek to convince as many employees as possible to join them in driving their agenda.

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The video comprises of various features of the radical perspective of the labor relations. These features include convincing of the employees by the union officials to sign codes that eventually leads to a fallout between the employees and their respective organizations. These codes also put them into lobbying positions. The union organization perspective of the labor relations categorizes the employees into the pro-union group, the leaning towards the union group, the undecided group, the leaning towards the company group and the pro-company group.

The pro-union set of employees is vital for the union organization for examining companies and keeping tabs on what is taking place within the company (Greer, 2018). Such employees often focus on the relationship between employees themselves and the top management. Understanding the relationship between the employees is important to help the union officials fulfill their main agenda of creating a division between the employees who are pro-union and those who are pro company. However, it is essential for the management to create an understanding relationship between them and their staff. A good understanding will be key to mitigating the vices from the union. The understanding will also help the employers to understand the preferences of their employees regarding what motivates them as well as what concerns them and formulate appropriate measures that would help them counter the influence of the union organizations within their companies. The video reflects the radical perspective of the labor relations because its primary focus is on the influence of the union organizations in the workplace and the subgroup resulting from the effects of union organizations.

Video II: Labour and Union Relations by Susan Haywood from HR Blueprints

The video by HR Blueprints presented by Susan Haywood focuses on the unitarism perspective of the labor relations. According to Haywaywood (2012), the management of any organization is often at liberty to select the type of union they want in their organization. As a result, the actions of the union towards any given organization will be entirely dependent on the action, behaviors and the treatment accorded to the union by the management. From the video, the speaker assumes that an organization entirely depends on the decisions of the management and not the employees. Therefore, she insinuates that it is only the signatures of the union organizations and that of the management that matter for an agreement to be reached.

The video takes into account the various features of a unitarism perspective of the labor relations. These features include, the union being part of the dynamic of the organization and working as a team with the organization. In such situations, the unions often work hand in hand with the organizations to figure out how to work together. However, the primary goal and intentions of the unions are always to persuade the employees of the company to be part of them. The process is always done in a slow but sure way which might take time (Haywood, 2012). This relationship between the management and the union is often projected in every aspect of their interactions until when there is need to act based on their obligations.

In such instances, the management regularly performs their duties to defend their interests and on the other hand, the union organizations also often work in defense of their interests, resulting in a conflict. The video is a reflection of the unitarism perspective of the labor relations because unitarism is often based on a consistent team such as the management and the union organization in this case. The unitarism aspect is reflected by the close working relationship between the management and the union organizations. In this case, the union organizations often have the freedom of selecting a union of their choice to work with without considering the opinion of the employees.

Video III: The Big Picture: Strengthen Unions

The third video by Move On talks about strengthening labor unions thus adopting the pluralism perspective of the labor relations. The speaker takes the viewer through what the labor unions used to advocate for such as the better pay, improved working conditions, press for legal protection for the employees on conditions such as the working hours cumulating to a forty hour work week as well as the safety of the workers. The speaker points out that the union organizations have weakened over the past years for most of the private sector workers as compared to those that existed during the 1950s. The speaker also relates the strength of the union with working relations and the economy. However, the speaker assumes that the employees within the public sector are not often affected by the unions. His primary focus throughout the video is on the employees within the private sector.

The video takes into account the various features of the pluralism perspective of the labor relations such as the improvement of working conditions for every individual. The features of this labor relations perspective are often associated with the middle-class group within the economy. Thus the strength of such a union is often reflected in the middle-class group as well as the economy of the country in which they live. The speaker highlights several ways of strengthening the existing unions to ensure a stable economy within the country (MoveOn, 2015). These ways include making it easier for workers within any organization to form a union, this will include the simple majority vote of the workers. The employers, on the other hand, can create delays on several incidents aimed at wiping out campaigns against any union that might be formed by these workers. The unions can also be strengthened through the formulation of laws aimed at penalizing companies who breaks the laws and enacting the federal laws to overturn the existing right to work laws. The video represents the chosen pluralism perspective of the labor relations because it focuses on the union organizations as an amalgamation of an existing company whose operations have been adversely affected by the current trends but remains to be in equilibrium.

Video IV: Interview Richard Hyman, Professor, London School of Economics, 25.09.14.

The interview video of Heyman Richard, a professor in the London School of Economics focuses on the pluralism perspective of labor relation. The professor bases his arguments on the divisions within the organization bringing the aspect of the insiders and outsiders of the labor unions. However, he assumes the key aspects of the labor markets which comprises of the organizations and the employees who form the members of the existing unions.

In the video, the professor highlights various features of the pluralism perspective of labor relation such as division of the unionists as the insiders and outsiders. According to him, these divisions brings about a macroeconomic, and a macro-political dynamic which brings about the financialization of the global capitalism. In the process, these create more insecurities within the labor markets resulting in the divisions within the unions of the insiders and the outsiders. Despite being insiders and outsiders, all these individuals are often affected by the insecurities created due to the macroeconomics and the macro-political dynamics (ETUI Brussels, 2014).

Thus, to better tackle the present challenges of labor unions, the professor proposes being part of the broader political challenge. Becoming part of the team makes one understand better the challenges affecting the economies such as the financialization of the economies and coming up with new projects that prioritize the social justice as well as equity at the center of the existing work organizations. Considering all these aspects and features presented by the professor in his interview, the perspective of labor relation in question best fits pluralism because he views the organizations as a combination of the insiders and outsiders who are at an equilibrium.

References

ETUI Brussels. (2014). Interview Richard Hyman, Professor, London School of Economics, 25.09.14. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNfK0YFyZ8E

Greer, J. (2018). Labor Relations - Employee Relations Expert Jason Greer - Unions Creating Chaos in Your Business?. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjzNTKBm0GE

Haywood, S. (2012). Labour And Union Relations by Susan Haywood from HR Blueprints. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygn3o5lOqds

MoveOn. (2015). The Big Picture: Strengthen Unions. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWtX3fHUJw4