Wages and Unions Information
Supply and Demand of Wages
Wages are determined by supply and demand. And, the government tries to keep corporate America happy by controlling the unemployment rate. If there are just the right amount of people out of work, it will drive wages down to a level that corporations deem acceptable. On the other hand, the government doesn't want to have people out of work committing theft and other crimes. They prefer a small number of people out of work to keep prices low and stability of the group high. Of course, there are always forces outside of the governments control. They can only do so much. However, there is much evidence that the government stepped in to control wages during WWII, when there were worker shortages and wages were skyrocketing.
Unions Keep up Wages
The unions are not run by the government. They are run by people that work for the company. Companies that have unions pay their employees a lot better than other corporations. The reason is that the union can control the supply of workers. The union can get everyone to strike on the same day. The workers know it is impossible for them to be replaced immediately, on a whim. They use their labor supply as their only bargaining tool against management.
What Companies are Unions in?
In some cases, unions have taken advantage of companies and put them out of business. This isn't the goal of the union. Unions are usually in large corporations that are making large profits. These are the companies that can handle paying a higher wage and giving better working conditions, but just do not want to. The union forces a better place to work. Evidence of this is that there are unions in utility companies. Utilities make a lot of profit revenue per worker. In other fields like fast food and janitorial there are not any unions. The reason is that the profit margins are too low to make it work out. There are individual stores that could do it, but it there aren't great inroads for the entire industry. Some companies, like Wal-Mart, could afford a union and yet it would make keeping the prices down very difficult for them. Most corporations are anti union.
Unions Under Scrutiny
Like anything, unions are not perfect. There have been criminals in unions and people that are hungry for power. Nowadays, unions spend very little time or money in collective bargaining. Instead, they spend a lot of money on lobbying and advertising. Unions of today have highly paid leaders that are basically politicians. For this reason, many people do not want to support unions. They feel they are just joining another corrupt organization. People reason that a union should spend their time looking out for the immediate interests of the group and not lobbying anything and everything that they like.
Still, it is a fact that unionized places will pay more and treat you better. If you want a good job with good working conditions, look to join a union. It will make your life a lot easier.
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