The prevalence of unions, both from a geographic and industry standpoint, often significantly impacts the welfare and wage propositions of a substantial number of employees. Unionization is hotly debated, as unions employ collective bargaining on behalf of employees independently from company human resource (HR) policies. The legislative backing and legal framework is complex and ever evolving, both domestically and abroad. HR professionals need to closely monitor this evolution, both to understand the most recent hiring practices and to ensure compliance (if applicable) with union rules and regulations.
The Definition of Labor Relations
While the term is used broadly and in many contexts, labor relations, for our purposes, is the study and practice of managing unionized employment situations. This definition can be expanded to include history, law, sociology, management, and political science, as the existence, evolution, and implications of union development have substantial political, economic, and legal implications.
The Declining Unions
an academic field and in business application. Laissez-faire attitudes and the promotion of free market dynamics are, in many ways, contrary to the legal creation of employee rights. Whether this loss of interest in collective bargaining is a good thing or a bad thing is up for debate, and the power of trade unions is integral to this discussion. Labor relations is a subarea of industrial relations, which is the field of employee/employer relationships. Industrial relations was a more prevalent field of study historically, however, and has seen substantial decline both as an academic field and as a business application. Laissez-faire attitudes and the promotion of free-market dynamics are, in many ways, contrary to the legal creation of employee rights. Whether this loss of interest in collective bargaining is a good thing or a bad thing is up for debate, and the power of trade unions is integral to this discussion.
A trade union or labor union is an organization dedicated to promoting employee rights and improving employee welfare in a given organization or industry. This is the fulcrum of labor relations, and thus central to the discussion of how it is evolving today (compared to how it evolved in the past).
U.S. union membership over time
The above chart is extremely useful in understanding labor-relations trends over the past century or so in the United States. As you can see, the 1930s, during the Great Depression, is when unions began to grow in prominence and power. This held strong for many years, and the decline of unions is a very recent trend in labor relations. Many correlate this decline in unions with the economic struggles of 2008–2009, noting that the rise and fall is between the two worst economic collapses in history.
In 2010, union membership in the U.S. hovered around 11%. This is down substantially from historic numbers, and is the lowest in 70 years in the U.S. Finland, on the other hand, has union participation of 70% (2010) and Canada has 27.5% (2010). Union workers in the United States make anywhere between 10% and 30% more than nonunion workers in the same job, underlining why businesses often oppose unionization and workers often support it.