Wage Disputes and Unions
A type of wage dispute occurs when unions and employers engage in wage negotiations. A union represents employees and argues for increased wages and benefits. In order to enforce their position through collective bargaining agreements, unions organize boycotts and strikes.
Unions first started engaging in wage disputes during the Industrial Revolution. Workers would congregate at the bar after work and share stories of intolerable wages and working conditions. They would eventually form a cohesive group, and the leader would go to management to argue for higher wages.
Initially, courts were not sensitive to the plight of common workers, passing the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 to prevent workers from picketing outside the factory. However, the Clayton Act of 1914 and the Norris-La Guardia Act of 1932 allowed workers to strike during wage disputes. The Wagner Act of 1935 upholds the right of workers to join unions and assist unions in wage disputes.
However, the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 prohibited unions from coercing employees to join their wage disputes. A “union shop” is still legal though, where a worker is required to join a union within 30 days after employment. Some states have enacted “right to work” laws which allow rugged individualists to keep their jobs without joining a union.
Union numbers per capita are down since their height in the 1950s. As a result of this, as well as from downsizing and outsourcing, some economists hold that workers have lost much of their power to negotiate in wage disputes. Today, unions represent a shrinking segment of highly trained workers – not the typical minimum wage worker.
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Last Modified: 09-22-2010 01:55 PM PDT
