Introduction
The National Education Association (NEA) is a social organization in the United States protecting the right of children who are discriminated against and left behind in seeking education. Here we are mostly talking about Black children living in America. NEA also safeguards the rights of public school teachers and faculty members at various colleges and institutions. NEA with joining hands with the American teachers association ensures education as an essential right of every American citizen regardless of his color and family earnings. No Child Left behind (NCLB) is one of the important programs by NEA, the name says it all. NEA is working hard to fill the education gap by providing children with great and finest public schools.
Case
Teamster a social organization from the past decade is protecting the rights of labors whether working in public or private sectors. They have actually helped them to live their dream. The organization is based in the United States and Canada. By looking at the history of the organization, Teamster came into being when the union of labor stood together to fight for their human rights which includes weekend holidays, pension funds and health insurance which are now become essential components of a job. We can say that Teamster has changed the whole organization structure (Jonathan, 5).
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organization (AFL-CIO) is a combination of various labor unions (national and international) having the objective of improving the lives of working families. It includes all teachers, fire fighters, people working at farms, doctors, engineers, pilots, employees, plumbers etc. Organization established with a broad vision of ensuring both economic and social justice. The organization is working to meet the needs and demands of changing work fields and changing economies without affecting their lives and families. They are also trying to strengths the relationship between employees and employers, the focus is upon long term stability at work (“Employment Contract”, 7).
American Federation of Teachers (AFT) emphasizes the rights of all the teachers and school personnel includes private and public sectors. AFT took a stand for the privileges of minorities. They crusade against the discrimination of African American teachers demanding equal pay and justice. AFT also demanded equal opportunities in terms of education and asked for equal justice at schools for African American children. AFT was the first American union who admire the importance of African American contributions in the social, political, economic and cultural field, to be taught at public schools.
Employees working in any field knew the vital importance of their freedom to join labor unions according to their terms and conditions of their contract. Employees have good reason to join unions as it provides workers with improved jobs and good working conditions. Labor Unions can impact the overall performance of the organization and its relationship with employees. Management has to set their decisions according to workers’ demands such as higher wages, better training programs, good health care and paid sick leave. When huge group of employees starts joining and forming labor unions it will injure the organization’s health and future plans and management have to mold their policies and decisions according to union terms and demands. There is large impact of unionization on management decision making power when setting salary scales, employee’s collective bargaining power can highly influence management over working hours and conditions of employment. The impact of Unionization can also be seen on HRM practices while selecting new employees and workers. Employees in any organization are considered to be the real asset of firm, but employees engaging and taking active part in unionization can damage the overall productivity of the organization. Greater bargaining power in hands of employees is a threat for the management and employer nowadays organizations are trying to limit the existence of labor unions by not giving them full freedom to form labor unions to employees, some organization has applied the concept of charging penalties and fines on employees forming unions.
The overall impressions of this document can be viewed from both sides. One side indicates the necessity and benefits of labor unions, they are the one who safeguards the rights of every single labor working across the globe from the era of civil wars. These organizations succeed in prevailing justice and equality among one another, they form the foundation of belief, strength and pride upon which every working employee can build their future. At the present century we are able to witness the impacts of the labor unions formed years ago, they have succeeded in achieving their goals, they were able to achieve an increase in wage rate, increase in allowances, better working conditions, safety and health insurance, service and children allowance and many more. On the other hand we can see the impact of these labor organizations on management decision making power. Organizations have loosened control over some areas and it has affected their work productivity and in the end eventually their profitability decreases. It has been witnessed that organizations having strong labor unions can either will have a good employee-management relationship giving the organization an extremely competitive edge as both parties work together ensuring the rights of one another. Or it can have an adverse effect in form of unhealthy employee-management relationships damaging the performance of the company and losing a competitive edge over others. There are many factors that add power to labor unions as discussed above, which has influenced organizations to adopt soft practices. Management can overcome the resistance from employees by making union leaders as partners in change. If you engaged the dominant personality with you in setting policies and regulations the resistance from his followers will be less. The organization has adopted many tactics to overcome the power of labor unions and to keep the authority of making decisions within their own hands (Afaf, 4).
Conclusions
Agreement between employee and employer which indicates employment rights, responsibilities and duties, these are called terms and conditions of contract. Regulations that surprised me are that if an employee is absent from work due to some sort of injury, he is sitting at home and still he will be compensated under the Workers Compensation Act. Long term leave really surprised me employee having 3 years of experience is eligible for long term leave, duration of long term leave is one year i.e. the thing that surprise me. But it is unpaid and you will be given no benefits during that period. Long term leave is usually obtained for career assessment, career change or family reasons or may be health. When calculating benefits as retirement incentive pay, the benefit in terms of amount will be given to each unused number of sick leave that the employee did not obtain during his employment. In today’s world there are so many labor unions ensuring the rights of every working employee and labor; numerous new notions had become part of the terms and conditions of employee contracts. All these terms had covered all the possible areas of employment; all the regions where chances of arising issues were possible are taken care of ensuring healthy relationship between employees and the organization.
References
Afaf, A. (2010). “Extent to which Labor union can influence organization practices”. Online Journal of the University of Malaysia, vol. 4, no. 6. Web.
Employment Contract. (2010) “Detailed description of employment contracts and conditions”. The Royal Authority for Revenues and Customs. Web.
Jonathan, P. S. (2005). “Labor disputes, trade unions and collective bargaining”. Journal of Labor Movement, vol. 4, no. 4.