Monday, March 3, 2014

Unions and Coops

The hierarchical model of  structural organization is a system designed to keep the majority out of power and has allowed for some of the worst labor atrocities of all time. Some of the worst conditions existed in mines and factories where people were forced to work long hours in extremely dangerous conditions in order to survive. This system was never fought or defeated until organized labor appeared and allowed workers to force management to give them some say in their working conditions. However these Union contracts are often very delicate and non-negotiable after the contract is signed. This system can lead to problems when the unions over negotiate and make it too expensive for a business to operate, as happened most recently with the GM collapse.
The biggest problem with systems like unions is that instead of actually getting a say in how the business is run, they only get to negotiate once. This leads to problems where unions over negotiate and this ends up causing problems between labor and management when they should be working together to ensure the company stays profitable. But this is rare in American business, and it is especially rare in large businesses anywhere. While some unions are better about this than other, for the most part their goal is solely to protect workers rights and compensation over the success of the company. A better system would be one in which the workers were better represented and informed about management decisions such that they were given a say in critical business decisions that could affect the workforce.
Workers and management should be equally represented in the business just like how every citizen is equally represented in the United States. If every worker felt that they were a partial owner of the company they worked at, then they would be more likely to put in their all every day to maximize productivity. Hard work could be even further incentivized if wages were based on a percentage of corporate profits rather than a fixed hourly rate.

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