Purpose

The purpose of this blog site is to inform about different issues regarding management and labor getting along, and the challenges both parties confront in the labor market.


Most of us who have been part of the labor force at one point of our lives know that dealing with management can be at times a bit uncomfortable. This is not unusual as labor force and management have different goals in a company. Managers are hired by a company’s board of directors and their purpose is to maximize stockholder’s profits by any means necessary. Most times, managers get rewarded with bonuses according to the profitability of a company in a time period. On the other hand, the labor force is constituted by the employees who are hired to help managers accomplish their goals.  Managers can sometimes promote their employees by using unfair procedures such as discriminating against less gifted or impaired employees, using sexual favors as an incentive for promotion, etc.

At-will employment is a doctrine in American law that states that an employee can quit at anytime without an explanation, and an employer can fire an employee at anytime without a reasonable explanation. This is providing there is no other clause in the employment contract that voids the at-will employment such as a collective bargaining agreement with a union. A Union can serve as a mediator between management and the labor force.

Working Conditions and Work Environment Matters

There is the other side, where management and labor do get along and work in a harmonious and productive environment. A good example is the case of Google employees in the following video:

After watching this video one can only ask oneself how do they do it and is it financially sustainable in the long run? Personally, I would hate to get used to this kind of work environment and then one day have to look for a job in another company. It would be shocking to say the least.

As they say in the video it is the trust the company puts in the employees that makes them happy to be there and also makes them want to work hard and have ambitious ideas, fast responses, and big achievements.

However many companies today face many challenges such as the volatility in the economy, a global economy in which corporations can go abroad to get cheaper labor in order to stay competitive and profitable. These challenges can make it a bit difficult for the employer to provide for a well-balanced and productive atmosphere at work. The following link provides good information on how a company can keep their workforce engaged and satisfied with their jobs. Job satisfaction

 I believe that it is fair to say that for those of us who have worked for a corporation it has not been  as good experience as the one Google's employees have had. Even when the environment has been peaceful and enjoyable very few companies can afford to provide for their employees all the commodities Google provides for their employees. However, let’s not lose hope maybe in the future there will be more companies like Google.

Google's work site

The following link is a video showing the life at work for Google’s employees. The video shows an amazing way to stimulate the morale and work production at any company however the method used by Google is a method not many companies will be able to afford for their company.  Google was founded by 2 engineers: Larry Page, Sergey Brin on September of 1998. In my opinion they have had a high level of success because they were at the right place, at the right time, with the right tools. Some of the issues that have helped their success have been among others the growing trend of usage of new technology (cell phones, computers, and other electronic gadgets that use the internet), the fast way of life around the world, and the convenience of knowledge(Information research) at the tip of our fingers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsnSBhWEyK4&feature=related

Job Satisfaction

This website talks about the issues today’s corporations face in order to efficiently manage their employees. Some of the important points addressed are:  providing job satisfaction in order to retain their workforce by providing: a positive working environment, reward and recognition, involve and increase employee engagement, develop the skills and potential of the workforce, and to evaluate and measure job satisfaction in a regular basis. If these issues are addressed there is a greater provability that management and the labor force in the company will get along, therefore providing for a good level of success in whatever industry the company is involved.

Leadership and Development-Managing Millennials

One very important factor in maintaining a good relationship between management and the labor force is to maintain managers and leaders in an organization trained and informed in regards to new trends in the labor force. This will enable them to understand the needs of present and future generations as well as to identify the individual strengths of any prospective in the labor market, making their job easier and more efficient. A generation that has caught many peoples’ attention is the case of the new generation “The Millennials” as shown in the following video: 

The Millennials, the next generation, they are coming…are you ready for them? According to this video due to the fact that millions of Baby Boomers will be retiring in the close future it has never been more important to attract, mentor, train, and retain young employees as it is today. The Millennials are not only important because of how they view the world but also because they are huge in numbers and likely will replace the existing workforce in the not distant future. 

"Businesses are struggling to keep pace with a new generation of young people entering the workforce, who have starkly different attitudes and desires than employees over the past few decades." - USA Today

Managing Millennials

This website talks about the importance of understanding younger generations in the job market. The website focuses in the Millennials generation and gives an insight to the considerable strengths they can potentially bring to the workplace and the best way to manage them by attracting, mentoring, training, and ultimately retaining them as permanent and reliable employees.

Collective bargaining

Collective bargaining is a term that is not well liked in the management arena because it is related to the unionization of the labor force.  Collective bargaining is the process through which employees get together with the agreement to form a union. During collective bargaining a few individuals representing the labor force get together with the employers to negotiate a job contract that lays out certain employment conditions, including salaries, benefits, vacation time, work hours, safety conditions and grievance procedures. View video

The United States government recognizes the right of workers to unionize and participate in collective bargaining through the passage of the National Labor Relations Act, a federal law setting the standards and regulations in the formation of unions and the process of collective bargaining.

Law and Regulations in Collective Bargaining

This website is a YouTube video which gives important information about Collective Bargaining Law and Regulations. Many times people tend to believe that forming a union takes a lot of effort but in reality it is not all that difficult. The most important thing is that the workforce has to be united and committed to get a union to represent them, there are legalities to it but for the most part the people’s will to be unionized is the most important  part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqlG9FPq02c&noredirect=1

National Labor Relations Board

The following website is set and maintained by the United States government with the purpose of providing information regarding the National Labor Relations Act. This website specifies and defines the regulations provided by this Act in order to protect the rights of employees and employers and to encourage collective bargaining.

Union Leaders

There have been a few union leaders that have made a historic change for the labor force. One that comes to mind is Mr. Cesar Chavez who fought primarily for the rights of farming workers but touch the lives of many through the United Farmworkers Union (UFW).

As a result of his arduous persistence advocating for the fair employment condition for farm workers he contributed to the passage of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975. The new law gave workers the right to secret ballot elections to choose a union, and required growers to bargain with unions that won elections.

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“Cesar Chavez’s vision didn’t include just the traditional bread and butter issues of unionism; it was about reclaiming dignity for people who were marginalized by society”. citation

The United Farmworkers Union AFL-CIO (UFW)

This website is about The United Farmworkers Union AFL-CIO (UFW) and the effort made by Cesar Chavez along with many farm workers to unionize in order to get better wages and better working conditions which are key elements for the successful relationship among employees and employers.

Agricultural Labor Relations Board

This website provides information about the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board which was created in 1975 in order to provide farm workers the right to unionize in order to negotiate for acceptable wages, good working conditions, and decent working hours among other things. All this factors contribute to the good relationship between employees and employers

Unionized teachers losing their jobs

As all of us know the recent recession in the United States caused by the plummet of the housing market and the volatility of the stock market among other factors, has brought much stress to the job market. This in turn, has triggered a raise in the unemployment rate and has had a ripple effect in our society; everywhere you look there are people being affected directly or indirectly by the loss of jobs.

Teaching has been one of the work areas that have been drastically affected by the latest recession and though the teachers in California are represented by one of the biggest unions in the state,  the California Teachers Association (CTA) has not been able to save teachers jobs, instead the union has had to be the bearer of the bad news and have notified thousands of teachers that they no longer have a job or that their contracts would not be renewed the upcoming year. "EducationNews"

This is an instance in which being represented by a union did not help.

Exporting manufacturing jobs to countries with cheaper labor

Manufacturing jobs being exported to other countries where wages are much cheaper is a great concern for the labor force in the United States. This is another touchy issue among management and the workforce because in the last years many American jobs have been exported overseas leaving many Americans without a job. In many cases workers have spent most of their lives being fateful to a company only to find out that the company is relocating out of the country, therefore leaving them without a job.

According to the AFL-CIO in an online article called Exporting America, more than 3 million manufacturing jobs have disappeared since 1998, and the Economic Policy Institute estimates that 59% of these jobs have been lost due to the explosion in the U.S. manufacturing trade deficit over the period.

Once a worker has been displaced from a job because the company is relocating, it’s harder to trust another company and work as hard because there is the feeling of uncertainty because the new company (employer) can also relocate.

Emerging industries and the effect that they have in the labor force

As all of us know the recent recession in the United States caused by the plummet of the housing market and the volatility of the stock market among other factors, has brought much stress to the job market. This in turn, has triggered a raise in the unemployment rate and has had a ripple effect in our society; everywhere you look there are people being affected directly or indirectly by the loss of jobs.
However there are some good news shown in the following link, where slowly but surely some manufacturing jobs are being created stimulating the labor force. This in turn, creates jobs and stimulates the economy. When there is more companies around, there is more competition among companies and this in turn increases the need for retention of good and reliable workers.
As the demand for workers increase, the chance for better working conditions and recognition of workers achievements in the labor force also increases.