LABRST 1C03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Universal Suffrage, Workplace Democracy

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Labour Studies
• Course: LABRST 1C03
• Professor: Stephanie Ross

Document Summary

Union is when a group of worker come together to bargain with the employer to improve workplace conditions. Individually they can not get much but as a group they can get more done. Definition: a collective organization of workers designed to advance their shared interests and values primarily (but not only) in the workplace, based on values of solidarity, equality, and mutual aid (act together) Unions redress the power imbalance that workers experience with respect to employers in both the labour market and the workplace by replacing individual bargaining with collective bargaining. Union advantage = significant increase wages, benefits, and other entitlements by taking wages and working conditions out of competition. Workplace democracy = unions make sure that workers voice and interests taken seriously in decisions about the workplace (how work is done) Unions replace arbitrary / unilateral management decisions with due process and rule of law": collective agreement and grievance procedures. Want fair processes: best shifts, promotions, vaca\. tion times.