On Friday, Sept. 15, the United Auto Workers began targeted strikes against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. On Friday, Sept. 22, the United Auto Workers expanded the strike to 38 plants in 20 states.
Kent State Today reached out to C. Lockwood Reynolds, Ph.D., professor of economics in the Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship at Kent State University. How will these strikes affect the Kent State community? And what do students, especially those going into fields with union representation, need to know about unions?
Reynolds indicated this strike could mean a couple of things for local economies and the people in them. On top of cars and auto repairs becoming more expensive, there is also a possibility that the longer the strike goes on, the greater the likelihood of layoffs in the automotive fields. This will affect the local economies the plants are in.
“There could be layoffs in the firms that supply the thousands of parts for these cars. That would mean less income in the local economies,” Reynolds said.
United Auto Workers is one of the remaining unions that still has a fair amount of power because of its ability to influence these big American companies, according to Reynolds. For those unfamiliar with unions, the concept of them may seem confusing.
Reynolds defines a union as “a group that collectively bargained for a set of workers to essentially try and balance out the negotiating power between the firm and the workers.”
Unions are not a new thing having been around since the 18th century in the United States. They are responsible for many working conditions that we now take for granted today, Reynolds said.
Unions in the past were responsible for helping build momentum to pass the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. The Fair Labor Standards Act created a federal guide for a shorter, five-day workweek with room for leisure and started to federally regulate child labor, eventually banning it.
Unions also fought for a 40-hour workweek, eight-hour workdays, unemployment benefits, worker compensation law, employer-based health coverage, and family and medical leave.
“A lot of the things that we take for granted in the current economy were things that unions were fighting for 100 years ago.”
“A lot of the early union work wasn’t really about pay as much as safety, and also benefits and things like that,” Reynolds said. “A lot of the things that we take for granted in the current economy were things that unions were fighting for 100 years ago.”
Reynolds also offered some advice for students entering jobs that have unions. He mentioned that there are always tradeoffs for those thinking about joining.
“Most economic research finds little evidence that union activity, on average, causes lower employment or increased likelihood of firms shutting down.”
“Unions tend to increase wages and other forms of compensation, but there are costs to the companies, which could lower labor demand,” Reynolds said. “Most economic research, however, finds little evidence that union activity, on average, causes lower employment or increased likelihood of firms shutting down.”
Reynolds does caution students to think about entering a workforce with a new union starting up, as this is usually a sign that there may be problems for the workers.
“Unions tend to form when employees are unhappy about their pay, benefits or working conditions. If there is a lot of new union activity, it may be because there are problems for the workers,” Reynolds said.
Though it is hard to give specific advice to students thinking about unions, it is best to look at the tradeoffs that come with joining a union and make the best-educated decision possible.