Changing Landscape of Unions

Labor Unions
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Institution:
1) Discuss how union membership has evolved over the past century.
At the height of industrialization, many of the industries employed scores of employees. As the number of industries and the firms increased, so did the scores of employees that worked in the various fields. Although the start was quite slow, the labor unions became a common facet of the employment industry. This meant that the employees could now voice their grievances through a legitimate body that was recognized by the law and thus by the industry. Over the last century, the labor unions have undergone some major changes. By the mid years of the last century, labor unions represented roughly third of all the Americans that were working (Butcher, 2009).There has been change in the landscape, much of which has been ironically a shrinking membership.In the year 1983 union membership in America as around 20.1 percent; this number has since fallen and by 2008 it was at 12.4 percent. However, there is a twist to the rise, as most of the immigrants are joining the unions. The number of Latino workers in the labor unions has more than doubled from the last century. This also applies to the case of the Asians. As for the African Americans the figure of persons who have joined the unions has stayed quite steady, while that of the whites is slowly dwindling.With reference to gender males are also recorded to be leaving the unions, while the number of women is increasing steadily(White, 2013).
2) Evaluate how unions have modified their philosophy to accommodate this shifting landscape.
At the same time, the philosophy of the labor unions has also evolved. In the past century, most of the workers that were taking membership did not have a college degree. Today, most of the people that join the labor unions have college degrees. Coincidentally, in the past century, much of the membership came from the workers that were working in the manufacturing industry (White, 2013). This philosophy has since changed and the shift is towards unionizing service...