How Unionism can remove Economic Inequalities in Ontario? Social Essay

How Unionism can remove Economic Inequalities in Ontario?
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Abstract
The recent years have seen a rapid decline in the unionism at global and national levels. The unions have been suffering from increased pressure by the business and government authorities resulting in an increased economic gap in the communities. This research focuses on the potential role that can be played by the labor unions in the province of Ontario to reduce the economic inequalities. The research essay also develops some recommendation for the unions, organizations, and authorities to reduce the increasing income inequalities at both provincial and national levels.
How unionism can remove economic inequalities in Ontario?
The Canadian labor unions are going through a hard time. It has been observed that during the recent years the unionism rates are at a decline. One of the most significant effects has been observed in the public labor market. The labor force of Canada is becoming culturally diverse and the individuals making up these workforces are difficult to organize compared to the past. Moreover, the government and local administration are implementing a policy commonly known as, “austerity bargaining” and making several legislative developments which are considered as unfair and unfriendly to their interests (Breda, 2015). The public opinion is of extreme importance as all of the stakeholder involved in this process are looking to win public opinion according to their own objectives. Despite the growing importance of public opinions and its impact on the Canadian labor market very little academic researchers are surfaced aimed at analyzing the public opinions toward changing market dynamics (Breda, 2015). Ontario is one of the most developing provinces of Canada and one of the prime choices for the labor force for making professional developments. The aim of this essay is to evaluate the public opinion towards the unions and its implications in the context of Ontario.
The social unionism is considered to be one of most commonly employed form of the unions in the country. The basic idea of this form of unionism is facilitating the union leaders to think beyond the interests of the labor force and work for the collective benefits of the community they are part of (Keenan, 2015). Indeed the concept of safeguarding employee rights (wage increase, insurance coverage, work environment, and job security) intersect with the interests of the community (Keenan, 2015). These unions have been able to work outside the occupational domains, form alliances with the local community organizations, and make sustainable contributions to improve community-level developments. Therefore, it is of extreme importance for unions to keep their community relationships up to date.
The biggest challenge for the unions, however, is to reduce the gap between the income status of the labor communities and to ensure a reliable income distribution in the society. Despite the rapid decline and reinforced opposition by the organizations and the government, the Canadian labor unions have been able to achieve multiple goals aimed at creating economic equality within the community (Keenan, 2015). The standardization of the wages according to the Unions’ wage distribution agenda implies that the payment system should be designed according to the job and not the individuals. The bargaining power of the unions can benefit most of the workers but can also be proved too detrimental to the organizations (Patmore, 2016). Over the years the unions have been to gain a significant bargaining power and thus an increased conflict seems to exist between workers, organizations, and the communities.
For a province like Ontario, the role of unions is of vital importance owing to the influx of immigrants in the province. Most of the Canadian unions are not able to represent the interests of the minorities within their communities resulting in unemployment. Most of the organizations tend to hire immigrants as they are willing to do jobs at fewer wages and usually don’t object to the administration’s decisions regarding the wages and associated issues (Patmore, 2016). Therefore, it is of extreme importance for the labor unions to include this class of workforce and their communities in their regimes. Once the inclusion of migrant workers is complete the unions might be in a better position to negotiate with the organizations and authorities. Moreover, they can actively participate in reducing the gap between the wages of the workers.
The discussion so far summarizes the importance and positive effects of social unionism in the growing provinces like Ontario. The way these unions impact the income distribution within a community also requires to be reviewed to establish reliable recommendations. There are five ways which are identified following which they can reduce or impact the economic inequalities in the community (Bennett, 2016). Two of these processes are direct and three are known in-direct procedures. One of the most commonly used approaches used by the labor unions is the limitation of the labor supply to the organization. This approach places the union representatives in a position to negotiate the wages and other economic benefits for the workers. The bargaining power of the unions is also used in the second approach, which is to reduce pressure on the wages owing to the economic downturn resulting in making the union wages more rigid compared to non-union ones (Bennett, 2016).
The labor unions in Ontario, also aim to create the uniform income distribution for the covered workers and the associated communities by providing a “voice” platform to the workers (Machin, 2016). It includes the debates on the economic and social issues faced workers’ community, providing the employees and workers an opportunity to invest in the human capital of the organizations, and win rights like pension and health insurance benefits. The unions can also effectively generate benefits in the non-union based environments. For instance, the workers can threaten to establish unions and thus increase pressure on employers to increase wages and other incentives for their employees (Machin, 2016). If the organizations fire or try to eliminate the threat of the unionism in their environments they can face significant legal and social consequences. The joblessness also creates a depressive environment in the organizations which can have negative consequences on the overall productivity.
The overall mechanism in the words of Bryson, 2005 can be summarized in the following qu...