METAPHORS FOR LABOR AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

Wages and benefits are “bread and butter issues” for unions since they are unions’ core reason of existence. In addition, economic benefits are undoubtedly “meat and potatoes” of collective bargaining (Carrell and Heavrin, 2014). Metaphorical usages are always my favorites because they tell more than they express. These figurative usages point out that wage is a basic and extremely important topic for labor side. As implied by the above-mentioned metaphors, wages are crucial for unions, but vital for labor. Unions exist for the economic rights of labor, and wage is essential for labor’s current and prospective standards of living.

Opposite to the planned (North Korea) and mixed economies (China) (Dessler, 2013), market economies or free market principles have fewer restrictions on business operations and more economic development which stems from Neoliberal Movement (Carrell and Heavrin, 2014). It can be seen as the best market system of the current world. However, their perspective for the wage of labor should be regulated legally in order to protect workforce’ rights. Wage should be thought as an independent variable from the fluctuation and alteration of the markets because it means not only potential for economic growth and ability to live after retirement but also standard of living (heat, eat, rent, family expenses, tuition for kids, and more for labor).

References

Carrell, M. R., Heavrin, C., & Carrell, M. R. (2013). Labor relations and collective bargaining. Pearson.

Dessler, G. (2013). Fundamentals of human resource management. Pearson