HRMG 4203: Week 4 Discussion Reflection

The topic that I found insightful from this week’s readings is unions and collective
bargaining. Collective bargaining and unions are closely related to the rights that employees have
in the workplace setup. Employees have a right against discrimination and unfair treatment.
Collective bargaining helps in ensuring that all employees can negotiate favorable contractual
terms with the employers. It limits the input of the government and courts in deciding the pay
that employees are entitled to as well as the terms of employment that govern employment
contracts. Collective bargaining in the private sector is governed by the National Labor Relations
Act (NLRA) (Walsh, 2016).
The idea of collective bargaining is rooted in the need to organize employees and other
like-minded individuals to achieve certain goals that they share in common. Collective
bargaining is based on the recognition of the input that employees have in the workplace (Walsh,
2016). It is also founded on the fact that employers and employees may not have interests that
are aligned. Disagreements may arise in the course of employment. The disagreements may
relate to wages, hours, and other factors that play a role in dictating the terms of employment.
Through collective bargaining, employers and employees can come together and negotiate and,
in so doing reaching an amicable solution.
A scenario that is closely related to collective bargaining is that of the U.S. men’s and
women’s soccer teams. There has been a contest regarding the payment of the women’s soccer
teams (Carlisle, 2021). Players in the women’s soccer team have been paid significantly lower
compared to their male counterparts. Collective bargaining seems to be the solution to the
problem that exists in the treatment of soccer players. The U.S. Soccer Federation has offered
proposals to ensure that the issues are solved in the new collective bargaining agreement
extended to both teams (Carlisle, 2021).

References

Carlisle, J. (2021, September 14). U.S. soccer offers men, women identical deals.
ESPN.com. https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usaw/story/4475503/us-soccer-
offers-menswomens-teams-identical-contract-proposals
Walsh, D. J. (2016). Employment law for human resource practice (5th ed.). Boston, MA:
Cengage Learning.