1 Students Name Teachers Name Subject Date What are the Roles of Unions in 2012?

A union is an organization which is created with an aim to protect interests of particular group of people and create conditions which would be favorable for these people. There are various types of unions; all of them can be divided into two types public and private. There are also other types of unions, such as craft unions. These involve people who have the same level of qualification, work at the same positions, and have the same skills. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters Industrial unions are among other type of unions horizontal unions. Their members work in the same industry, who have different skills and different level of preparation. As it has been already mentioned above, there are also public unions. These are aimed at representation of employees who work at governmental organizations, as well as health care workers. The largest public union is the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (Types of Unions in the United States). There are many people who support unions of various types and also belong to some of them. however, recently many citizens of the Untied states of America Developed some doubts in their convictions concerning the unions and the question where the unions are useful and valuable or not, is one of the most urgent ones. Examining this issue, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that there are millions of people who work in very dangerous conditions and at the same time they receive low salaries. Moreover, they have very little protection or no protection at all.

2 Nobody can deny the fact that unions played a significant role in improvements of these conditions, having brought such chances as reasonable working hour, better conditions of work, and higher salaries. Generally speaking, unions help people to avoid being exploited by their employers or by any organization which might influence life of people. As it is reported by the Bureau of Labor statistics, members of labor unions approximately earned $ 34,944 per year, while workers who were not involved in the unions earned approximately $ 26,832. These figures demonstrate that work of the unions has some effect and it is aimed at improvement of life and work conditions for the members of the unions. Unions do a lot of good, and probably, this is the reason why they seem to be completely beneficial. Unions help people to avoid unfair treatment at work and at various settings. However, as experience shows, in some companies demands of the unions seem to help workers exploit employers. As a consequence, many of such companies went bankrupts. It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that such radical change of the course of the development of events could never happen before the unions had been granted such power. And the recent events demonstrate that unions are gaining greater and greater power, which, if not being exercised appropriately, might bring inevitable harm to the economy of the country (Unions: Good or Bad?). Thus, it is possible to conclude, that nowadays protection of the rights of the participants and creation of conditions which would enhance meeting their interests are the main functions of the unions. However, it is also necessary to pay attention to the fact that unreasonable usage of power of the unions might be harmful for various organizations and economy of the country as a whole.

3 Works Cited Types of Unions in the United States. Web. 11, Sept, 2012, <http://www.crosscurrents.hawaii.edu/content.aspx?lang=eng&site=us&theme=work &subtheme=UNION&unit=USWORK016>. Unions: Good or Bad? Web. 11, Sept, 2012, <http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2003/10/30/unions-good-or-bad.aspx>.