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Labor Laws and Unions: Oshkosh Defense Labor Laws and Unions: Oshkosh Defense Today’s unions collectively see over $10 billion in revenue a year from dues payments. Most of the current workers in the unions have never voted to instate the union in the first place and yet they are forced to become members at the expense of getting a job of his or her qualifications. This begs the question regarding whether or not unions are still as effective as they once were and whether or not these unions infringe on the employee’s rights at present. This discussion will determine what uses unions have in today’s business world. Oshkosh Defense Background Oshkosh Defense is a subsidiary of Oshkosh Corporation. They generate military vehicles for government bodies throughout the world. They have created more than 100,000 tactical vehicles for a full range of missions, and they proudly tout their full life-cycle sustainment and services plan included in the purchase of their vehicles. Oshkosh Defense employs nearly 4,000 workers in its Oshkosh, Wisconsin, facilities. Oshkosh Defense in 1938 had 18 workers inducted as members of a local union: United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 578, (UAW Local 578, 2012). At present they have more than 3,000 members in its closed shops. Unions Benefits There are some benefits to joining a union. Some of these benefits include the ability to work under collective bargaining and obtaining representation. It also allows the worker a channel to expel their disagreements or agreements with a company without fear of losing his or her job. Other aspects that are beneficial for union workers are their job security if one has achieved seniority, increased benefits, for example, insurance, and the rules of how the company can handle certain situations like layoffs are all put down so everyone is aware of the policies. Unionization Process The Wagner Act of 1935 basically acknowledges that it is an employee’s right to join a union to protect his or her rights. Once a person or group of people decides to join a union there is one of three things that happen. 1. Employee(s) can choose to start it themselves, this includes them soliciting others to join as well or sign a petition. 2. Employee(s) contact an established union and asked that they be allowed to become members. 3. Employee(s) are contacted by established unions and asked to join. This process generally will continue until the supporters have reached 30% membership of the employees of a particular corporation. Collective Bargaining As stated above one benefit of joining a union is the ability to collectively bargain. Collective bargaining is simply where a union has an issue with insurance, for example. They would have to announce the issue to the members to a vote on and if 50% of its members approve this change they will then go to the company with their demands. In The News Oshkosh Defense was recently in the news for a contract dispute with the union’s workers. Oshkosh’s lawyers and the union’s negotiators came to an impasse over wages, insurance, and temporary workers, (Barrett, September 26th, 2011). This dispute lasted for over a month until they were finally able to come to a consensus. Because Oshkosh Defense strictly see’s revenue from government contracts this could be detrimental should it ever happen again. With government contracts there is little wiggle room for price negotiations and even less for the time frame in which the product is needed. So this can become an issue again if a union strike should ever occur like this most recent quarrel. Conclusion Some people thought that the quarrel would lead to no more unions for Oshkosh Defense; however, they worked it out without breaking any laws or infringing on any employee’s rights. However, tensions continue to grow for unions in this country and in the future they may not be able to work out their demands. After discussing how to create a union, what the process is to become a formal union, and how they bargain one can fully appreciate the bothersome task it can become to establishing a union. Oshkosh Defense needs to look to the future and determine whether or not they can balance the needs of the company with the needs of the union, presently unions are still considered an asset for Oshkosh Defense. References Barrett, R. (September 26th, 2011). Oshkosh Corp. At Odds Over Contract. Retrieved from: http://www.jsonline.com/business/130606518.html Cascio, W. F. (2010). Managing human resources: Productivity, quality of work life, profits (8th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Oshkosh Corporation. (2012). About. Retrieved from: http://www.oshkoshcorporation.com/about/index.cfm UAW Local 578. (2012). About Us. Retrieved from: http://www.uaw578.org/About-Us-2.html