Why organize? Self-organization of workers
Self-help through economic action necessarily requires increasing the bargaining power of employees. Because of this, one of the basic purposes of a labor union is to eliminate competition among employees in the labor market.
Three other human desires should be noted among the forces that led workers to organize: (1) One is the desire for job security. (2) Employees wished to substitute what we should term “the rule of law” for the arbitrary and often capricious exercise of power by the employer. (3) Finally, unions help to give employees a sense of participation in the business enterprises of which they are part—a function of labor unions which became important as organizations spread into mass production industries. The union is the recognized instrumentality and mouthpiece of the laborers.
Three other human desires should be noted among the forces that led workers to organize: (1) One is the desire for job security. (2) Employees wished to substitute what we should term “the rule of law” for the arbitrary and often capricious exercise of power by the employer. (3) Finally, unions help to give employees a sense of participation in the business enterprises of which they are part—a function of labor unions which became important as organizations spread into mass production industries. The union is the recognized instrumentality and mouthpiece of the laborers.
