Trade Unions and a Healthy Work Environment

Common sense tells us that employees will be happier working in clean, safe environments; if they are given some say in decisions that concern them; if benefit packages meet their basic needs; and if they are treated with respect by management and coworkers alike. This study explores the possibility that trade unions provide more of these elements than employees can obtain on their own, and will reach the conclusion that unionized shops should serve a model for management even when no trade union is present.

Responses from 150 union and non-union respondents to a short, self-administered questionnaire were collected, and the results compared. For the first five factors respondents were intended to measure the difference, if any, of employee satisfaction with basic job benefits between union and non-union workers. Overall, union employees were slightly more satisfied than non-union employees with their basic job packages. Generally, between 40% and 50% of the total respondents rated these factors as Very Good or Good.

The second set of questions dealt with training for current and future positions. Fifty-one percent of non-union and 43% of union respondents rated their employer below average when it comes to training.

A clear divergence between union and non-union worker perceptions occurred in the area of an employer's concern for employee interests when making important decisions. Union workers reported a much higher level of satisfaction in thi

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nce with vertical job movement. The final three factors respondents were asked to rate dealt with the emotional environment at work. The last two questions on the survey first, enable a comparison between union and non-union employees' perceptions of their employers' continued interest in maintaining employee satisfaction within their organizations, and secondly ask respondents to compare their employers overall with other employers. This allows for a comparison of union and non-union workers' perceptions of whether their organization rates high or low as a "good place to work". Results Basic Job Benefits As stated in the previous section, the first five factors respondents were asked to rate were intended to measure the difference, if any, of employee satisfaction with basic job benefits between union and non-union workers. The results for each group are presented as approximate percentages . Very Good (union) Very Good (non-union) Good (union) Good (non-union) Average (union) Average (non-union) Poor (union) Poor (non-union) Very Poor (union) Very Poor (non-union) Employee benefits 13% 10% 27% 25% 37%

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