Why unions have so much trouble getting members

    The BBC recently carried an interview with a union leader from England.  The message was right-on, but there's a fundamental problem that the unions haven't addressed in soliciting new members.

     Corporate management has greatly benefitted from the scientific study of worker needs, as conducted in the field of psychology.  Note that nearly every university has a psychology department, and corporations give money for (psychological) research.  Ever since Maslow's study of needs, psychology has been investigating the motivations and needs of workers on-the-job.  The research over the years has clearly shown that money, i.e., earnings and monetary compensation, is not the tantamount need in the hierarchy of worker needs!  They want good working conditions, co-workers they like to socialize with, etc.; and these other needs are far more important and motivating to achieve worker satisfaction.

     But the quest for more money is what need unions can satisfy--it's been demonstrated time and time again.  Indeed, that's the primary reason a worker joins a union--to increase his pay check.

      To bargain for a company's bowling league probably is not something a union would go on strike for, anyway!

       And in general, what these psychological studies declare is the worker does not have his own best interests in mind when he deals with management.  Simply, the worker is irrational, when it comes to knowing what's good for him!  Unions need to come up with a plan to get the worker on-the-job to better prioritize what's in his best interest.  And good luck!

       A step further.  There's a department in the company virtually working to keep the employee happy and content with the benefits package he negotiated himself with management.  That department is usually called "Human Services" or "Human Resources."  It's in the company's administrative domain; and it sends out emissaries to circulate among the manifold of employees every working day.  The message heralded boils down to "Isn't it just grand for you to be working here!" 

       Where's the union steward?  Working in some department on the floor?  Does he even exist?