Advantages and disadvantages of labor union in retail

Reducing work-family conflict is an important goal which would benefit all working parents. According to a report by the American Association of University Women, survey results found that a majority of both men (74%) and women (83%) would choose a job that had lower pay but provided benefits such as family leave, flexible hours, and help with family care. The same study found that among college-educated adults, men are still more likely to have flextime options at their workplace—55.5% of men versus 39.7% of women. Flextime and similar options can be important supports for working mothers.

High Costs to Caregiving
According to a recent study conducted by the Project on Global Working Families, the United States ranks low on a list of 173 nations when it comes to protecting workers’ family lives. You.S. Policies fail to protect the role of women as mothers and caretakers:

The U.S. Guarantees no paid leave for mothers in any segment of the work force. Only four other nations studied share this quality: Lesotho, Liberia, Papua New Guinea, and Swaziland; 168 guarantee leave with income in connection to childbirth.

Women need time for parental involvement and to take care of sick family members. One hundred thirty-seven countries mandate paid annual leave, with 121 of these countries guaranteeing two weeks or more each year. The U.S. Does not require employers to provide any paid annual leave and as a result, more women work long hours, nights, and weekends.

The U.S. Provides only unpaid leave for serious illnesses through the FMLA, which does not cover all workers. Moreover, the U.S. Does not guarantee any paid sick days for common illnesses. One hundred and forty-five countries provide paid leave for short- or long-term illnesses, with 127 providing a week or more annually.

The availability of affordable childcare can have a huge impact on women’s choices regarding work. Childcare can be prohibitively expensive: in 2002, the OECD estimated that the cost of center-based care for two children in the U.S. Could amount to as much as 37% of a single parent’s income. This is a considerably larger portion than almost all other OECD countries. Even for two-parent families of all income brackets, childcare tends to be the second-largest household expenditure, after housing costs.

In countries with a high degree of childcare support programs, the labor force participation rate of women with young children is much higher.

Today, more than 6.9 million working women are union members and 7.7 million are represented by unions.

Union women and men are more likely than nonunion workers to have health and pension benefits, and to receive paid holidays and vacations, and life and disability insurance.
In 2007, union women earned weekly wages that were more than 33% more than non-union women. Thus, union membership narrows the gender wage gap.

CRAP

In my opinion, union is completely unnecessary. I've heard them spread lies about Wal-Mart for years because they refuse to let the union in. My husband currently is employed at Wal-Mart, earning almost $16/hour and our entire family(him, me & the 3 kids) has medical, dental & vision insurance as well as him having short- and long-term disability for only $60.00 a month. He also gets paid holidays, whether he's scheduled to work that day or not.

What study are you referring to in regards to unpaid maternity leave world wide and in US?

Explain the advantages and disadvantages of union membership from the employee perspective