Strikes

Strikes
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Strikes
The year 2017 recorded the second lowest number of labor strikes in the United States history. At the end of the year, only seven labor strikes were recorded by the labor department which was a drop from 15 in 2016 whereby 25,000 workers were involved in the labor strikes (Giudice, 2018). The mention of the name ‘strike’ in the labor market brings about a wide range of negative reactions and speculations. In most cases, labor strikes evoke negative reactions in the economy from the employers and the employee’s side. During a strike, the production of a business, a public entity, and the entire economy is at a standstill, in this case, the production and efficiency of these sectors are significantly affected. In the event of a labor strike, there is too much tension that develops between the workers and the employers. It is the most commonly used technique by employees to articulate their grievances to the employers.
There are several reasons attributed to the emergence of labor strikes in the employment market. First and foremost, employees demand for higher wages, salaries and remuneration packages is the major cause of labor strikes globally. Strikes are used to force the employers to consider increasing their workers’ revenues through a temporary withdrawal of the employees’ services. Secondly, the demands for better working conditions is yet another major cause of labor strikes. In most cases, employees cite poor working environment, huge workload and long working hours as bad working conditions which the employers need to address.

In some sectors of the economy, there are ethical issues which may arise regarding employees strikes. Workers serving in public offices are morally obliged to the citizens and the patients to offer their services with the utmost good faith. Several states have banned public workers, firefighters, and law enforcement officers against conducting strikes. As such, these issues bring about the ethical aspect of strikes in certain sectors of the economy.
References
Giudice, V. D. (2018, February 09). Major U.S. Labor Strikes Second Lowest on Record in 2017. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-09/major-u-s-labor-strikes-second-lowest-on-record-in-2017