Authors libby rittenberg 762

"Monopoly Factor Supply" The firm will charge a price Pmequal to the MRP of the factor and sell Qm units of the factor Unions Workers in a competitive market receive a wage equal to their MRP If they face monopsony power, they get less Regardless of the market structure, workers are likely to seek higher wages and better working conditions One way they can try to improve their economic status is to organize into a labor union, an association of workers that seeks to raise wages and to improve working conditions Unions represent their members in collective bargaining, a process of negotiation of worker contracts between unions and employers To strengthen its position, a union may threaten a strike—a refusal by union members to work—unless its demands are met A Brief History of Unions Workers have united to try to better their lot at least since the Middle Ages, when the first professional guilds were formed in Europe In the United States, “workingmen’s societies” sprang up in the late eighteenth century These organizations were craft unions uniting skilled workers in the same trade in an attempt to increase wages, shorten working hours, and regulate working conditions for their members One goal unions consistently sought was a closed shop, where only union members can be hired—an arrangement that gives unions monopoly power in the supply of labor A second objective was to gain greater political and economic strength by joining together associations of Attributed to Libby Rittenberg and Timothy Tregarthen Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books/ Saylor.org 762