Employees join unions with a primary intention of having substantial leverage in dealing with

employers concerning their terms and conditions of employment. It is exactly for this purpose of

collective bargaining that employees are prodded to join and subsequently renew their membership in

the union. However, in addition to collective bargaining, unions also provide a network of mutual aid

and protection for the employees. Additionally, the substantial mutual interest glues the employees

together so they could collectively champion their proposed employment terms and conditions. Affinity

and unity of employees’ interest (which could simply be substantial similarity of compensation, work or

working conditions) are ultimately the main considerations in union membership.

In the whole course of my career, I have never had membership in a union simply because

unions did not exist in my past employers. However, I imagine that there are several benefits that could

be reaped from union membership. As mentioned above, unions manifest the express will of the

employees, and such capability is valuable most especially when there are disparaging terms and

conditions of employment based on status of employment. Unions allow non-regular employees, such

as probationary, temporary and seasonal, to engage in collective bargaining negotiations so they could

participate in formulating social and employment policies and programs.