Final answer:
Employees consider forming and joining a union as a means to improve their personal situations, and this is typically true. Unions negotiate for better working conditions, wages, and benefits. The effect of unions on the adoption of new technology and overall firm performance can vary.
Step-by-step explanation:
When employees consider forming and joining a union, they often assess whether the union will improve their personal situations in terms of wages, benefits, promotional opportunities, and job security. This notion is generally true. Labor unions are designed to negotiate better working conditions, higher wages, and workplace benefits on behalf of their members through collective bargaining and other means. Supporters argue that unions serve as a defense against efforts by firms to minimize costs at the expense of workers, while critics suggest that unions may sometimes focus on short-term gains that could harm long-term employee interests, including driving firms into bankruptcy or hindering the adoption of new technologies.
Union membership can lead to increased productivity due to higher wages incentivizing greater effort, longer tenures reducing training and hiring costs, and unions often providing job training and apprenticeship programs. However, the impact of unions on the adoption of new technology is mixed; some unions may resist it out of job loss fears, while others may facilitate it when they believe it will protect their members' interests or result in increased productivity. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, around 10.7% of U.S. workers belong to unions, and this membership can have significant effects on their employment conditions, including wages and job security. On the international stage, union membership rates in the United States tend to be lower compared to countries like France and Spain.