Susan E. Grey
I like to begin this unit in a way that will involve the students and demonstrate to them the relevance of the topic. I usually have at least one student who belongs to a union and this can spark a lively class discussion. I briefly introduce the unit and then engage the students in some of the following conversations and activities:
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1. How many of you work? I compile a list of the places they work and the jobs that they do on the blackboard.
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2. Do any of you belong to unions? If they do, I ask them why they do. Did they have to join in order to be employed? Do they pay dues? What does the union do? Have they ever been to a union meeting?
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3. I then have students who belong to unions compare salaries, benefits, job security, etc., with students who work but don’t belong to unions or work in union shops.
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4. Then I try to have them draw conclusions about the functions of unions.
I then try to lead into a more general discussion of unions. I might ask:
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1. What do the following things have in common a baseball strike, 20c postage on a letter, no new television shows until November instead of September, no job until you are 16, etc.? When they draw the conclusion that these things are all the result of the work of organized labor, I ask them for examples of other ways in which organized labor has an impact on our lives.
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2. I then lead them into a discussion of what unions are and what they do, issues with which they deal; and I try to get them to come up with things other than wages, i.e., hours, working conditions, benefits, etc.
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3. I ask them why unions are needed to do these things. What are the purposes of organizing?
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4. I ask them how long unions have existed. Why do they think that unions were formed in the first place?
As a follow-up activity, I might ask the students to go home and ask their parents whether they belong to unions, and if so, which ones, and why? Is there one in the place where they work? What do they think of their unions, and of unions in general?
