The blue-collar unions such as the transport workers are less likely to engage in workplace changes other than public or sector changes. Every person has a desire to have a dignified work identity. This goal becomes more challenging to some people, particularly the blue-collar workers. Their occupations do not offer them their desired dignified work identities. Compared to the public or service sector workers, the blue-collar workers are lowly paid, work in harsh conditions, and are mistreated by their bosses. The public or service workers are highly paid and well treated by their employers or management. Dignity in the workplace is determined by employee-employer relationships. In an article by Lucas (2011), 37 blue-collar and public workers were interviewed. The blue-collar workers revealed that they were less likely to engage in workplace changes.
The article by Grunberg, Moore, Greenberg, and Sikora (2008), has grouped reasons why blue-collar workers are less likely to engage in workplace changes into four categories namely; poor employees’ attitudes towards jobs, poor organizational attitudes towards employees, family and work conflicts, and lack of mental and physical health consideration by employers. The poor attitude towards jobs by the blue-collar workers is as a result of job stress, poor working conditions, job dissatisfaction, job overload, job insecurity, and intent to quit blue-collar jobs, among others. The poor organizational attitudes towards employees include unfair layoffs, poor relationship with workers, untrustworthy integrity, and competency in the management. The family and work conflicts include overworking workers, denying them time with their families, and employees being more devoted to families and friends than work. The physical and mental health problems include working in harsh conditions, overworking employees, and lack of safety measures in the workplace. To confirm this, Grunberg, Moore, Greenberg, and Sikora (2008) interviewed 3,700 public and blue-collar workers about their engagement in workplace changes. The Blue-collar workers gave the above reasons for not getting engaged in workplace changes.
Reference list
Grunberg, L, Moore, S, Greenberg, ES, and Sikora, P 2008, ‘The changing workplace and its effects: A longitudinal examination of employee responses at a large company’, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 215–236.
Lucas, K 2011, ‘Blue–collar discourses of workplace dignity: Using outgroup comparisons to construct positive identities’, Communication Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 353—374.