Employers aim at maximally utilizing any input that they use in the production process in order to achieve maximum revenue. This quest makes employers ready to do anything they can to see to it that output is maximized. Human labor being one of the most important and easy to manipulate resource is always on the receiving end. Employers will want their employees to work for longer hours, do extra work or even pay them lesser wages.
All this is done at the expense of employees. It is important to note that without employee protection, employers will exploit them. The 20th century has seen most of the employers being restricted on what they can do and what they cannot do as regards employee treatment. Many laws have been implemented while unions have had stronger bargaining power in negotiations. Nevertheless, employee exploitation still exists in various places.
Given the opportunity, employers will want to minimize the costs of production and this includes paying fewer wages. Employees who have no information regarding their rights are always exploited by their employers. In the 19th century and part of the 20th century, employees complained of being paid less than market rate wages.
Though this has reduced, it has come back in a new form where employees are made to sign contracts with their salaries quoted (Davidov & Langille, 2011). These salaries are lesser than what employees should be paid but by signing the contracts employees are unknowingly made to bind themselves.
On the other hand, initially employees were complaining of being made to work for longer hours. The law was implemented to regulate the amount of hours that one could work. However, the law has not yet been effective to evaluate the amount of work that an employee is supposed to accomplish during any given period.
Employers have therefore come up with targets which employees are supposed to meet. These targets are sometimes very huge and compel employees to strain so much. Consequently, while hours of work have been put under check, employers are looking for ways to increase the amount of work completed within the stipulated time (Cihon & Castagnera, 2008).
It should be noted that labor laws have taken great steps compared to the past. Regarding employee wages, much has been achieved. Wages cannot be reduced which protects employees in case of economic downturns when employees would reduce salaries very fast. However, employees have not been shielded against increase in the cost of living as their wages and salaries remain static for very long (Bridegam, 2009). In this regard, much still needs to be done to ensure that employees’ interests are given priority.
Sexual harassment and various forms of discrimination are rampant. The fact that these cases are not reported means that much needs to be done to enhance awareness among employees. There are still many people who do not know what to expect from their employers. Some employees, especially new employees, are also not aware of their rights while under employment. As a result, they are unaware when they are being exploited (Freeman & Rogers, 2006). This raises an alarm that employee protection is vital.
It is important to note that employers will always take the slightest opportunity that comes their ways to exploit employees. Lack of information among employees will increase susceptibility of employees to exploitation. Moreover, it becomes difficult for an individual employee to fight when exploited. Consequently, labor unions and labor laws are very crucial in employee protection.
References
Bridegam, M. A. (2009). Unions and Labor Laws. New York: Infobase Publishing.
Cihon, P. J. & Castagnera, J. O. (2008). Employment & Labor Law. Stanford: Cengage Learning.
Davidov, G. & Langille, B. (2011). The Idea of Labour Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Freeman, R. B. & Rogers, J. (2006). What Workers Want. New York: Cornell University Press.