Problem:
The institution of collective bargaining recognizes the value of employees banding together to deal with employers (Walsh, 2015). Collective bargaining provides employees with representation, greater power in dealing with employers, and a means of resolving issues in ways that meet the requirements of both employees and employers. Labor unions play a critical role in collective bargaining or the process of collective bargaining. From negotiating labor agreements, dispute resolutions, the filing of grievances, to influencing important workplace issues that directly affect employee well-being, labor unions ensure that deals or agreements with employers are responsive to the particular needs of individual employees, workplaces, firms, or industries as opposed to government-mandated one-size-fits-all standards. Even though collective bargaining is a vital piece of US public policy governing the workplace, efforts at unionizing are often contentious and is one of the reasons of declining union membership over time. The advent or advances in technology with its attendant shifts in production processes or sectors of the economy has also contributed to the declining membership resulting in the quest to justify the need, role, or importance of labor unions in the contemporary workplace or 21st century and beyond. One can safely argue that regardless of declining membership