Short-Answer Essays
Answer the three questions set forth in the box below.
Answers must be prepared in a short-answer essay format using a minimum of 2 paragraphs for each question. Each paragraph should include an introductory sentence, content sentences, and a concluding sentence. You still need to support your work through citation(s)/reference(s) as required by the assignment question. Your answers to each question should be at least 5 to 8 sentences long.
You must cite a minimum of one source for each short-answer essay, for a total of three unique sources, one of which must be your OpenStax textbook.
All sources must be cited in APA format with an in-text citation and reference as described in Lesson 0.
Short-Answer Essay Questions
Select one of the following trade unions:
United Auto Workers
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
American Federation of Teachers
Research your selected union and draft a profile in essay format that includes a brief history, description of the union’s core purpose(s), membership requirements, and stated benefits of membership. If you worked in the industry, would you join this union? Why or why not?
As you’ve learned, the federal government has instituted a panoply of labor laws and regulations over the years, generally designed to protect the American worker. After reviewing each of these acts during the course of the lesson (e.g., the ADA, EPA, or FMLA), select the one piece of federal legislation you believe is most vital to protecting American employees: in other words, the one you would pick to keep if only one could be kept. In your short-answer essay, describe the purpose and scope of the act you have selected and explain why you believe it is the most important federal employee protection in place today.
Your lesson describes the minimum number of employees required to trigger application of most workplace protections, such as the ADA, Civil Rights Act, and FMLA. In most cases, employers must have at least 15-50 employees to be bound to these laws. In your short-answer essay, clarify why these minimums exist and explain whether you agree or disagree with such minimums and the reasoning for your answer. Your essay must evaluate both sides of the argument in the process of reaching your well-supported conclusion.
