One of the major objectives for unions is the negotiation of better wages in the sector for their members. Over the years, workers in various sectors of the economy have been demanding better wages that would reflect changes in the cost of living trends and other factors in the general economy. After there is the negotiation of the wage floor, all firms are faced with horizontal supply curves. Evidently, since higher wages lead to more cost of production, which implies that firms hire less labor for their operations. There could be a temptation for organizations to hire some workers at fewer wages, but unions bargain collectively and they cannot allow their members accept salaries that are not in alignment with the agreements. The other objective of the unions is the reduction of labor supply while increasing wages for members.

This may be achieved through a number of strategies, such as requesting new members to pay very high fees for membership, offering tougher qualification examinations, subjecting members to relatively restrictive licensing requirements, and requiring members to undergo longer apprenticeship periods, which implies that a significant number of the workers are discouraged and decide to pull out. However, the strategies are faced with difficulties as the unions cannot, from a feasible point of view, unionize all organizations in the sector. Another objective for the unions is aiming at increasing demand for its members, who would be paid better wages in the workplace.

In this context, some of the strategies for increasing the demand creating a situation for increased demand for products made by the union, restricting the supply of goods that are not produced by the unions, increasing the levels of productivity of union labor, featherbedding, which is forces firms recruit more workers than they need. Overall, one of the most common strategies that unions use to help achieve their goals is to organize strikes, which are critical to making firms agree to their terms or come to the negotiation table, where a set of requirements are laid out for the employers.