The Privatisation Programme as Challenge to Trade Unions
A major change and challenge for trade unions in the past 20 years has
been the privatisation programme. This has affected public sector
workers in particular. Under privatisation, some nationalised
industries and some aspects of what had been local government services
were sold off or contracted out as separate entities. As a result,
many employees found themselves working for a new and very different
employer and the prospect of a new contract of employment and revised
conditions of service.
In such situations, a trade union like UNISON is greatly needed.
The change of ownership from public to private can lead to big changes
in approach as to how a business is run. Private businesses pursue
profit, and look for opportunities to save money by cutting costs. One
of UNISON's key jobs has been to try to make sure that the new
employers respect and honour employees' existing pay and conditions eg
holiday entitlement, pension rights, maternity leave. This can be hard
going.
Some private sector employers are less approachable and less willing
to find common ground than others. With profits and shareholders in
mind, they can be tempted to look for ways to cut earnings; lengthen
working hours, shed jobs; abandon pension and sickness benefits; lower
safety standards to the legal minimum etc. Trade unions encourage
employers to resist such a temptation.
For public service workers, matters such as pay and conditions of
service were negotiated centrally through a process called 'collective
bargaining'. The resulting agreement was then operated nationally; all
workers doing the same job across the UK were covered by it.
In the private sector, there tends to be less enthusiasm for
collective bargaining and for national agreements. Some hospitals and
some schools, for example, are keen to move to negotiating pay and
conditions at regional level, and even at 'workplace level'.
Many women in particular prefer to work part-time during at least some
stage of their working lives. In recent years, trade unions have
To conclude this analysis on the basis of the labor’s extensive history, Sloane & Witney (2010) propose, “it is entirely possible that labor’s remarkable staying power has been because of the simple fact that to many workers, from the nineteenth century to the present, there really has been no acceptable substitute for collective bargaining as a means of maintaining and improving employment conditions” (p.80). In the end, it is important to anticipate unions and employers presently work together to find solutions that will enhance collective bargaining strategies and practices to serve the interest of both parties.
Generally, the claims by the union are more persuasive than the counterclaims that were made by the company. This is because the union had credible arguments relating to the actual difficulties that the people were experiencing. For instance, the Union charged those who targeted the company through inappropriate labor approaches.
Across the United States there has been a decline in union membership. Looking back as far to 1954 the union work force had peaked at 34.7% but has since been in decline. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the total number of union members fell by 400,000 in 2012 to 14.3 million even though the nation’s overall employment rose by 2.4 million (Greenhouse, 2013). In 2011 the percentage of union workers was 11.8% and in 2012 dropped to 11.3%, which is the lowest union membership has been since 1916. The percentage of private sector unions in 2012 was down to 6.6%, which left many labor specialists questioning whether private sector unions were sinking towards irrelevance (Greenhouse, 2013). What are the reasons for this decline? And what does this mean for the future of private sector unions? This essay will take a lot closer look at these two questions.
TOPIC – The major issue today facing the Australian trade union movement has been the decline in union density. What have been the causes, and how have the unions responded to the challenge.
The labor union movement over the years has shaped the way individuals work and live for both the nicest and unpleasant. Some would think the unions influence has created a power struggle between management and union leaders. In today’s time, some citizens insist the existence of unions are a must to aid in employee freedom, while others view the labor unions as just another problem in the line of progress. The purpose of labor unions was for employed workers to come together and collectively agree on fundamental workplace objectives. The rise of the union came about after the Civil War- responding to the industrial economy. Surprisingly at the least unions became popular within the 1930-50’s and began to slowly decrease, starting in the 1960’s on to today. Although, the popularity of labor unions has decreased, its importance remains to be evident with politics, journalism, auto, and the public education industries. The objective of this paper is to shine light upon labor unions, taking a closer look at the disputed issues of union ethics, concerns of union diversity, and the opposing viewpoints of labor unions.
History shows that there has been conflict of power within the workforce between union and management. This essay will discuss if management should have the right to determine whether a union should operate within their workplace. It is necessary first to discuss the roles of unions and management in the workplace and discuss both points of view on the power distribution between unions and management in the workplace.
Factories were known for their ill treatment of their employees, long hours and dirty and unsafe conditions. In 1866, unions started to form to improve working conditions for the workers. A fundamental problem faced by democratic societies is as long as people live their lives individually and go their separate ways and be selfish individuals, they are unlikely to meet collectively to resolve issues. There needs to be meaningful unity among people to alleviate this problem to get people obliged to one another, so there is a willingness to sacrifice for shared goals. Bonding of its citizens creates a democracy. Unions seemed to offer the middle class a chance to become a crucial part of fostering institutions of constitutional democracy. The unions have went through several transitions, but have always worked for the working force. I will discuss the history of the various unions, their wins and losses, and the struggle of the employee to achieve democracy in the workplace.
David Brody argues that the rise of contractual or collective bargaining relationships during the post WWII era formalized the relationship between employers and unions, but simultaneously began to put a break on shop floor activism. Explain Brody’s argument and, where relevant, incorporate Weber’s theory of bureaucracy.
When Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister the first thing she wanted to do was limit union power. She felt that union power applied to nationalized industrial monopolies resulted in poor service at exorbitant cost to the taxpayers. She pointed to inefficient work practices, overemployment and restrictive employment conditions such as the all union “closed shop”. These rules were dictated by union contracts and served to tie the hands of managers and the government alike. Mrs. Thatcher’s greatest grievance concerned the powers union leaders had over strikes ( Moskin 100).
Dolvik, J. and Waddington, J. (2004) 'Organising Marketized Services: Are Trade Unions up to the Job.' Economic and Industrial Democracy 25(1): 9-40.
Trade unions are organisations that represent people at work. Their purpose is to protect and improve people's pay and conditions of employment. They also campaign for laws and policies which will benefit working people. Trade unions exist because an individual worker has very little power to influence decisions that are made about his or her job. By joining together with other workers, there is more chance of having a voice and influence. However, throughout last twenty years there has been much debate over the impact of trade unions on productivity. Trade unions have been defined by two faces, as outlined by Freeman and Medoff in What Do Unions Do? As the basis of much of the literature surrounding unions has stemmed from this, I would discuss it in detail in the following paragraphs.
The pluralistic approach accepts the legitimacy of workers forming themselves into trade unions to express their interests, influence management decision and achieve their objectives. The pluralistic approach sees conflicts of interest and disagreements between managers and workers over the distribution of profits as normal and inescapable. The role of managers/management would lean towards enforcing, controlling, persuading and coordinating. Trade unions play an important role in this approach, being that employees can join unions to protect their interests and influence decision making by the management. Trade unions balance the power between management and employees, hence its an important factor in this approach and industrial
The role of the government on industrial relations is very important as it sets the legal framework that industrial relations operates in. Appropriate industrial relations legislation should recognize the requirements of both employers and employee’s. Both the employee and the employer want to profit from each other but are also reliant on each other. This means that the equal bargaining power of employers and workers must be recognized (Peetz, David. 2006). Appropriate industrial relations laws should address any imbalance of power and give both groups an equal degree of control. Appropriate industrial relations should not only allow a mixture of both collective and individual bargaining but also facilitate employee participation in day to day workplace decisions. After all it’s the structure and framework of the employment relationship, which is governed by legislation that leads to good Industrial Relations.
The laws and regulations surrounding Industrial Relations since the 1900’s have, at each reform, placed tighter constraints on the amount of power unions are able to exert. The reforms have also radically increased managerial prerogative, through an increased use of individual bargaining, contracts and restrictions imposed on unions (Bray and Waring, 2006). Bray and W...
Fox, Alan (1966), Industrial sociology and Industrial relations. Royal Commission on trade Unions and Employers Association. Research Papers 3, HMSO, London