Trade Unions Case Study

Trade unions are widely known as one form of employees’ representation which aims to translate employee’s interests in relationships with employers. The presence of trade unions in many countries is relatively associated with attempts to improve employment conditions. While some unions are concerned to assist employees and employers in resolving employment relations problems, the others may involve political activities in campaigning unions’ objectives on government policies. Despite the fact that it could be formed by voluntary or laws, some economists argue that trade unions could reduce economic efficiency. On the other hands, the existence of unions are also believed could relatively improve employee’s performance. In the contention of

Peetz (1993) found the most motives of employees joining unions is to get protections of their employment rights which are provided and insured by unions. These protections include legal advice and counselling, representation in disputes, or ensuring to have appropriate information and non-discriminatory treatment in employment. Another findings also revealed that some employees are considered joining unions because of other pressures such as peers which have experienced with unions as important association helping them in employment relation problems. In another studies, unions are associated with the opportunity roles in creating a family-friendly workplace (Ravenswood & Markey 2011) and employees could be advised by family to encourage joining unions. Peetz (1993) also mentioned while some other employees believe that unions could bargain and improve employment conditions such wage increases if they join a union, the others are also expected joining unions because of ideology, where perceived that “unity is strengths” and emphasized equality in workplace society. However, these several motives are important to be considered by employers and managers since they should measure potential implications of the union density