Action Taken By Trade Unions

INDUSTRIAL ACTION THAT CAN BE TAKEN BY UNIONS

The majority of worker-to-manager and therefore union-to-employer problems are worked out peacefully through negotiation. However occasionally an issues arises where no agreement or solution can be reached. This is when a trade union may conduct some form of industrial action in order to force the employer to back down.

There are several different types of industrial action that could be taken:

Strike – Workers select a day(s) on which they will not come into work.

Work to rule – Workers apply the firm’s rules and procedures to the ‘letter’ with the objective of slowing down production. For example a machine worker may be told to ensure his machine is clean and safe before starting work and so he will be deliberately nit-picking and spend hours doing exactly this.

Go slow – Employees carry on working but at the minimum pace possible in order to slow down production but avoid disciplinary action.

Picketing – Workers may stand at the entrance to the employer’s factory or place of work and demonstrate with banners or slogans.

Overtime ban – Workers simply refuse to work overtime as they are not obliged to. This can prevent a firm being able to produce quickly enough to meet demand and they may lose orders.

Development of Trade Unions

REASONS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF TRADE UNIONS

Beginning in the eighteenth century, much of Western society, with most changes occurring earliest in the United Kingdom, witnessed a transformation from an agrarian culture with craft based production, to the first industrial revolution. Within this transformation several changes provided much of the impetus for the rise of the trade union. These changes sparked rising fears in the crafts and guilds of the time, who feared encroachment on their established jobs, including changes in wages and work methods [2]. Additionally, the rapid expansion of the industrial society was to draw women, children, workers from the rural community, and immigrants to the work force in larger numbers and new roles. Working conditions and wages did not meet modern standards. This pool of labor spontaneously organized in fits and starts throughout its beginnings, and would later be an important arena for change.

Trade unions have sometimes been seen as successors to the guilds of Medieval Europe, though the relationship between the two is disputed.Medieval guilds existed to protect and enhance their members' livelihoods through controlling the instructional capital of artisanship and the progression of members from apprentice to craftsman, journeyman, and eventually to master and grandmaster of their craft. They also facilitated mobility by providing accommodation for guild members traveling in search of work. Guilds exhibited some aspects of the modern trade union, but also some aspects of professional associations and modern corporations.

Additionally, guilds, like some craft unions today, were highly restrictive in their membership and only included artisans who practiced a specific trade. Many modern labor unions tend to be expansionistic, and frequently seek to incorporate widely disparate kinds of workers to increase the leverage of the union as a whole. Today labor union might include workers from only 1rade or craft, or might combine several or all the workers in one company or industry.

Types of Trade Union

Types of Trade Union

A trade union is an organization which represents workers. There are four main types:

Craft unions Represents skilled workers from one occupation. For example, SOGAT 82 (printers) and the AUEW (engineering).

General unions Represents mainly unskilled workers from many occupations. For example the TGWU (Transport and General Workers' Union).

Industrial unions Represents mainly workers in one industry. For example, the NUM (miners' union)

Professional or white-collar unions :Represents skilled workers in mainly service industries. For example, the NUT (teachers' union).