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Trade union

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Community organisations;
Politics and government

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   "A Trade Union (Labour union) ... is a continuous association of
   wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions
   of their employment."

   Over the last three hundred years, trade unions have developed into a
   number of forms, influenced by differing political and economic
   regimes. The immediate objectives and activities of trade unions vary,
   but may include:
     * Provision of benefits to members: Early trade unions, like Friendly
       Societies, often provided a range of benefits to insure members
       against unemployment, ill health, old age and funeral expenses. In
       many developed countries, these functions have been assumed by the
       state; however, the provision of professional training, legal
       advice, and representation for members is still an important
       benefit of trade union membership.
     * Collective bargaining: Where trade unions are able to operate
       openly and are recognised by employers, they may negotiate with
       employers over wages and working conditions.
     * Industrial action: Trade unions may organize strikes or resistance
       to lockouts in furtherance of particular goals.
     * Political activity: Trade unions may promote legislation favourable
       to the interests of their members or workers as a whole. To this
       end they may pursue campaigns, undertake lobbying, or financially
       support individual candidates or parties (such as the Labour Party
       in Britain) for public office.

History

   Beginning in the eighteenth century, much of Western society (with most
   changes occurring earliest in Britain) witnessed a transformation from
   an agrarian culture with craft-based production to a culture shaped by
   the first industrial revolution. Some of the changes brought on by this
   new order, such as new work methods and downward pressure on
   traditional wage structures, sparked rising alarm in the crafts and
   guilds of the time, who feared encroachment on their established jobs.

   Additionally, the rapid expansion of industrial society was to draw
   women, children, rural workers, and immigrants to the work force in
   larger numbers and in new roles. This pool of unskilled and
   semi-skilled labour spontaneously organised in fits and starts
   throughout its beginnings, and would later be an important arena for
   the development of trade unions.

Origins and early history

   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 travelling 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 labour 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. A
   labour union in 2006 might include workers from only one trade or
   craft, or might combine several or all the workers in one company or
   industry.

   Since the publication of the History of Trade Unionism ( 1894) by
   Sidney and Beatrice Webb, the predominant historical view is that a
   trade union "is a continuous association of wage earners for the
   purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their
   employment." A modern definition by the Australian Bureau of Statistics
   states that a trade union is "an organisation consisting predominantly
   of employees, the principal activities of which include the negotiation
   of rates of pay and conditions of employment for its members."

   Yet historian R.A. Leeson, in United we Stand (1971), said:

          "Two conflicting views of the trade-union movement strove for
          ascendancy in the nineteenth century: one the
          defensive-restrictive guild-craft tradition passed down through
          journeymen's clubs and friendly societies,...the other the
          aggressive-expansionist drive to unite all 'labouring men and
          women' for a 'different order of things'..."

   Recent historical research by Dr Bob James in Craft, Trade or Mystery
   (2001) puts forward that trade unions are part of a broader movement of
   benefit societies, which includes medieval guilds, Freemasons,
   Oddfellows, friendly societies and other Fraternal organisations.
     __________________________________________________________________

   The 18th century economist Adam Smith noted the imbalance in the rights
   of workers in regards to owners (or "masters"). In The Wealth of
   Nations, Book I, chapter 8, Smith wrote:

          We rarely hear, it has been said, of the combinations of
          masters, though frequently of those of workmen. But whoever
          imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as
          ignorant of the world as of the subject. Masters are always and
          everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform
          combination, not to raise the wages of labour above their actual
          rate...

          [When workers combine,] masters... never cease to call aloud for
          the assistance of the civil magistrate, and the rigorous
          execution of those laws which have been enacted with so much
          severity against the combinations of servants, labourers, and
          journeymen.

   As indicated in the preceding quotation, unions were illegal for many
   years in most countries. There were severe penalties for attempting to
   organise unions, up to and including execution. Despite this, unions
   were formed and began to acquire political power, eventually resulting
   in a body of labour law which not only legalised organising efforts,
   but codified the relationship between employers and those employees
   organised into unions. Even after the legitimisation of trade unions
   there was opposition, as the case of the Tolpuddle Martyrs shows.

   Many consider it an issue of fairness that workers be allowed to pool
   their resources in a special legal entity in a similar way to the
   pooling of capital resources in the form of corporations.

   The right to join a trade union is mentioned in article 23, subsection
   4 of the UDHR, which also states in article 20, subsection 2. that "No
   one may be compelled to belong to an association". Prohibiting a person
   from joining or forming a union, as well as forcing a person to do the
   same (e.g. "closed shops" or "union shops", see below), whether by a
   government or by a business, is generally considered a human rights
   abuse. Similar allegations can be levelled if an employer discriminates
   based on trade union membership. Attempts by an employer, often with
   the help of outside agencies, to prevent union membership amongst their
   staff is known as union busting.

19th Century Unionism

   In France, Germany and other European countries, socialist parties and
   anarchists played a prominent role in forming and building up trade
   unions, especially from the 1870s onwards. This stood in contrast to
   the British experience, where moderate New Model Unions dominated the
   union movement from the mid-nineteenth century and where trade unionism
   was stronger than the political labour movement until the formation and
   growth of the Labour Party in the early years of the twentieth century.

Unions in the world

Unions today

Structure and politics

          Union structures, politics, and legal status vary greatly from
          country to country. For specific country details see below.

   A rally of the trade union UNISON in Oxford during a strike on
   2006-03-28.
   Enlarge
   A rally of the trade union UNISON in Oxford during a strike on 2006-
   03-28.

   Unions may organize a particular section of skilled workers ( craft
   unionism), a cross-section of workers from various trades ( general
   unionism), or attempt to organize all workers within a particular
   industry ( industrial unionism). These unions are often divided into "
   locals", and united in national federations. These federations
   themselves will affiliate with Internationals, such as the
   International Trade Union Confederation.

   In many countries, a union may acquire the status of a legal entity,
   with a mandate to negotiate with employers for the workers it
   represents. In such cases, unions have certain legal rights, most
   importantly the right to negotiate collectively with the employer (or
   employers) over wages, working hours and other terms and conditions of
   employment. The inability of both parties to reach an agreement may
   lead to industrial action, culminating in either strike action or
   management lockout. In extreme cases, violent or illegal activities may
   develop around these events.

   In other circumstances, unions may not have the legal right to
   represent workers, or the right may be in question. This lack of status
   can range from non-recognition of a union to political or criminal
   prosecution of union activists and members, with many cases of violence
   and deaths having been recorded both historically and in the current
   day.

   Unions may also engage in broader political or social struggle. Social
   Unionism encompasses many unions which use their organisational
   strength to advocate for social policies and legislation favourable to
   their members or to workers in general. As well, unions in some
   countries are closely aligned with political parties.

   Unions are also delineated by the service model and the organising
   model. The service model union focuses more on maintaining worker
   rights, providing services, and resolving disputes. Alternately, the
   organising model typically involves full-time organisers, who work by
   building up confidence, strong networks and leaders within the
   workforce; and confrontational campaigns involving large numbers of
   union members. Many unions are a blend of these two philosophies, and
   the definitions of the models themselves are still debated.

   Although their political structure and autonomy varies widely, union
   leaderships are usually formed through democratic elections.

   Research, such as that conducted by the Australian Centre for
   Industrial Relations Research and Training ( ACIRRT) argues, through
   the use of strong evidence, that unionised workers enjoy better
   conditions and wages than those who are not unionised.

Shop types

   Companies that employ workers with a union generally operate on one of
   several models:
     * A closed shop (US) employs only people who are already union
       members. The compulsory hiring hall is the most extreme example of
       a closed shop—in this case the employer must recruit directly from
       the union.

     * A union shop (US) or a closed shop (UK) employs non-union workers
       as well, but sets a time limit within which new employees must join
       a union.
     * An agency shop requires non-union workers to pay a fee to the union
       for its services in negotiating their contract. This is sometimes
       called the Rand formula. In certain situations involving state
       government employees in the United States, such as for example
       California, fair share laws make it easy to require these sorts of
       payments.
     * An open shop does not discriminate based on union membership in
       employing or keeping workers. Where a union is active, the open
       shop allows workers to be employed who benefit from, but do not
       contribute to, a union or the collective bargaining process. In the
       United States, " Right To Work" laws mandate the open shop on the
       state level.

   In Britain a series of laws were introduced during the 1980s by
   Margaret Thatcher's government to restrict closed and union shops. All
   agreements requiring a worker to join a union are now illegal. The
   Taft-Hartley Act outlawed the closed shop in the United States in 1947,
   but permits the union shop in most states.

Diversity of international unions

   As labour law is very diverse in different countries, so is the
   function of unions. For instance, in Germany only open shops are legal;
   that is, all discrimination based on union membership is forbidden.
   This affects the function and services of the union. In addition,
   German unions have played a greater role in management decisions
   through participation in corporate boards and co-determination than
   have unions in the United States. (
   newsletter/files/BTS012EN_12-15.pdf}.

   In addition, unions' relations with political parties vary. In many
   countries unions are tightly bonded, or even share leadership, with a
   political party intended to represent the interests of working people.
   Typically this is a left-wing, socialist or social democratic party,
   but many exceptions exist. In the United States, by contrast, although
   it is historically aligned with the Democratic Party, the labour
   movement is by no means monolithic on that point; the International
   Brotherhood of Teamsters has supported Republican Party candidates on a
   number of occasions and the Professional Air Traffic Controllers
   Organization (PATCO) endorsed Ronald Reagan in 1980 (the following
   year, Reagan effectively destroyed PATCO, breaking a strike by bringing
   in permanent replacement workers). The AFL-CIO has been against
   liberalising abortion, consistent with a Republican position, so as not
   to alienate its large Catholic constituency. In Britain the labour
   movement's relationship with the Labour Party is fraying as party
   leadership embarks on privatisation plans at odds with what some
   perceive as workers' interests.

   In Western Europe, professional associations often carry out the
   functions of a trade union. Notable cases of these are the German
   Verein deutscher Ingenieure. In these cases, they may be negotiating
   for white collar workers, such as physicians, engineers or teachers.
   Typically such trade unions refrain from politics or pursue markedly
   more right-wing politics than their blue-collar counterparts .

   Finally, the structure of employment laws affects unions' roles and how
   they carry out their business. In many western European countries wages
   and benefits are largely set by governmental action. The United States
   takes a more laissez-faire approach, setting some minimum standards but
   leaving most workers' wages and benefits to collective bargaining and
   market forces. Historically, the Republic of Korea has regulated
   collective bargaining by requiring employers to participate but
   collective bargaining has been legal only if held in sessions before
   the lunar new year. In totalitarian regimes such as Nazi-Germany and
   the Soviet Union, unions have typically been de facto government
   agencies devoted to smooth and efficient operation of enterprises.

Impact of Unions

   Union supporters often state that the labour movement brought an end to
   child labor practices, improved worker safety, increased wages for both
   union and non-union workers, raised the entire society's standard of
   living, reduced the hours in a work week, fought for and won public
   education for children, and brought a host of other benefits to working
   class families .

   This is considered particularly important for groups who are more
   likely to suffer "labour-market discrimination." On average, women in
   Britain earn 20% less than men for the same work but women who are
   union members earn 24% more than those who are not . In the People's
   Republic of China, the pay gap between men and women has actually
   increased in recent years despite the booming economy .

Criticism

   Trade unions are often accused of benefiting the insider workers, those
   having secure jobs and high productivity, at the cost of the outsider
   workers, consumers of the goods or services produced, and the
   shareholders of the unionised business. The ones that are likely to
   lose the most from a trade union are those who are unemployed or at the
   risk of unemployment or who are not able to get the job that they want
   in a particular area of work

   Critics sometimes claim, viewing labor as a commodity, unions
   essentially operate by cartelizing labor.

   The higher cost of labor in union-employing businesses increases
   overhead and raises the price of the goods and services those companies
   offer. This also affects the overhead expenses of other businesses who
   rely on union-employing businesses for goods and services, raising the
   price they must offer to the customer as well.

   The higher cost offered by union-employing companies leaves them with a
   competitive disadvantage, which has in certain cases led to bribery,
   extortion and other illegal tactics to secure contracts with unions
   where they would otherwise not be able to compete.

   The competitive disadvantage felt by union-employing businesses often
   leads to a search for cheaper labor. In the United States, the
   outsourcing of labor to India, China, Mexico and Africa has been
   partially driven by increasing costs of union partnership.

   Union strikes have significant adverse effects, such as the confusion
   resulting at schools when teachers' unions strike and the paralysis of
   an entire city, or even country, as strikers such as traffic
   controllers refuse to work, or farmers block roads.

   Critics also contend that unionized workers may feel protected in their
   employment to the extent that they produce poor-quality goods, refuse
   to perform tasks outside their prescribed duties, and work fewer hours
   or days than non-protected workers.

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