What Do Trade Unions Do in the Employment Relationship - Coursework Example

Trade Unions Name: Course: Instructor: Date: Although their influence has diminished in recent years, Trade unions play an important role in directly shaping people's lives in their places of work the United Kingdom. Trade unions are voluntary associations of workers that cater for the employees' welfare through a collective bargain. They act as a go between the employer and the employee. Employers who in the process acknowledge the rights of a specific union to stand for its members will reach a deal with that union over members' salaries and working or living welfare. This is what is referred to as 'collective bargaining'. This essay paper will first discuss what trade unions do in the employment relationship. Secondly, with reference to the mining sector, the paper shall look at how the trade unions are being challenged. Then lastly critically examine the strategies that employers and trade unions in their separate ways use to further their separate interests. Trade union organisations are majorly consisting of members who are workers. The major purpose of these associations is to protect and advance the interests of its members. However, the activities of a trade union, such as securing pay rises do well to all the workers including those who are not members of the unions. The unions are known of going beyond specific places of work, pressing the case of its members, trying to influence opinion and campaigning. These activities that trade unions do help change laws in the entire country and help obtain new rights for workers. In so doing, a vibrant trade union movement benefits all workers in a country. Most trade unions in the United Kingdom are independent of any employer. The industrial revolution is said to be the advent of trade union movement. The time transformed Britain in the 18th and 19th century from an agrarian society to an industrial-based one. The main industries were textile mills, manufacturing and processing in factories, and mining to mention a few. Men, women and worse children worked round the clock for meagre pay. The conditions in these new industries were usually harsh. The workers, however, did not undertake these conditions proactively. The onset of industrial revolution witnessed a number of disputes between them and their employers. Workers collectively put up efforts to solve these problems on their own. The government, the media, industrial owners, and the landlords were against the coming together of workers to cater for their own rights. In the United Kingdom, the legislature passed The Combination Acts. These laws passed in 1799 and 1800 outlawed any sort of strike action. It, therefore, meant that one would face up to three months imprisonment or two months hard labour for participating in strikes. According to Fulton, in 2011, 27% of employees in the UK were members of a trade union although there was evidence of a higher membership in the public sector as opposed to the private sector. What role do trade unions play? Trade unions as outlined above are voluntary organisations that stand for workers at work. The term ‘Representing' could denote a member(s) from the union engaging the management of a firm on behalf of other members. Secondly, Trade unions seek to protect their members. The protection includes ensuring that good conditions at places of work are upheld. This includes making sure that people are safe and that their health is not at jeopardy in their routine tasks. Trade unions furthermore play a legal role in terms of engaging law practitioners to ensure that organisations relationship to their staff is in line with the labour laws. Employees' unions, furthermore, set sight on improving their members' pay and conditions through collective bargaining. In case a single member of staff approaches the employer for a pay rise, because he or she feels he is should be paid better, it is unlikely they will be successful. On the contrary, if workers come together and collectively speak as one voice through their trade unions, then the unions are capable of collectively negotiate better salaries and work environment for them. According to statistics, workers who belong to unions earn more those that do not. One is better off in a union. Research shows that union members in the UK receive higher pay perks, pension benefits, better sickness and more holidays besides more flexible working hours than members. Trade unions provide members with information, advice and guidance about work-related problems. In addition, unions provide members with a range of services including training, Insurance, financial services and legal advice. Challenges One of the major challenges of trade union movement in the UK is declining private sector density. A survey purported that a chain of alterations to both the officially permitted and cost systems underlying the collective bargaining organization is headed toward a progressively more disjointed, spread out, and rights-based industrial relations scheme. Furthermore, the distinction between the public and private sectors is on the rise. This points toward the effect of the new and dynamic pattern of employment to both the employer and staff attitude to trade unions. Besides, these have run changes to employment law which has destabilized voluntarism, further eroding membership and the obligation to collectivism. Lastly, there has been additional decentralization and fragmentation of the industrial relations system by the current economic crisis further aggravating these fault lines. As described above, trade unions density in the private sector has dropped considerably in contemporary years. One vital effect is the absence of intelligibility oscillating on the future role of public policy and the government in industrial relations. A recent estimate recommends that the density levels of between 21-23 % in 2007. This reflects a decline of about 20 % from 1990. This, in addition, reflects a wide array of factors, among them, is a growing reluctance of employers to their employees being members of unions. One study of the industrial relations system in summer 2008 suggested that "It seemed sound to conclude that growing employer opposition to workers who are members of unions denotes a considerable negative organizational paradigm shift of the past ten years." The result of a decline in union density is that conflict in the private sector is increasingly being settled in non-unionised places of work. This has resulted in fewer firms resorting to other means of resolving workplace conflict other than a collective bargain. The result of declining union density is that conflict resolution in the private sector is increasingly taking place in non-unionised workplaces. This has resulted in fewer firms resorting to other means of resolving workplace conflict other than a collective bargain. There is evidence for the rise of new structures of resolving a conflict. There is both an emergent variety of systems for resolving conflicts, and maintenance of long-established combined industrial relations traditions. The effect of Critical accounts of social partnership proposes that the practise does not just hide waning density levels, but in reality plays a role in several ways (Blyton & Turnbull, 2004, p.341). One of the ways is that by giving support to legislation which implicitly provides a legal starting point for firms to be in opposition of representation of trade unions. Secondly, the general public policy changes which facilitated employers who were against unions in the benefit of drawing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). This in effect is a stumbling block to the role of unions in securing benefits for its members. In addition, the creation of a ‘top-down', as opposed to 'bottom-up' organization approaches inside the trade unions, is a challenge too. A wide array of scholars has moreover suggested that the breakdown of national level collective bargaining system is also a reflection of a permanently waning support. The problems facing public sector unions depict this point in time in the employment context concerning the two sectors to an extent. This is exemplified by diverse trends of union solidity. Nevertheless, the wider picture is of an unionised public sector progressively more significant to a private sector with dismal rates of unionisation Yet another challenge facing unions in the United Kingdom is Institutional dynamics and dispute resolution. Many observers have indeed noted the wearing away of the customary voluntarism ways of industrial labour relations. This is because of specifically the advancement in both national and European employment law. Some researchers have indeed suggested that the unions have little or nothing to proffer to the possible members. This is because of the laws passed on compensation for unfair dismissal, laying-off, maternity protection, health and safety, parental leave, and a national minimum wage (NMW). The second biting problem is the rising use of the available dispute resolution systems. According to the Commission on Labour Relations, there is a sudden increase in employment rights transfers. There is also an increasing use of bodies that deal with employment rights for a joint resolution of disputes. In 2014, approximately 15,000 complaints were submitted to the Labour Relations Commission. These submissions are the highest ever presented. As suggested by the commission, the existing employment rights system needs a basic appraisal in regard to increasing responsibility placed on it. The existing condition of the labour market is also a challenge to trade unions. Unions have little time to tackle issues because of the rapidity and profound recession. They are also challenged by time to devise a tactical approach and even consult with members of the change in business tradition and ideas. What are trade unions are doing to counter the challenges? In order to permeate the free rider issue, for instance, exclusive planning can be put improvised. These rules can require that union membership in workplaces be enclosed by collective agreements (Needle, 2010, p.376). Another way is that trade unions can bolster the benefits that go to members for instance by providing reserved services. Trade unions play both a social role and also contribute positively toward institutionalization of conflict emerging from the industrial relation. In that light, public authorities may also allow trade unions specific privileges like the prospect of establishing trade union structures in firms. Measures such as the setting up of workers representation bodies at the workplace and a requirement that it is mandatory for employers engage in dealings with unions can assist trade union membership. This is because they guarantee workers time off to perform trade union activities because they ensure the presence of trade unions in work places. They also ensure continued support and relations with employees, as well as boosting their group identity. Secondly, the Ghent system is an explicit institutional setting which has been distinguished for supporting membership in trade unions quite successfully. In fact, it is a hallmark of some countries in Europe such as Belgium, Denmark, Finland and Sweden where statistics of trade union membership are high (Needle, 2010, p.371). It is important to note that, a number of latest reforms, however, have lessened the functions of workers unions in the stipulation of unemployment gains in the United Kingdom (Singh & Kumar, 2011, p.51). As Needle (p.374) observes, minimum membership limits should be litigated for official recognition of the representation. This will bestow an influential inducement to invest in arranging initiatives. In this case, there might be an encouragement to configure the arrangement of representation. This might result to a tremendous increase in amalgamation within trade unions in an effort of finding a representative target. A case in point of this tendency can be found in Italy. The UK can borrow a leaf from the Italian public sector where the legal claim of sitting at the negotiating table has been connected to the mean between union membership numbers and votes obtained in the workplace elections of union's representation bodies. The parameter prompted mergers of smaller independent unions. Much more evidence in the United Kingdom is the undertaking in arranging proposals made by the unions (Needle, 2010, p.387). Strategies unions are putting in place to counter the challenges One important strategy is increasing Membership. Among the main resources of workers’ union is a strong membership base. Trade unions have differences in accordance to their traditions but not on how close they link their representation to membership. In spite of that, membership remains an indispensable part of a union's organisational strength. It is also a deep-seated building block for authenticity and acknowledgement. The capacity of trade unions to meet their set objectives greatly depends on their aptitude to mobilise member support rather than engaging in reflecting members' prospects or even more basically representing class interests. Membership, therefore, is the main patent form of trade union foundation. For more demanding involvement in union activities membership is a more often than not a prerequisite (Garibaldo, & Telljohann, 2010, p.201). The European centre for work and society survey, in addition, found that despite the fact that there was scant substantiation of employers launching an intensive offensive to circumvent unions, they were embroiled in directives to obtain agreement on plans on how to re-organize. No evidence indicated that unions were being involved in collective bargaining remedies. Besides voluntary collective bargaining, there are some legal industry level accords. Employment Regulation Orders (EROs) were set as minimum terms by the Joint Labour Committees (JLCs) in addition to collective agreements being registered with the Labour Court (Garibaldo, & Telljohann, 2010, p.201). Two Reports suggested that the convoluted structure for industrial relations institutions ought to be made simple and more efficient. One is the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and the second is the Expenditure Programmes. Up to five of the bodies in the field could be amalgamated as part of the restructuring (Farnham, 1999, p.1298). This was also a recent proposal by Richard Burton, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. In the private sector, those workers who wish to initiate a bargaining in the recession, salary bargaining has at large been decentralised to venture level. Here it is very clear that the bargaining position of worker unions has to a large extent weakened reflecting the point of view of their membership. They are usually restrained and acquiescent, very fearful not to lose their jobs (The European centre for work and society Survey, 1985, p.234). The European centre for work and society Survey shows lots of evidence toward an increase in workers' willingness to agree to inferior work conditions. Increased supervision, working for a long uncomfortable time and increased pressure are some of the instances the survey exhibited. The survey further has suggested that in a number of companies or firms there is a paradigm shift from collective bargaining to pay improvement. There is also a paradigm shift from bargaining over dispensation to salaries and prerequisites to working practices. What measures more regularly, however, are instances such as revised pensions schemes, short working time patterns. Conclusion The backing of trade union plans indeed can expand far beyond membership. However, industrial conflict and strikes, although they may be considered an essential feature of industrial relations, need not to be exercised (Farnham, 1999, p.1298). As a matter of fact, t say the least, union membership shows the level of command that the trade unions have over the labour supply and presents the idea that unions can withdraw its labour force in case of unsolved issues. The number of members, in a nutshell, is not only an important resource in collective bargaining but also an essential facet of trade union negotiating power. In addition to these strategic considerations, Needham & Dransfield commend that union membership authenticates claims to representation and amount to the prescribed foundation for being acknowledged as the representative of workers interests. Moreover, trade unions immensely rely on member financial remittances operationalize activities, therefore, their organizational efficiency cannot be accomplished without members' contributions (Needle, 2010, p.392). Bibliography BLYTON, P., & TURNBULL, P. (2004). The dynamics of employee relations. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, Palgrave Macmillan. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=197496. SINGH, P. N., & KUMAR, N. (2011). Employee relations management. New Delhi, Pearson Education South Asia. http://proquest.safaribooksonline.com/?fpi=9788131726013 Top of Form EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR WORK AND SOCIETY. (1985). The role of trade unions in the coming decade, Maastricht, November 20-21-22, 1985: advance programme, summaries of the conference papers. Maastricht, European Centre for Work and Society. REED, P. (2015). Entrepreneurial ventures in chemistry: the Muspratts of Liverpool, 1793-1934. NEEDLE, D. (2010). 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