Trade Unions Relevancy - Essay Example

Trade Unions Relevancy By: Student’s name: Tutor: Institution Affiliation City: Date: Trade Unions Relevancy In the past trade unions were considered to be important that workers in various countries were told to form trade unions so that their rights can easily be championed. However, with the development of the of the human rights acts in different worlds, the role of trade unions is not clearly defined as most of their roles have been included in various constitutions of different countries. However, in the 1980s and 1970s, those who were workers in various factories had to form unions so as to fight against discrimination, unfair practices, and also, at least be able to pressure for salary increment. However, with the current trend where most of the employees have developed better methods of monitoring in the way those employees are doing their job, may cause most of the labor unions to collapse. Innovative methods should be employed by the unions so that they can be able to keep pace with the new trends to survive. Some of those unions that have been able to employ new innovative ways of ensuring that the workers are well catered for have seen an increment of those that are joining these unions. In Spain, Ireland, and other countries there has been increased in membership in the workers union (Beik, 2005, pg. 2). When you get a close look at those firms that are providing services, you will realize that there is no place for third parties like unions. This is because such like firms depend on the staff, this makes them to heavily spend their resources in staff training. Staff training makes them be more informed and responsible for what they are doing. The staff through training they are able e to understand what they are required and what their rights are. This makes the Trade unions to have no relevancy to such like institutions due to the better understanding of the environment they work in and the relationship that exist between them and their organization. With the new style of management where many companies have shifted from seeing their employees just as workers but the most important assets in the organization has made the organizations handle the employees with integrity and even departments that are meant for the employee, welfare has been set aside within the firm. The new perception has completely made the unions whose major aim was to fight for the rights and welfare of the employees has to lead to them being rendered valueless by the organizations. However, the case is not true in the developing countries as the human rights is still being violated due to the fact that the rule of law is not being observed. In these countries, you find that there are cases where employees fail completely to observe the human rights necessitating the trade unions to come in and force them to observe the rule of law that is meant to be followed. The governments in these countries you find that they can collude with major corporations and the rights of the workers being infringed (Doree, 2014, pg. 12). In the recent past, we have seen companies taking seriously the welfare of employees to an extent that several employee benefits have been included in their salary packages. Medical schemes that are very attractive has been put up that is meant to protect employees in case pf illness making them do their job with confident without fearing of the aftermath in the case of an accident. Also included in the salary packages is the issue like house allowance, travel allowance, holiday allowance and other more. All these benefits are provided to ensure that employees have comfort when performing their functions. With all these provisions that are written in the contract documents, then it makes it difficult for the companies and employers to go against them. In the inception of the trade unions, their primary role was to ensure that all these rights will have to be fulfilled. However, with the inclusion of the rights in the contract letters, it means that companies and employers are willing to fulfill them without being coerced. The move makes the trade unions be rendered irrelevant in playing any role to the employees. However, with the new trends in place, it does not mean that all the rights have been fulfilled (Beik, 2005, pg. 3). With the development of the economy and the increase of awareness amongst employees, it will be difficult for any employer to go against their rights. The economy has provided increased competition for quality labor which has made it difficult for the employers to treat their employees unfairly. The performance of any organization depends on the input of the employees hence, discouraging them through unfair treatment will lead to their downfall. In developed economies where certain professions are in scarce, the firms are trying much to attract and retain the top talent within their organizations making it difficult for them to ignore matters that are dealing with the welfare of employees. This reduces the work and functions of the trade unions leading to them somehow being irrelevant (Whethers, 2009, pg. 17). With the growth of the economy, it has become difficult for the unions to deal with the complex nature that faces the employees. With the fact, that machines are able to perform the work that could have been done by the employees, employers are becoming on who they are hiring. They try as much as possible that they are employing individual with a strong understanding of their role. This makes the companies have very competitive salaries that unions can both negotiate against. It makes the negotiation that was being presented by the unions are rendered irrelevant hence reducing their role within the organization. With growing economy, both the working conditions and other welfare matters are being made self-adjusting. This makes the employees be well equipped so that they can be competitive so that they can be able to attract a treat and packages that are higher. This will make the employee not to require the services of the trade unions of negotiating for the rights and welfare. All these developments are making the unions look irrelevant to employees (OECD, 2014, pg. 17). In the past trade unions have been very powerful when it comes to matters related to politics. They could influence their members to vote against a given political movement. They could always be consulted on their view about given political and development decisions that were being taken by the political class. The governments and those in the political field used to fear the direction that trade unions could take. This was due to the fact that unions controlled large membership that could be used to determine winners in given directions. However, with the reduced in membership, they are losing this value in the political field. The little members, on the other hand, have been trained to be independent in decision something that makes them be in a position of being irrelevant (Jake, 2014, pg.14). However, though this development has been threatening the future of the trade unions, it is difficult for them to be rendered irrelevant. First of all, the public sector that is controlled by the government is hard to do away with the trade unions. Always governments have tried to make sure that their spending is controlled hence making it difficult for the public servants to receive the required amount of packages. This necessitates the trade unions to engage the government with their expertise in negotiation to ensure that the public servants are getting fair treatment and packages. On addition to that, the fact that most of the constitutions in the world have recognized the role of trade unions makes it impossible for anyone to eliminate them. The constitution gives the lifeline to the trade unions. There is protection closed for the trade unions that makes them be respected by both the government and private sector. Also, with the fact that there is an international umbrella under which the trade unions fall it will be hard for anyone to easily do away with trade unions. With the impact that the trade union has caused offer a long period, those who have benefited from the unions will continue to trust them and be loyal to them believing that they are providing the best solutions to their problems (Johnson, 2004, pg. 6). Regardless of all these, it is important for the trade unions to change their style of management and also come up with new ways of approach in the way they approach issues to ensure that they are up to date. If they change it means that the trade unions will have best ways to deal with the changes that are being brought by the changes in the economy and working environment. The unions should involve fresh minds in their management and also take their employees to training that will make them be up to date in the way they carry out their functions (Kramarz, 2014, pg.6). In conclusion, trade unions have a lifeline in the future and it is not easy for one to do away with them with the continuous increase of rates of unemployment in the world economy. The discussion above, however, indicates that they are threatened somehow if correct measures are not taken to ensure that they change their ways of handling issues. References Bernstein, Aaron (1994). "Why America Needs Unions But Not the Kind It Has Now". BusinessWeek. Beik, Millie, ed (2005). Labor Relations: Major Issues in American History. Doree Armstrong (2014). Jake Rosenfeld explores the sharp decline of union membership, influence Friedman, Milton (2007). Price theory ([New ed.], 3rd printing ed.). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. Gold, M., (1993). The Social Dimension – Employment Policy in the European Community. Basingstroke England UK: MacMillan Publishing Hall, M., (1994). Industrial relations and the social dimension of European Integration: Before and after Maastricht, pp. 281–331 in Hyman, R. & Ferner A., eds.: New Frontiers in European Industrial Relations, Basil Blackwell Publishing Jake Rosenfeld (2014) What Unions No Longer Do. Harvard University Press. Johnson, S., (2004). An empirical examination of union density in six countries: Canada, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, the United States and Venezuela. Washington, DC, US: Inter-American Development Bank. Kramarz, Francis (2006). "Outsourcing, Unions, and Wages: Evidence from data matching imports, firms, and workers OECD, (2010). Statistics on Trade Union Density. Paris, France Weathers, C. (2009). Business and Labor. In William M. Tsutsui (Ed.), A Companion to Japanese History (pp. 493–510). Chichester, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Read More