Decline in Trade Unions in the UK - Assignment Example

Decline in Trade Unions in the UK (1560 words) Introduction Several attempts have been made to define trade unions. Sidney and Beatrice Webb’s (1902) often quoted definition of the term is that “A trade union …is a continuous association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their working lives” (Sinha, Sinha & Shekhar 2009, p. 1). While trade unions were very popular around the 1970s, their significance began to wane in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the trend has seen a decline in union membership until today. This paper evaluates this declining and trend and explains the reasons that have contributed to this trend. The paper also discusses the unitary, pluralist or radical perspectives that can be used to explain the decline. Based on this analysis, an opinion is given as to which of the three perspectives offers the most robust explanation for the decline of trade unions. The declining trend of trade unions Falling trade union membership is an attribute of most, albeit not all, developed countries in the last quarter century or so (Blanchflower & Bryson 2008, p. 1). Blanchflower and Bryson (2008, p. 1) note further that although the formation of trade unions remains an important aspect in public sector employment, there has been a notable decline in union strength in the private sector. In the UK, there has been a significant reduction in the propensity of employees to join labour unions and a decline in the incidence of workplace-level recognition by employers for bargains on issues such as pay (Blanchflower & Bryson 2008, p. 1). Smith (2003, p. 232) points out that trade union membership in the UK began to decline in 1979. Needle (2004, p. 137) supports this view by noting that a major change in trade unionism since 1980 has been overall marked decline in membership. Delving deeper into the matter, it can be noted that between 1979 and 1991, trade unions lost 3.7 million members, which was about 25 per cent of the total. Further, between 1991 and 2001, trade union membership dropped a further 1.3 million representing a 15 percent decline. Thus overall, Needle (2004, p. 137) asserts that in each year since 1979 there has been a consecutive drop in trade union total membership. The drop has occurred across different sectors and across the genders. The sectors involved include the public sectors as well the white collar sector where the Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union for instance lost almost 30 percent of membership (Needle 2004, p. 137). Additionally, there is evidence that both male and female employees have been progressively leaving trade unions. These issues are highlighted in tables 1 and 2 below. Table 1: Trade union density of employees as a percentage of the working population for the period between 1913 and 2001 Year Density 1913 23 1920 45 1933 22 1945 38 1964 44 1974 50 1979 55 1983 50 1985 46 1988 42 1992 36 1996 31 1999 30 2001 29 Source: Needle (2004, p. 138) Table 2: Density of trade union membership among employees in Britain: 1989 – 2009 Membership density (% of employees) Average annual change (percentage change) 1989 1998 2003 2009 1989-1998 1998-2003 2003-2009 All 38.6 27.9 29.1 27.0 -1.0 -0.1 -0.3 Male* 40.2 30.9 28.9 25.0 -1.6 -0.4 -0.7 Female * 32.0 28.3 29.3 29.1 -0.6 0.2 0.0 Private sector** 23.9 29.9 27.9 24.6 -1.5 -0.3 -0.6 Public sector* 64.1 60.1 59.2 56.3 -0.8 -0.2 -0.5 Manual 43.1 29.9 27.9 24.6 -1.5 -0.3 -0.6 Non-manual 35.3 29.8 29.9 28.4 -0.6 0.0 -0.3 Age less than 30 29.7 16.6 15.0 14.3 -1.5 -0.3 -0.1 Aged 30 – 49 43.5 35.0 33.4 29.5 -0.9 -0.3 -0.7 Aged 50+ 43.9 34.4 35.0 34.5 -1.1 0.1 -0.1 Notes: * series starts in 1992 rather instead of 1989, ** series starts in 1993 Source: Bryson and Forth (2010, p. 4), originally from Achur (2010) Various reasons are attributed trade union membership decline. First is the composition of workforce and jobs whereby, if employment declines in traditional areas of high union membership, then total union membership declines (Gennard & Judge 2005, p. 159). For instance, according Schifferes (2004), UK labour unions were traditionally strongest in the old manufacturing industries such as coal, steel, engineering and the docks. However, by the 1970s these industries were on the decline and the recession experienced in the 1980s speeded up their demise, meaning that with this, many trade unions collapsed. The second reason is the business cycle, where it is noted that union membership increases at times of low and/or failing unemployment. Third is the role of the state as the government can influence membership directly through laws on recognition, and indirectly by creating the atmosphere in which issues that pertain to employees and the management are discussed. Another point is about the role of employers as it is argued that employers have become hostile to unions. As well, many employees have become hesitant to join unions because of the reduction in the wage premium associated with joining unions. Last but not least, the role of unions themselves has been questioned since labour has moved from adversarial industrial relations towards greater collaborate between employers and employees in organisations (Gennard & Judge 2005, p. 159). Perspectives to explain the decline Unitary perspective Traditionally, employers have especially adopted a unitarist approach to the labour relationship (Bendix 2000, p. 20). Unitarism implies that the organisation is a cohesive entity in which all should work together to achieve a common goal. As such, there should be no real conflict of interest between employees and employers. Since it is perceived that there is no rift, there should be no power play between employers and employees. Consequently, trade unions are regarded unnecessary. In fact, from this point of view, trade unions are often seen as troublemakers who cause gratuitous conflict between employers and their subjects (Bendix 2000, p. 20). Pluralist perspective Pluralism is premised on the conviction that democracy is best achieved by allowing free interaction between competing groups. This view accepts the existence of conflict but assumes that if the groups involved in conflict have more or less equal power, some form of compromise can be attained between them. The pluralist approach even accepts and encourages the formation of trade unions as competing groups to employers (Bendix 2000, p. 20). It is perhaps because of this point that Wachter (2007, p. 23) asserts that “unions are central to a corporatist regime”, meaning that organisations that promote corporatism are likely to promote the formation of trade unions. Radical perspective The radical perspective is rooted in the Marxist ideology which views the working class as continually exploited by the capitalists who own the means of production (Bendix 2000, p. 20). From this standpoint, there can be no acceptable accommodation or conciliation between capital and labour. Accordingly, conflict is endemic within this system and is not resolved by negotiation between employers and unions. Therefore, for radicals, the role of trade unions is to challenge management power and to defend the interests of workers (Rowley & Jackson 2010, p. 86). From the discussion above, it is evident that if both radical and pluralist perspectives were to be applied, trade union memberships would rise rather than decline. The fact that pluralism “accepts and encourages the formation of trade unions as competing groups to employers” as stated above connotes that if this strategy were to be followed, the number of employees joining unions or forming unions would increase rather than decline. Similarly, radicalism would increase unionism since it views conflict as endemic to labour relations and whose solution lies in forming unions to defend employees from the management. Unitarism therefore seems to offer the most robust explanation for the decline in trade unions. This is because this approach perceives an organisation as a cohesive unit in which all should work collectively to accomplish a common objective. The approach also seems to agree with the perspectives of human resource management (HRM) which modern organisations have adopted. With HR departments, organisations are able to set goals which are attained by both and management and employees. Similarly, HR departments are able to handle employees’ grievances, and as such, there is usually less need for employees to form unions to fight for their rights. The point above is well articulated by Partridge (2009, p. 87), who notes that the decline in unionism came as result of “a shift away from the pluralist perspective” in industrial relations. The same author notes further that over the years, there has been “a shift from pluralist ideals to more unitarist human resource ideology” (p. 87). And this is not further from the truth because Guest (2005, p. 237) argues that the rising interest in HRM throughout the 1980s coincided with a steady decline in the significance of labour unionism. Conclusion Based on the discussion, it is evident that the decline in trade unions started in the 1980s and it is around the same time that focus on HRM started. The perspective that best explains this coincidence is the unitary approach because it appreciates the need for all players in an organisation to work together to achieve a common goal as opposed to pluralism and radicalism which only seem to vouch for strengthening of trade unions. Because unitarism encourages the development of HRM, HR departments seem to have reduced the need for labour unions to defend employees’ rights. References Bendix, S 2000, The basics of labour relations, Juta and Company Ltd, New Delhi. Blanchflower, D G & Bryson, A 2008, “Union decline in Britain”, Discussion Paper No. 3436, April 2008, viewed 24 February 2013, Bryson, A & Forth, J 2010, “Trade Union Membership and Influence 1999-2009”, CEP Discussion Paper No 1003, September 2010, viewed 24 February 2013, Gennard, J & Judge G 2005, Employee relations 4/E, 4th edn, CIPD Publishing, London. Guest, D E 2005, “Human resource management, trade unions and industrial relations” in G Salaman, J Storey, & J Billsberry (eds), Strategic Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, 2nd edn, Sage, London, chapter 11, pp. 237-250. Needle, D 2004, Business in context: An introduction to business and its environment, 4th edn, Cengage Learning EMEA, New York. Partridge, L 2009, “Was the decline of unions reflective of their inappropriateness in an increasingly unitarist environment? An examination using industrial relations models”, Otago Management Graduate Review, Volume 7, pp. 81-88, viewed 24 February 2013, Rowley, C & Jackson, K 2010, Human resource management: The key concepts, Taylor & Francis, London. Schifferes S 2004, “The trade unions’ long decline”, BBC News, Monday, 8 March, 2004 Sinha, P R N, Sinha, I B, & Shekhar, S P 2009, Industrial relations, trade unions and labour legislation, Pearson Education, New Delhi. Smith S W 2003, Labour economics, 2nd edn, Routledge, London. Wachter, M 2007, “The rise and decline of unions”, Regulation, Summer 2007, viewed 24 February 2013, Read More