Trade Unions

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Trade Unions Employment Law
GCSE Business Studies
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Revision Presentations 2004
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Trade Unions

• Organisation that employees can join in order to
  have their interests and goals better represented
• Categories
• Craft of skills union - represent skilled workers
  e.g. Musicians Union (MU)
• Industrial unions - represent members of one
  particular industry e.g. Fire Brigades Union
  (FBU)
• General unions - unions which recruit workers
  from all types of industries and with any level
  or range of skills e.g. Amicus Manufacturing
  Science and Finance Union (MSF)
• White-collar unions - represent office workers
  e.g. National Union of Teachers (NUT)

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Trades Union Congress (TUC)

• Role to represent all British trade unions at a
  national and international level
• Tries to influence government decision making in
  best interests of unions and workers
• Coordinates with trade union movements in other
  EU countries

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Benefits of Union Membership

• To an employee
• More powerful voice when bargaining as a group
  (e.g. for pay rises) as can threaten industrial
  action such as strikes
• Workers will have their individual rights better
  protected e.g. if dismissed unfairly or
  discriminated against
• To an employer
• Cheaper and quicker to bargain with one trade
  union representative than individual workers
• Workers are better motivated if they feel their
  interests are being looked after by trade unions

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Collective Bargaining

• When one trade union representative negotiates
  with employers on behalf of all workers belonging
  to that trade union
• Negotiations may involve areas such as pay,
  working conditions and fringe benefits.

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Forms of Industrial Action

• Strike
• Work to rule
• Boycott
• Go slow
• Overtime ban

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Reasons for Declining Influence of Trade Unions

• Laws passed which have weakened power of trade
  unions
• Decline in trade union membership
• Change in structure of industry from heavily
  unionised manufacturing industry towards service
  sector businesses
• Change in philosophy from conflicts due to
  collective bargaining to individual bargaining
  between firms and employees

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Employers Associations

• Represents views and interests of companies
  within a certain industry
• Act like a pressure group on government and also
  negotiate with trade unions.
• Examples
• Universities and Colleges Employers Association
• Engineering Employers Federation

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Main UK Employment Legislation

• Equal Pay Act 1970
• Ruled that both sexes should be treated equally
  in terms of pay and other employment issues
• Sex Discrimination Act 1975
• Made discrimination on grounds of sex or marital
  status illegal in all aspects of working life
• Race Relations Act 1976
• Made discrimination on grounds of colour, race or
  nationality in terms of employment illegal
• Disability Discrimination Act 1995
• Ruled that employers must treat a disabled person
  equally as others unless good reason
• Working Time Regulations 1998
• EU legislation that set a limit on maximum umber
  of hours (48 hours) employees should be required
  to work in a week. Employees can choose to work
  more hours if they wish.

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Minimum Wage

• Legal minimum hourly wage rate that a business
  can pay an employee
• Introduced into UK in 1999
• 2003 minimum wage for someone over 21 is 4-20
• Rate is subject to regular reviews and is likely
  to be increased every few years as cost of living
  increases

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Businesses Most Affected by an Increase in
Minimum Wage

• Small businesses who find it harder to cope with
  increases in costs
• Businesses which employ a large number of
  low-skilled workers
• Examples
• Catering
• Hotels
• Leisure businesses