Employee Relations

1
Employee Relations

• Lecture V
• Participants in
• Employee Relations
• Trade Unions

2
Trade Union Development Function

• A trade union is any organisation, whose
  membership consists of employees, which seeks to
  organise and represent their interests both in
  the workplace and society and in particular,
  seeks to regulate the employment relationship
  through the direct process of collective
  bargaining with management
• Salaman (2000)
• Trade Union Development
• Organisational beginnings, historically they
  came inot being as a response to capatilism

3
The Development of Trade Unions

• The emergence of local trade clubs, it is
  incorrect to assume that trade unions developed
  and grew out of the medieval Craft Unions, but
  can be traced to local trade clubs of the 18th
  century
• The trend towards amalgamation and national
  organisation became widespread during the second
  half of the twentieth century which witnessed an
  unprecedented growth in trade unionism. A number
  of specific factors accounted for the growth of
  trade unions 1) the increasing scale of industry
  2) the widening of the market for labour and
  goods 3) the greater mobility of workers 4) the
  growth of employers associations

4
Trade Union Growth

• From New Unionism to the General Strike, final
  years of the nineteenth century characterised by
  high profile national strikes such as the 1889
  London dockers strike. The dockers unions was
  the forerunner to the T GWU.
• The Gas Industry Example
• The new unionism of unskilled and semi-skilled
  workers was now firmly established
• Political Developments The Emergence of the
  Labour Party in 1906
• Trade Union Rights

5
Key Elements of Trade Unionism

• Trade Union Rights, Britain is the only country
  in the world where trade unions do not have a
  positive right to strike, organise or engage in
  collective bargaining
• The rise of shop stewards
• From the General Strike to 1945, the 1920 and
  1930 witnessed a more constructive period of
  industrial relations based on co-operation rather
  than conflict
• The trend for fewer and larger unions was
  established
• Trade unions in the contemporary perspective

6
Trade Union Structure

• The following issues should be considered
• 1) Recruitment patterns 2) Geographical
  variations
• 3) The recruitment strategies adopted by
  unions
• Trade union structure are quite complex and can
  be classified in three areas, traditional,
  occupational and white collar
• The 1980s The ear of Trade union mergers
• In 1900 there were 1300 union in Britain, in 1989
  there were 314 and in 2001 there were 215. Some
  craft unions simply disappeared but mergers have
  played an important role

7
Trade Union Mergers

• Boiler workers with General and Municipal to from
  GMB in 1982, GMB has subsequently merged with a
  number of smaller unions and retained the GMB
  title
• AEU and EETPU to form AEEU in 1992
• Reason for mergers, defensive, consolidation,
  expansion
• Changes in union size, 1989 TGWU largest union,
  1996 UNISON, 2001 UNISON
• Trade Unions organisational structure, the
  branch, the district or region, National
  Executive

8
Introducing Shop Stewards

• Their role and function
• Recruitment
• Relations with Management
• Representing members
• Consistency
• Negotiation
• Explaining the Unions Policies
• Organisation

9
Trade Unions Challenges and Prospects

• Growth- 1945-1979, changes in wages and
  inflation, pay differentials, unemployment,
  employer recognition of trade unions, size of
  establishments, growth of the public sector,
  recruitment of non traditional members
• Decline- Post 1979, Employer policies, business
  cycles, legislative effects, employment
  composition
• Marginislation and de-recognition
• Responses to decline
• Sectoral and regional approaches

10
Introducing the TUC

• Access to Government
• TUC influence on government legislation
• The European dimension
• Trade unions and the labour party
• The TUC and the Future of British Trade Unions
• Recognition and membership
• Recruitment strategies and the relaunch of the
  TUC
• Summary analysis