Preview

Differences between American and European trade-unions.

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
924 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Differences between American and European trade-unions.
French and European trade-unions.

The power of trade-unions et its importance depend on the national habits. That's why we can oposed two main type of trade-unions in Europe: In the first hand, german or scandinav trade-unions which are reformists and priviligee negociations between employers and employees; and in the other hand, latin trade-unions, as the french one, which are more revolutionary and act through strikes in order to defend salarees

This difference makes us understand that there's a growing gap between the unionization rate of those two kind of countries. So, for instance this unionization rate represents less than 10% where as in Sweden it reaches around 80%.

In fact, if each trade-union has different caracteristics in each country, this trends ttends to be reduce. Effectively, the most part of european countries recognize trade-unions as privilegee partners in term of social and legal regulation.

French trade-unions.

Beyond working-class origins and strict revendications, trade-unions symbolize the best way for salarees to be represented and defended (From farmers trade-unions to trade-unions of tertiary sector). That's why trade-unions is essential in the firms life, dealing with social organisms wich manage retirement, social services and unempoyment benefits.

The crisis of trade-unions since 1970

a) Some figures

Through this figures we can constat that the number of unionized workers has obviously decreased. For instance, CGT numbered nearly 1,870,000 unionists in 1973 where as they're only 639,000 today. Moreover, we can suppose that this decrease has influence the number of labor conflicts: in fact, workers are less involved in strike for exemple in strike because they're not protected by unionization

Through this second tabler, we observe that the uninization rate in France has been reduced to 56% this last past 20 years. At the opposite, in Sweden or Danmark it tends to grow. Finally, we can say that France has the less important

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Answering the Questions The role of unions in today’s workplace is still has the responsibility to ensure the rights of workers, and provide an opportunity for their voices to be heard. Issues that are addressed by labor unions include work assignment, compensation, benefits and working conditions. Unions benefit their members (monopoly power), at the expense of higher cost, and requiring responses to employees grievances “voice power”. As a result of little job creation, debt crises, growing fiscal deficits and difficulties in states and local governments a “new normal” to the role of the labor unions have been created.…

    • 868 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Statistics show that trade union membership has been steadily declining since the 1970’s and due to the recent factory closings, downsizing, and layoffs they have taken a huge hit.…

    • 3328 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    2000 Dbq Analysis

    • 1087 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “It is impossible for capitalists and laborers to have common interest.” The Second Industrial Revolution skyrocketed with new inventions and machines and changed how factories and jobs were worked. As the industries grew, so did the need for unions among the workers. To a certain degree the unions were successful in improving the position of the workers. They were not highly successful as they would be defeated and have to go back to square one, but mildly a success. Developing from the needs, the effects of the workers’ unions were successful.…

    • 1087 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Unions all over the world are considered to be failing because of their low numbers. The influence and power unions had over management in companies when it came to policies has faded due…

    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Unions vs. Industrialists There were several arguments that were raised because of unionization in the late 19th century and early 20th century by industrialists. One of the arguments was that by ensuring that employees were unionized, it would be difficult for them to afford many employees as a result there would be unemployment as well as low output (Booth, 12). There is the need to understand that unions required that the members would receive better conditions as well as receive improved remunerations. This would increase the cost of operations to industrialists whom main agenda was to ensure that the profit margins were as high as possible.…

    • 298 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Unions today are as necessary as they were during the Industrial Revolution. Unions ¡°are association of workers that combine forces and demand of different workers.¡± (R18) During the Industrial Revolution, the unions had certain demands such as higher wages, better working conditions, and less working hours, even though some countries, the developed countries do have those laws enforced, while the other countries don¡¯t have basic working rights. A large percentage of the countries don¡¯t have the basic working laws enforced, it is necessary for rest of the countries other than the developed ones to have unions to enforce the laws the workers deserve. Even though, the workers in developed countries have the basic working rights, unions are…

    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    First and most important reason that private-sector unions are good for U.S is that unions associated with lower employee turnover and effective workplace communication, which helped improve the productivity of industries and the economy growth in U.S. During 1945-1973, the high percentage of workers union with the effect of wages kept the productivity rising and prosperity was widely shared, which made economic growth strongly. Since 1973, union density declined, and real wage were caused to stagnate despite rising productivity, which may contributed to the current financial crisis and severe recession. According to a recent survey by Doucouliagos, Christos and…

    • 2725 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    People in labor unions are just searching for and requesting a sense of security for themselves, and their families (“Labor Unions”). Union workers enjoy benefits such as health,…

    • 1557 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the Industrial Revolution, it was a turning point for the Unions. “Between 1860 and 1910 the population of the US tripled, and so too did the industrial workforce. New types of commercial enterprise sprung up to stand alongside the pre-Civil War textile factories.” (PBS) During this time period, working conditions did not improve and the demand for workers was at an all-time high. In 1869 the Knights of Labor union was formed and got national attention and was one of the largest unions of that time period.…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Decline of the Union

    • 3539 Words
    • 15 Pages

    Unions were created with the everyday worker in mind, an opposite to the previous mindset where the employer ruled his employee and the employee had no recourse. Unions helped pave the way for many of the current rights we have in place for American workers today; such as the length of the workday and weekly hours, child labor laws, minimum salary requirements, workers compensation and safe working conditions. With so much advancement in the American workforce because of Unions, it is interesting that there is a steady decline in Union membership in America. There are many factors that contribute to the decline, such as change in workforce, outsourcing jobs, right to work states, economic interests and political opposition. Sadly though, a continuing decline combined with poor economic conditions could one day result in the loss of Union’s altogether, which could forever change the face of American labor. Union’s are a necessary component for the American laborer to protect their rights and protect them from the interests of industry. The threatening loss of Unions nationally threatens the rights of future laborer, which calls for immediate change to prevent this grave future.…

    • 3539 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Labor Unions

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages

    During previous years, labor unions were used by industry workers as a way to make their voices heard and to push for change regarding unfair treatment. To some, these unions were seen as a form of threat but to others it was a way to bring the workforce together and make it beneficial to not one or a few, but to all. Labor unions have become irrelevant in the United States today. They were an important and fundamental part of the history of United States commerce and the country’s growth into an economic powerhouse (Jacob Silverman. How Labor Unions Work). But, as time has progressed and the economy and society have greatly advanced, there is a less need for labor unions. In addition to their irrelevancy, unions are unbeneficial to the United States commerce. To begin with, unions were formed initially for the common good and as a form of protection, but now they abuse their power to the detriment of its members. More importantly, they create a competition between the workers’ standard of living and the competitive strength of the employer. Furthermore, they decrease the amount of jobs available in the economy.…

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Labor Union was once seen as a significant share of the United States Labor force. According to studies and research, in 1954, Labor Unions peaked at almost 35 percent of workers. However, after a few years, the union started to decline. Today, the percentage has declined to less than 23 percent, and now less than 12 percent of the labor force is unionized. Studies have also shown that the United States Union has been in decline at the state and national level. (Vachon, T., & Wallace, M,…

    • 88 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2011, 11.8% of workers are members of unions in the labor force as a whole. Especially in the private sector, there was obvious tendency to decrease of unionization. Only 6.9% workers in the United States belong to labor unions in 2011. That was more than 2% drops compared to in 2000 era. The basic dilemma faced by unionization is the need to serve the interests of their members and be seen to serve the interests of society as a whole at the same time.…

    • 3404 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The decline of collective bargaining since 1970s, as described above, has engendered intense arguments. To describe this trend is much easier than to explain it (Rollinson, Dundon 2007). Some say there is a certain reason mainly resulting in this decline while others emphasize the interaction of several factors. For example, Freemand and Pelletier (1990) solely utilize the changes in labour law to explain the decrease of unions during 1980s, arguing that the legal factors accounted for the ‘entire’ decline in union density in the period between 1980 and 1986. However, to explain the decline of collectivism, Metcalf (1991) disagreed the analysis above and noted that the focus on one single reason can lead to the ignorance of others. Further, some models were developed to assist in explaining this trend. One of these models is from Bain and Price (1983). In order to comprehensively explain the union decline, factors were divided into three…

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays

Related Topics