Evoulution of Trade Unions in the 21st Century
A trade union is defined by Smith (2008) as an independent self-regulating organization of workers created to protect and advance the interests of its members through collective action. Trade unions were of course very important once upon a time, but their job has been done. The age of mass production is over. The new world is all about individual relationships, and unions will wither away. “A glorious past perhaps, but no real future” says Jacob (2008).
There was at least some evidence to support that view. Union membership had fallen every year from its post war peak in 1980. The government had cut unions almost entirely out of the political loop, and their electoral strategists were still convinced that attacking unions was a vote winner.
A series of legal restrictions on unions sought to undermine capability to recruit and represent members effectively. Industrial action had fallen, and there had been some significant union failures to advance through strike action. Shareholder value was becoming the sole objective. Above all there was wide restructuring across much of the economy, usually to the detriment of trade union membership and influence.
There was a big decline in the kind of large workplaces that once made up the backbone of employment such as the mines, the steel works, and the car factories. Male manual work both skilled and unskilled has been in relentless decline. And as any historians here will know the two great waves of growth of trade unionism's early years came from male manual workers, first craft workers and then the new unionism that organized the less skilled.
However in today’s world of individual employment contracts, performance-related pay schemes, Human Resource and Total Quality Management and all the other ingredients of the so-called new workplace, trade unions are often regarded as old-fashioned obstacles preventing success of the market economy. As collective voluntary organizations that represent employees in the
There was at least some evidence to support that view. Union membership had fallen every year from its post war peak in 1980. The government had cut unions almost entirely out of the political loop, and their electoral strategists were still convinced that attacking unions was a vote winner.
A series of legal restrictions on unions sought to undermine capability to recruit and represent members effectively. Industrial action had fallen, and there had been some significant union failures to advance through strike action. Shareholder value was becoming the sole objective. Above all there was wide restructuring across much of the economy, usually to the detriment of trade union membership and influence.
There was a big decline in the kind of large workplaces that once made up the backbone of employment such as the mines, the steel works, and the car factories. Male manual work both skilled and unskilled has been in relentless decline. And as any historians here will know the two great waves of growth of trade unionism's early years came from male manual workers, first craft workers and then the new unionism that organized the less skilled.
However in today’s world of individual employment contracts, performance-related pay schemes, Human Resource and Total Quality Management and all the other ingredients of the so-called new workplace, trade unions are often regarded as old-fashioned obstacles preventing success of the market economy. As collective voluntary organizations that represent employees in the
Bibliography: Armstrong, M & Murlis, H (1991) Reward Management Second Edition Begg, D (1987) Economics Second Edition Clark, A & Layard, R (1993) UK Unemployment Second Edition Jones, J & Morris, M (1986) A-Z of Trade Unionism and Industrial Relations Taylor, R (1994) The Future of the Trade Unions TUC Company Facts Home Page (1995), "Assessment, markets and managerialism", in Edwards, P. (Eds), Industrial Relations Theory and Practice in Britain, Blackwell, Oxford, pp.599-613. Hall, S. (1992), "The question of cultural identity", in Hall, S., Held, D., Mcgrew, T. (Eds),Modernity and Its Future, Polity Press, Oxford, . Kelly, J. (1998), Rethinking Industrial Relations. Mobilisation, Collectivism and Long Waves, Routledge, London, . Thomas, H. (1999), "Trade unions and development", a discussion paper on home page of International Institute for Labour Studies (IILS), Info@ilo.org, . TUC (1994), Human Resource Management: A Trade Union Response, Trade Union Congress, London, . "1996", in Kester, G., Pinaud, H. (Eds),Trade Unions and Democratic Participation. A Scenario for 21st Century, Ashgate Publishing CO, Aldershot