Trade union decline in UK
Trade union is a form of organization where employees and leaders with common interests join in order to promote and protect those interests. These collective organisations have the role to negotiate with the employers the wages and the working conditions, they also help ease the relationships between employers and employees by diminishing the conflict between them and act collectively when it comes to implement the terms of collective bargaining. As Webbs shows, the trade unions are ‘a continuous association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their working lives’(Webb and Webb, 1920, 1). Because the employer has the power in an organisation by having the authority to hire and fire people, the employee feels powerless when trying to fight for his own rights and therefore chooses to combine his power with the power of other employees by forming the trade union. These unions came in reply to the capitalism in which people are forced to sell their labour in order to survive.
Even though there was a first recession in 1930s, things run smoothly with trade unions and their role until 1980s when a second recession took place. This recession brought in the picture changes in the economic, political and legal climate that shook the unions around the world. As Metcalf put the problem, the decline was ‘the result of a complex interaction between five factors: the macro-economic climate, the composition of the workforce, the policy of the state, the attitudes and conduct of employers and the stance taken by unions themselves.’ (Metcalf, 1991, p.22)
The biggest impact can be seen in United Kingdom where, as Sid Kessler and Fred Bayliss (1995) presented in their book, between 1979 and 1992 there was a big decrease in the number of union membership of almost 4 million, from 13.3 million to 9.0 million, with a decrease in the density from 54.2% to 37.2%. Some put as reasons for the decline of union membership the fact that
Even though there was a first recession in 1930s, things run smoothly with trade unions and their role until 1980s when a second recession took place. This recession brought in the picture changes in the economic, political and legal climate that shook the unions around the world. As Metcalf put the problem, the decline was ‘the result of a complex interaction between five factors: the macro-economic climate, the composition of the workforce, the policy of the state, the attitudes and conduct of employers and the stance taken by unions themselves.’ (Metcalf, 1991, p.22)
The biggest impact can be seen in United Kingdom where, as Sid Kessler and Fred Bayliss (1995) presented in their book, between 1979 and 1992 there was a big decrease in the number of union membership of almost 4 million, from 13.3 million to 9.0 million, with a decrease in the density from 54.2% to 37.2%. Some put as reasons for the decline of union membership the fact that
References: 3. Kelly, J. (1952). Trade unions and socialist politics. London: Biddles Ltd, Guildford 4 5. Lawler, E. (1992). The ultimate advantage: creating the high-involvement organisation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc. 8. Noon, M. and Blyton, P. (2007). The realities of work, 3rd edition. Hampshire: PALGRAVE MACMILLAN 9 10. Schifferes, S. (2004). The trade unions’ long decline. Available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3526917.stm [Accessed 02/03/2013] 11