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Trade Unions

A trade union will act in the best interest of the workers and try to secure the best possible working conditions, pay and protect jobs. Trade unions are financed by the workers who will normally pay a monthly subscription for the right to be a member. When a union represents a group of workers to their employers it is known as collective bargaining. A majority of disagreements can be resolved quickly and without incident, however, occasionally the two sides are unable to agree. In these cases the union may decide to take industrial action.

Unofficial action: This is where there is no official backing from the union. Unofficial action taken by the employees can come in a number of forms: • High labour turnover – workers leave the company without giving the necessary notice; • Poor time keeping – arriving late for work or taking long breaks; • High levels of absenteeism – taking days off sick when not ill; • Low levels of effort – by working inefficiently or deliberately wasting time; • Unofficial strikes – will normally occur when workers stop working as an immediate reaction to an employer’s decision. Despite the risk of getting sacked, employees may feel so strongly about a particular issue, they may take unofficial action in the hope that it will attract the attention of the media.

 Official action: This is where the union represents the workers. This is action that is supported by the union. This action can take a number of different forms: • Work to rule – this means that workers do not carry out duties that are not in their employment contract. This can mean workers observing safety laws to the letter, when they are normally disregarded, which can lead to slower working; • Go slow – employees deliberately attempt to slow down production, whilst still working within the terms of their contract; • Overtime ban – employees only work the hours agreed in their contract; • Sit-ins – workers refuse to leave a premises after production has finished; • Work-ins – employees refuse to stop working in the hope of showing the owners that a factory is still a viable concern; • Picketing – this involves members of a union on strike standing outside a firm’s entrance trying to persuade other workers not to cross it; <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">• Strike – this is the ultimate sanction a union can take. Employees refuse to work either for a set period of time or indefinitely. A majority of workers must vote in agreement of the strike in a secret ballot.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> These forms of industrial action could also be carried out without the backing of the union, in others words it be unofficial, but they are usually forms of official action. <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">If after consultation and negotiation both sides fail to reach an agreement one of the following organisations might be used to resolve the conflict: <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">• Employment Tribunals <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">• Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">• European Court of Justice.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> ACAS is used to solve industrial disputes between the employees and employers. Employees will go to Employment Tribunals to try and find a solution to individual cases. The European Court of Justice is where both sides can go if they wish to make an appeal against a decision made by one of the other organisations.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">How successful are trade Unions? <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Trade unions can really benefit their members. However especially in times of recession they cannot protect job losses nor gain wage increases. Often they can lead to firms having higher costs and in extreme cases the firms may become uncompetitive and in this case the firms may go out of business and workers may lose their jobs.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Two introductory videos with contrasting views on the roles and benefits of trade unions:

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">media type="file" key="2.7 What Have The Unions Ever Done For Us - Pros.mov" width="300" height="300" <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">media type="file" key="2.7 Wal-Mart bashes unions.mov" width="300" height="300"

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Student task <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">First read the revision handout below and then download the project document and complete one of the tasks. Each task is to be completed by one group only. <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">

[|An amazing and creative example!]