Trade Union's Organizing and Recruitment - Example

Individual’s Report on CWU’s Organizing and Recruitment Part Analysis of the Recruitment Campaign Technically, thedensities of trade unions in the United Kingdom and other European nations have been declining steadily since the early 20th Century. In the 1920s, most trade unions had densities of above 80%. Currently, most trade unions have densities as low as 20%. In this context, density of trade unions refers to the number of members within a given labor sector represented by a particular trade union. For example, a trade union density of 100% within an industry like the mining sector means that all employees working within the UK’s mining-related industries are members of the mining trade union. On the contrary, a density of 20% means that only 20% of workers within a particular industry have subscribed to membership of an involved trade union (Disney 2010, p. 16). Probable causes of declining density of trade unions may include; political changes, globalization, and particularly limited efficacy involved in the recruitment and organization of trade unions. In the 1950s, the average density of trade unions across leading industries in the UK stood at 64%. As of 2010, the average density of trade unions in the UK’s labor market stood at 38.9%. Apparently, certain industries reflected higher densities compared to others. For example, labor statistics from 2010 indicated that the density of trade unions within the education sector stood at 51.5%, whereas densities of industries like information and communications and hospitality industries stood at 11.7% and 10.4% respectively (Disney 2010, p. 18). In this context, it is acknowledgeable that for every 100 employees within the education sector, there are at least 51 members belonging to education-related trade unions. Contrarily, only 11 out of 100 employees within the information and communications sectors are committed members of communications-related trade unions. Apparently, the small trade union density observed within the UK’s information and communications industry is attributed to limited coordination in recruitment and organizational initiatives employed by the main trade union, the CWU (Henry, Holgate and Simms 2013, p. 39). Specific Factors Affecting UK’s CWU Admittedly, the CWU is the largest trade union representing employees within the UK’s information and communications industry. Currently, CWU campaign for more than 200,000 workers employed in information and communications related industries like the Royal Mail, Post Offices, cable TV stations and telephone companies. In 2000, CWU represented approximately 280, 000 members. As of 2010, the union’s membership had dropped to below 220,000 (Disney 2010, p. 24). With respect to CWU’s case, the loss of approximately 60,000 members within a decade can be attributed to factors like union’s internal inefficiencies, especially lack of advertisement and recruitment activities for new members, and industrial dynamics that propagate anti-union strategies (Jeannie and Metcalf 2013, p. 69). Leaders of CWU seem to have forgotten the benefits of increasing the union’s membership. Apparently, the complacency observed within the UK’s communications trade union is worsened by political, economic and social changes affecting industrial organizations in today’s globalized contexts. As a means of enhancing membership, the CWU’s internal management team should initiate advertisement and recruitment drives meant to highlight the benefits of trade unions in safeguarding employees’ economic, political and social welfare. Besides limitation experienced by CWU in its recruitment and organization structures, membership challenges faced by the communications trade union are also attributable to workers’ unwillingness to know about trade unions. Since the 1970s, most British industrial sectors have shifted from collectivistic to individualistic human resources management strategies. In the recent past, the restructurings in UK’s leading industries have paved way for unitary management styles, thus replacing organizational pluralism (Brandon 2012, p. 1136). As a result, powers in employment relationships are in favor of the employers rather than the employees. Eventually, suppression of collectivism in UK’s industries has caused employees to have limited knowledge and even remain ignorant about the benefits of trade unions (Brandon 2012, p. 1162). Therefore, the declining membership observed in CWU is as a result of employees’ limited knowledge about trade unions. Also, CWU has failed to dispense information relating to other benefits offered by the union.CWU, in association with legal service providers, offer advice and representation of all CWU members for cases related to personal injuries, and employment claims among others and family protection insurance. Undeniably, lack of knowledge related to other benefits provided by the union is responsible for the inefficacy in CWU’s recruitment and organizing initiatives. As a proposition, UK’s CWU should heighten their advertisement and recruitment initiatives as a means of improving the union’s strength and bargaining power. Undeniably, a trade union’s strength lies in its numbers (Blyton and Turnbull 2004, p. 75). Therefore, a campaign aimed at increasing the membership levels of CWU is justified in overcoming the membership density challenges faced by the trade union. Currently, approximately 70 branches of the Crown Post Office are under threats of closures or being franchised. Upon successful closure of the Post Offices, at least 800 employees will become instantly redundant. Therefore, these employees are vulnerable; hence the CWU should target them as prospective members for the trade union (Erwin and Smith 2009, p. 142). As low hanging fruits, the Post Office workers will desperately join CWU; hence the advertisement and recruitment campaign will be invariably successful. Part 2: Summary of the Group’s Research Methods The trade union’s advertisement and recruitment campaign was performed within a task group. All relevant tasks related to completion of the campaign initiative were delineated into finite sections, and each section completed independently. The group adopted a procedural working method which comprised of the following sectional components; creation of a meeting schedule, division of labor, identification of deliverables, collection of data from relevant sources, and evaluation of problems experienced during the collection of data exercises. With respect to creation of a meeting schedule, various procedures were mentioned. First, the meeting’s venue was at my (Gunay’s) flat. All members were supposed to meet at the flat and deliberate on important parts of the research process. Among the parts identified on the first meeting included; selection of the labor union, discussion of the selected union’s background, selection of the appropriate recruitment strategy to be employed by the union, decision regarding the poster’s timeline, collection of data from interviewing the union’s members, design of the poster, and finally the completion and presentation of the advertisement poster. Division of Labor During the first meeting, the UK’s CWU was picked as the trade union of choice. After selecting the union, each member of the group was assigned identifiable tasks related to the recruitment campaign. Apparently, the Crown Post Office workers were facing job security challenges associated with the imminent franchising and closures of 70 post office branches across the nation. Besides the job security issue, the Post Office workers had not gained any pay rise since 2012 (CWU 2015, p. 01). Therefore, the campaign was also aimed at safeguarding the pay rise issues affecting the Post Office employees. In this case, a division of labor strategy was employed in apportioning tasks. The first task was focusing on the issue of pay rise, which was performed by Sara and Effie. The second task involved the issue of job security, which was performed by Sonia and Rounan. Finally, I was tasked with the process of data mining and searching for information related to other benefits like health insurance, minimum living wage, and legal services among others. Key Milestones The first approach in addressing specific tasks involved in the CWU campaign strategy was enhancing team collaboration. In this regard, a preliminary meeting at my flat was staged where all members engaged in both formal and informal conversations in order to know each other. The formalization meeting ended successfully, with members forming personal bonds and friendships. The second milestone that was achieved in the group work was selecting the trade union to study, and selecting the campaign approaches to employ in enticing additional members into the selected trade union. In this case, the CWU was picked as the target trade union. Subsequently, data and information related to customized challenges faced by workers within the UK’s information and communications sector were identified. Interviews and data from the interviews and secondary sources were used as the main source of information. The identified challenges included potential for mandatory redundancy, pay rise issues, and hitches related to other employment benefits (CWU 2015, p. 01). As a result, a decision to create an advertisement and recruitment poster was concluded. After a scheduled meeting, the poster style was confirmed, and Effie was assigned the technical tasks of designing the poster. Finally, the preliminary and final steps of the poster’s design were completed, and the advertisement poster delivered to the presentation stage. Sources, Problems, and Solutions in Accessing Data First we emailed to a CWU’s representative at the Crown Post Office in Newport branch. Unfortunately, the CWU’s representative at the Newport branch contact failed to reply to the group’s mail. In this case, the group could not document and analyze information that would have been provided by the Newport’s CWU representative. Then we decided to email and got an appointment from CWU’s office. Data was primarily collected as first-person correspondence from Dave Role, a CWU representative placed at CWU’s Cardiff branch. The CWU representative at Cardiff proved beneficial in providing relevant information related to challenges facing the UK’s post office industry, especially the imminent challenges faced by workers at the Crown Post Office branches. In addition, the representative supplemented a detailed elaboration on the benefits provided by the CWU to its members. Also, Dave Role showed us several brochures about CWU’s trainings, recruitment processes, pay rise, and other benefits like legal services. Undeniably, accessing relevant information was not without challenges. Part 3: Personal Reflection As aforementioned, the first meeting prior to commencement of any campaign related tasks allowed members to socialize in both formal and informal ways. The first meeting was meant to help members to know each other, and to promote overall friendliness and compatibility among team members. During the discussion of the suggested book by Blyron and Turnbull, it was apparent that each team member was genuinely committed to the underlying task. Besides the attributed of punctuality during meetings, all team members conversed with confidence and pronounced extroversion. During informal chats, both Effie and Sonia demonstrated enhanced creativity and senses of humor, which promoted light-heartedness within the group (Gary 2005, p. 37). On the other hand, I demonstrated personal effectiveness in organizing team members and in objective delineation of team roles. On the other hand, Sara was not only enthusiastic, but also demonstrated emotional tranquility and optimism, thus casting away the remaining gloominess within the team. In essence, one could agree that the team’s structure and composition possessed more strengths than weaknesses. Basically, each team member in the CWU campaign task was a facilitator. No one assumed the role of a leader. Therefore, all team members were equals; hence a democratic atmosphere prevailed throughout the teamwork processes (Gary 2005, p. 29). Personally, I conducted, compiled and presented information on the other benefits offered by CWU to post office workers, especially the vulnerable Crown Post Office workers. It was during my presentation that I encountered certain challenges. During my presentation, a couple of team members were quite insensitive to my presentation style. Apparently, my presentation on other benefits topic was strictly formal, filled with detailed contents and lacking in unnecessary humor and figurative allusion of funny contexts. Suddenly, two team members insinuated that my presentation style was not only sterile, but also lacked in excitement. Honestly, I felt unappreciated by their mean comments. After the tireless efforts I employed in preparing my part, the members’ insensitivity lacked in admiration, thus lowered my morale and making me feel obliged to fight back. Fortunately, I was able to repress my building discontent with the insensitive members until the team meeting was over. At that juncture, I realized that emotional incompatibility between team members can stir up conflicts; hence emotional intelligence and constructive conflict resolution mechanisms are necessary in team work (Barbara and Corvette 2006, p. 95). After the team meeting was over, I graciously approach the previously insensitive members and expressed my genuine concerns. While approaching the insensitivity issue, I kept in mind the fact that conflicts in team deliberations arise whenever warring members have opposing needs and interests (Barbara and Corvette 2006, p. 58). Therefore, I acknowledged that the two members were fond of exciting and fun-filled presentation. On the other hand, I am always focused on the technical efficacy and accuracy of details rather than the emotional appeal of a presentation’s contents. In this case, I chose to examine the insensitive comments within an atmosphere of compassionate understanding. As a result, I expressed my discontent in a concise but friendly manner. In response, the two members returned their heartfelt apologies, and promised to refrain from engaging in such insensitive utterances in future meetings. Swiftly, I expressed my admiration for their apologetic demeanors, and proceeded to extend my forgiveness, and withdrawal of resentment. Fortunately, the conflict resolution communication restored a healthy and respectful atmosphere within the team. Reference List BARBARA, A. & CORVETTE, B. (2006) Conflict management: A practical guide to developing negotiation strategies. University Park: Penn State University Press. BLYTON, B. & TURNBULL, P. (2004). The dynamics of employee relation. 3rd Ed. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. BRANDON, T. (2012) Psychology and trade union participation: Joining, acting, and quitting. International Journal of Occupational Psychology, 86(4), 1132-1180. COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS UNION. (2015) CWU News, campaigns, benefits and services. Retrieved from http://www.cwu.org/ DISNEY, R. (2010) Explanations of the decline in trade union density in Britain: An appraisal. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 79(7), 16-32. ERWIN, P. & SMITH, F. (2009) Industrial relations climate: Attendance behavior and the role of trade unions. British Journal of Industrial relations, 78(3), 139-147. GARY, H. (2005) Group Dynamics and team building: A systematic approach. Pittsburg: John Wiley & Sons. HENRY, K., HOLGATE, W., & SIMMS, T. (2013) Union voice: Tactics and tensions in UK organizing. 1st Ed. New York: Cornell University Press. JEANNIE, S. & METCALF, D. (2013) Trade unions: Resurgence or demise? London: Rutledge Publishing. Read More