The Trade Union and Labour Movement - Essay Example

To what extent do trade unions and trade union organisations in Europe constitute a European labour movement? Trade Union A trade union can be defined as an organization that is composed of members, mostly workers that look after the protection of the members on the grounds of protecting their interest in the workplace. It helps the workers to raise their voice against the unethical practices on the employees. The trade union organizations act independently irrespective of any particular employer. They try to develop a healthy working relationship with the employers so that a business partnership can be formed between the employees and the employer (Indirect, 2014). The business partnership highlights the mutual interest of both the parties. In this regard a psychological contract is also formed which states that the employees will give their service and attention to the organization and in return they also expect fair remuneration, proper work environment and sufficient privileges. The objectives and goals of the trade unions are centred on the interest of the employees and the proper enforcement of the labour rights. The trade union helps the employees to negotiate with the employer on the grounds of pay scale and working conditions, to address the need for major changes in the workplace along with major redundancies, to communicate the concerns of the employees to the employer, etc. The trade union also facilitate the addressing of employee grievances and ensures that they are properly mitigated without any internal disputes. It also provides all the necessary legal and financial advices to the employees to help them with their personal interests (People Power, 2014). It also provides the employees with certain facilities on the ground of educational facilities, discounted products and services including insurances. The objectives of the trade union clearly states that it takes care of the upliftment of the workers and prevents any unethical practices on them. The trade union allows the workers to come under one roof and create a unity that creates a bigger momentum which helps them to take care of their concerns. The Historical Context The trade union was initiated with the advent of the labour movements during the pre-industrial era. The dominant professions in the Britain and Europe were only limited to agriculture, metal works, etc. The workers worked for the land owner or any business man, and they had very little control over their working condition. The highly autocratic behaviour of the employers exerted severe pressure over the employees and their working condition were quite poor along with their pay scale. This as a result pushed the workers to revolt against the employers. During the Middle age the rise of Guilds were quite evident. Guilds that were formed by workers and craftsmen were formed during the Middle Age. The Guild has had the ability to control the trade regulations including the ability to control the price of the products (People Power, 2014). The concept of Guild eventually changed with the advent of the Industrialization and mass production. The technological advancement in this era allowed the employer to produce products in large volume; this as a result reduced the bargaining power of the employees. The industrial age increased the gap between the workers and the employers. With the rise of competitiveness of the existing firms tried to seek out new ways to reduce the operating costs. The easiest way to achieve that was to reduce the wages of the workers. This in turn increased the conflict of interest between the workers and the factory owners. The working hours of the workers were tightly controlled by the firms and the firms tried to extract as much man hours as possible. This exerted physical as well as mental pressure over the workers. This as a result left only two choices for the worker, either to stay under the thumbs of the employers or to make a revolt against them. The collective revolution of the labour often took violent turns that led to rioting and destroying shops and machines (Soetendorp, 2014). Over the years, these revolutions became more organized and civilized. Several political parties were formed to claim the demands of the labours. The Labour Party was formed in UK, which was the result of the labour movement. This union was then strengthened with the help of electoral support. Political allies like the Socialists and Christian Democrats also joined the interests of the workers. Several trade unions have developed over the decades to take care of the interests of the workers and create a mutual benefit agreement between the employer and union members (People Power, 2014). European Trade Unions The level of employee engagement in the trade union defines its strength. The figures suggest that Finland has the strongest union with 74% participation of the employees, which is followed by Sweden and Denmark holding 70% and 67% participation. In states like Austria, Slovakia, UK, Ireland and Latvia there exists a single union confederation. Similar trend is also evident in Greece and Germany. Formation of confederations in states like Northern Europe, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, etc was on the grounds of professional and educational aspects. The differentiations were formed based on the manual, non-manual and highly educated workers (ETUI, 2015). According to the studies of Walters (2010) the Union strengths have been declining over the decades. From 1970 to 2002, the strength of the Union in Britain reduced from 32 % to 22.6 % and in Germany it reduced from 32 %to 22.6 %. In France a drastic reduction of Union strength was evident when it fell from 21.7 % to 8.3 %. However, despite of the reduced strengths and memberships, the Union is strong enough to exert sufficient influence in the France. This can be justified by the fact that in France the power of the Union is mostly on the grounds of political stand point rather than the number of members. This suggests that the Unions are quite capable of the shaking the political structure of nation. The trade unions have proved to be major determinant of the social change and are quite evident for the historical cases. They have looked after the interest of their members and provided them with benefits like provident funds, insurances, improvement of working condition, etc. Although in some nations the trade unions have been suppressed by dictatorships and fascists, but they have managed to sustain their existence and have put a significant influence in shaping the social culture of the democratic societies. The trade union can be considered as the major voluntary association in Europe that is run by the members for the interest of the members. The trade unions are known for raising a united voice of the workers against the capitalist employers, however this scenario has changed over time and the roles and responsibilities of the Union has also evolved. The employers have learned to acknowledge the presence and influence of the trade unions and answer to their collective bargain. The trade union ensures that the company has implemented fair working and wage policy. It undergoes a formal negotiation with the employer to reach a win-win situation for both the parties. However, when the negotiation fails to provide satisfactory results, the members of the union often go for organized strikes in order to cripple the production and operational system of the firm (Morris and Jones, 2010). The trade unions also have the power to exert political influence on debatable issues in the legislature so as to turn them in favour of the interests of the members of the union. In order to achieve that the Unions often undergo lobbying, conduct campaigns and shift to favourable political parties. The trade union is largely responsible for the labour movements since it provides them with the necessary momentum to influence the authority and compel them to come to a negotiation. This helps the workers to stand up against unethical practices and regulations. One individual’s plea often gets ignored, where as a demand from the entire workforce as a whole has to be addressed. By forming a unity the workers achieve a higher ground on the negotiation process where if their demands are not met they can choose to abandon their work and call for a strike. Conducting a strike can be severely damaging to the employer on a financial as well as a reputational perspective. Trade Union Congress (TUC) During the 1860s the Trade Union Congress (TUC) was established. The TUC takes care of the working professionals of Britain. It represents more than 6.2 million workers of 54 allied unions. The congress promotes fair regulations at work by conducting campaigns and ensures that the workers are getting a fair deal and social justice both in the domestic and foreign land (Union History, 2014). European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) In 1973, the ETUC was established to look after the benefits of the workers of the European countries. It also represented them in the European Union. The objective of the ETUC is to protect the interests of the citizens and create a strong social dimension. Currently the ETUC holds eighty two trade union confederations as its members belonging to thirty six countries. Moreover, 12 Industry federations are also under the membership of ETUC. This indicates that ETUC is evolved to be quite an influential Union Body that has developed trade agreements at an international level (ETUC, 2010). Trade Union Models The concept of trade unionism cannot be underpinned by a particular set of characteristics or events. In Europe there are several types of Trade unions and each of them bears individual characteristics that separate them from the rest. However, the primary motive of the Unions remains the same, which is to look after the interests of the workers regarding their working condition. Currently there are four existing models in the Member States of European Union, which are Social partnership, Nordic corporatism, State centred and Liberal Pluralism. There are six groups in which the states are categorized, Continental, Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon, Eastern New Member States, Southern, and Mediterranean New Member States. These demarcations are mostly for indicative purposed. It is mostly evident that the Scandinavian countries like the Sweden, Denmark and Finland follow the Nordic Corporatism model. Whereas, countries like Austria, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, etc have taken up the Social Partnership and the state-centred model is followed by Greece, France, Italy, etc. this suggest that the Unionism model varies depending on the diversification (ETUC, 2010). The State Centred model is characterized by the government acting with more indemnity. However, the government addresses the accommodation of the employers and the trade unions. In case of any misjudgement it eventually evolves into a social conflict. This type of model sees more social confrontation than negotiation. The strength of the union based on the number of members is often lower; however, the influence of the collective bargain is quite higher because the union often extends its influence to workplaces which are non-unionized by legal and employer association. The Nordic Corporatism is characterized by the high number of union membership; this as a result leads to a centralized bargaining system. The high number of members allows it to negotiate at an industrial level, not just with individual firms. Moreover, the high strength allows it to apply the agreement to wider majority of the members and it does not require any intervention form the government. The unity among the members is quite high owing to the integrated social system, which in turn allows the Union to enjoy a higher level of influence over the employers and political authorities. In contrast to the Nordic Corporatism, the Liberal Pluralist model is mostly limited to the company level. Liberal Pluralist can be antagonistic in nature. The countries following this Unionism model has a limited scope of legislation and laws of the labour market protection are also quite limited. Owing to low strength of the union, the influence of the collective bargaining is not so effective as compared to other models (ETUC, 2010). These models highlight that different countries have different types of Union practices. The influence they have over the powerful employers and political infrastructure also varies across different models. However, the success of a Union model is also dependent on the level of government intervention. The labour movement may not necessarily be always confrontational in nature. Some of the Unions try to avoid any direct conflict with the authorities and try to establish a good working relationship with them. A common consensus is reached that leads to a win-win situation for both the parties. The consensus approach is considered to be more appreciable in the long run, although it may not always yield all the desirable results expected by the workers, but simultaneously it also ensures that the same incident will not occur again. This method of negotiation also results in less damage to the society and associated stakeholders of the firm. However, the confrontational approach is more aggressive in nature, where the union exerts severe pressure on the authority mostly by calling strikes and crippling the organizational activities thereby incurring severe loss to the company. Baccaro, Hamann, and Turner (2003) have opined that this approach may yield immediate result as the union desires, but simultaneously it can also create adverse effects to the workers. Weakening the organization by force may reduce the productivity of the firm which will eventually be reflected in the infrastructure of the firm and thereby on the wages of the employees (ETUC, 2010; Larsson, 2014). The Negotiation Process The negotiation process conducted by the trade union is to reach an agreement with the employer or the government or both in order to ensure that the regulations and laws designed for the workers are in their favour and ensures their long term welfare. The negotiation is often conducted by using certain leverages by the Union that puts them to a fairly higher ground than the other party (Taylor and Mathers, 2002). Collective Bargaining The process of collective bargaining takes place at three distinct levels, Cross-Sectoral (national level) and Sectoral (industry level) or company level. The agreement is mostly on the basis of pay scale of the workers, total working hours, giving proper trainings, etc, along with the tenure of the agreement. The way the agreement is finalized is greatly dependent on the type of industrial relation system or the Union model. Therefore, a particular agreement regarding a certain issue may vary across different geographical location, owing to the adoption of different Union models or industry relation system (ETUC, 2010). The collective bargaining process evolves over the years and tries to adapt itself with the changing social and political scenario. The coverage of the collective bargaining determines its influence. It is measured by the ratio of the number of union members and the number of members who are benefitted from the collective bargaining process. Countries like Austria, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, etc have a fairly high coverage of collective bargaining while on the other hand; the countries like the UK, Bulgaria, Hungary, etc have the lower level of coverage (Sadler, 2000a). The coverage of the collective bargaining is quite important in terms of the determining the strength of the trade union and how much influence they exert on the employers and the political structure to yield what they desire. It gives a clear insight of the impact the trade union has on the labour market and the labour movement. The effectiveness of the labour movement is also reflected in the collective bargaining coverage. The cross sectoral collective bargaining is carried out in countries like Belgium, Ireland, Hungary, Spain, etc. On the other hand the sectoral bargaining is mostly found in the Western European regions. In countries like Poland, Luxembourg, Malta, etc, the company level mode of collective bargaining is prevalent. Over the years the collective bargaining process is evolving towards a more flexible approach and is getting decentralized in nature owing to pressure exerted by the employers (Bercusson, 2009; Peterson and Young, 2013). Strikes Strikes are considered to be more aggressive in nature and are often called as a last resort when the employer is too adamant about meeting the needs of the workers. Strikes are mostly used when the union has found the collective bargaining process to be ineffective to reach to the necessary agreement. According to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Article 28) calling a strike is a legal action which can be taken by the workers or the union in order to protect their rights and erase any conflict of interest. However, the freedom of calling strikes is lacking from the constitution of certain countries like Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Malta, UK, Ireland and Netherlands (ETUC, 2010). In other European countries, the constitution guarantees the freedom of calling a strike action. The freedom of association in countries like Finland and Germany is leads to the right to call strikes. In order to make sure that the strike conducted by the union does not lead to rioting or take other violent turns, there are certain regulations set by the governments for calling strikes. These regulations vary across different countries and constitutions. In countries other than Denmark, Italy, Finland, etc, the strikes that has the potential to influence the government is illegal and the government is free to take severe actions against the union to pacify their strikes (Larsson, 2012). Actions like peacefully supporting the worker conducting the strike is allowed in most European countries expect in UK, Netherlands, Luxembourg, etc. On contrary the practice of picketing is illegal in most countries. Picketing is the process of preventing other workers from their daily working schedule and forcing them to join the strike. The influence of Strike is measured by the number of working days that has been wasted and no production has taken place (Platzer, and Müller, 2011; ETUC, 2010). Modern Development The strength or influence of the labour movement is at any point of time is related to the economic condition of the nation. The utility and the attractiveness of the trade union are minimum in the times of wage increase, growing economic development and improved employment conditions. The workers do not feel the necessity for being a member of a trade union when all their work place related needs are being met by the employers (Sadler, 2000a). On the other hand the trade unions become quite active and attract a lot of members at the time of recession, industry wide layoffs, inflations and wage cut off. Moreover, the globalization has also created several new challenges for the labour movement. The globalization has opened up the global business market where the employers can have access to low cost labour markets of foreign countries (Pernicka and Glassner, 2014; El-Agraa, 2011). This as a result reduces the collective bargaining power of the trade unions, because the existing labour force can easily be replaced by a new one who is willing to work at a lower wage. However, the trade unions also have exerted a lasting impression in the economic infrastructure of several industrial nations. A lot of countries have redesigned their legislations to make collective bargain a legal process to mitigate work place related issues, including dispute over wages, work environment, safety policies, etc. The traditional techniques of the labour union have been adopted by several private associations in order to reach a consensus easily (Bache et al, 2014). Conclusion The trade union acts as the backbone for the labour movement. It is clearly evident that in order to make a major change in the organizational system or in the political structure, it needs a push of great momentum. This momentum is achieved by the concept of forming a union. The union is a simple concept where the workers form an association that acts in favour of the interest of the workers (Sadler, 2000b). The trade union is formed for the workers by the workers. The primary objective of the union is to look after their interest of the workplace. The strength of the trade unions is often reflected by the number of members in the union. Greater the strength is the higher is the influence over the authority. Thus the labour movement against the unethical activities and unfair policies against the employer get sufficient force to yield desirable results. The trade unions take several approaches that lead to a favourable negotiation. This is either achieved by passive collective bargaining or a more aggressive approach by calling a strike. These negotiation techniques vary across nations depending on the political scenario and the national legislation. In some cases the trade unions are strong enough to influence the government to make necessary changes to legislation so that the needs of the workers are met. Despite of the international variation of the trade union practices, the overall motive of the unions are the same, that is to look after the welfare of the workers. Thus it can be stated that the trade unions have greatly boosted the labour movement and has greatly helped the workers to raise their voice against unethical practices and unfair employment policies. Reference List Baccaro, L., Hamann, K., and Turner, L., 2003. The politics of labour movement revitalization: the need for a revitalized perspective. European Journal of Industrial Relations, 9(1), pp. 119-133. Bache, I., Bulmer, S., George, S., and Parker, O., 2014. Politics in the European Union. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bercusson, B., 2009. European labour law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. El-Agraa, A. M., 2011. The European Union: economics and policies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ETUC, 2010. Trade unions and industrial relations in EU countries. [online] Available at: [Accessed 17 March 2015] ETUI, 2015. Trade Unions. [online] Available at: [ Accessed 17 March 2015] Indirect, 2014. Introduction to trade unions. [online] Available at: [ Accessed 17 March 2015] Larsson, B., 2014. Transnational Trade Union Action in Europe: The significance of national and sectoral industrial relations. European Societies, 16(3), pp. 378-400. Larsson, B., 2012. Obstacles to transnational trade union cooperation in Europe—results from a European survey. Industrial Relations Journal, 43(2), pp. 152-170. Morris, A. and Jones, G., 2010. Special report: Is there power in Europes unions? [online] Available at: [Accessed 17 March 2015] People Power, 2014. The Labour Movement. [online] Available at: [ Accessed 17 March 2015] Pernicka, S. and Glassner, V., 2014. Transnational trade union strategies towards European wage policy: A neo-institutional framework. European Journal of Industrial Relations, pp. 60-75. Peterson, J. and Young, A., 2013. The European Union and the new trade politics. London: Routledge. Platzer, H. W. and Müller, T., 2011. Global and European trade union federations. A Handbook and Analysis of Transnational Trade Union Organizations and Politics. pp. 45-62. Sadler, D., 2000a. Organizing European labour: governance, production, trade unions and the question of scale. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 25(2), pp. 135-152. Sadler, D., 2000b The European Trade Union Confederation: its organization and objectives in transition. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 35(3), pp. 465-481. Soetendorp, B., 2014. Foreign Policy in the European Union: History, Theory & Practice. London: Routledge. Taylor, G. and Mathers, A., 2002. The politics of European integration: A European labour movement in the making? Capital & Class, 26(3), pp.39-60. Union History, 2014. TUC Reports. [online] Available at: [Accessed on 17 March 2015] Walters, J., 2010. Just How Powerful are Unions in Europe? [online] Available at: [ Accessed 17 March 2015] Read More