Trade Unions in Great Britain - Essay Example

The trade union membership has sharply declined in the UK during the period of 1979 to 2005, from 14 to 8 million members. There are several reasons for this, which will be considered in the present paper, with the describing of possible influence of this reduction on the employment relations. Trade Unions in Great Britain The long-term decline in trade unions membership in the UK started in the year 1979, continued through the following 20 years, being strengthened by the adoption of several laws, making the rights of the workers for carrying out strikes and fighting for their industrial rights more limited. Thus, by the end of 2005 the number of those, who take part in the activity of British trade unions, has reduced from 14 to 8 million people. One of the main reasons for such sharp reduction was in the fact, that British workers didn't see any benefits of collective representation. If the numbers of trade unions members are compared, it will be seen that 35.5% of the UK workers were trade unions members in 1993, while their number has declined to almost 28.8% in 2004. (Howe, 2004) This decline is reflected through both absolute numbers and relative percentage of the labour force, presented in the private sector. The number of those, who participate in trade unions in public sector, has nominally increased due to the general increase of this sector labour force, but as a percentage this membership has also fallen. The general profile of trade union members has also changed during this period, with women leaving them and middle-income earners becoming the main force of trade unions nowadays. The main reason for the constant decline in the trade union membership in the UK lies in general decline of the 'manufacturing base within the UK and the fragmentation of the workplace, linked to outsourcing and private sector influence in the public sector' (Beaumont, 1992) The bigger portion of those, who are occupied in private sector, has refused from such membership, seeing no use and no protection in trade unions' activity, with 58.8% of public sector workers being members of trade unions at present time. The total number of days devoted to strikes has also reduced, which is connected with the fact, that trade unions prefer devoting less time to strikes, but solving the major problems, without going into details. It is also forecast, that the amount of time, devoted to the strikes, and thus to breaks in working process, will continue to decrease. Speaking about the other reasons membership decline, the following reasons should be taken into account: - a considerable portion of those who represent labour force in the UK is constituted by migrants, who look for jobs on temporary basis and thus have the following reasons not to join the unions: a. the temporary nature of jobs these people prevents them from joining any trade union on the constant basis; b. such workers mostly work for the agencies, and not directly for their employers, which also prevents them from joining a trade union; c. the wages these workers earn are often so low, that the subscriptions they have to pay appear to be excessive for them. Migrants often move from one factory to another and thus they are difficult to be organized. Moreover, together with those, who work on a constant basis, they become very skeptical as for the possible positive role of trade unions in their employment relations. (Howe, 2004) Thus, it is clear that nowadays workers underestimate the role of trade unions in protecting their rights, refusing from membership. As Gall (1994) writes, 'Unions are painfully aware of the need to recruit new and younger members to reverse the decline in membership that has continued for over a decade. The changing nature of the workplace, with a decline in manufacturing and an increasingly fragmented and globalized workforce, is creating difficulties for trade unions which they are finding hard to meet. The sustained declining trend is a little surprising given legislation passed in recent years providing union officials with greater access to workplaces to support and represent their members. In the private sector, at least, it is a legitimate question to ask what role unions will have in influencing the workplaces of the future.' In connection with this problematic situation there should be considered the possible effects on the employment relations, which might be caused by the reduction of the trade union membership. It is important to note, that England was the country, where trade unions have their origin and where they first appeared in the 18th century. Thus, their role there was very important until 1979 when the membership started to reduce sharply for the reasons, mentioned above. In this section it is necessary to consider and discuss what effects on employment relations this reduction will bring. In order to understand these effects, it should be underlined, what effects trade unions usually cause on employment relations during their usual daily activity. It is essential to know, that trade unions have been an enemy of entrepreneurs and enterprises from the very beginning of their activity. Enterprises saw trade unions as the force, which demanded the salaries increase in the least, and which inevitably led to the increase of the production costs. Thus they were the very force to prevent the development of trade unions in the country and in connection with this, the trade union membership reduction must be seen by plants, factories and other subjects of entrepreneurship as absolutely positive phenomenon. On the other hand, there exists a viewpoint, according to which trade unions become the force, which leads to the increase of the effectiveness and efficiency of production. The logical line here is the following: by making enterprises increase the salaries and thus increasing their production costs, trade unions make enterprises increase their effectiveness to reduce the negative influence of production costs increase; but these impacts relate to the general activity of enterprises, while we are to consider the impacts, which trade unions bring to the employment relations. (Ross & Martin, 1999) Employment conflicts are the integral part of employment relations. One of the ways to solve these problems is carrying out strikes - an agreed stopping of work activity by the personnel for making the management fulfill their demands. However, collective employment conflict may turn into lockout, when the employer, trying to force his own conditions on the workers, stops the whole enterprise activity himself. The role of the trade unions here is not to permit the lockout situation or, which is the best, to solve the problems between the employer and his employees before they come to carrying out a strike. Trade union always plays a role of an intermediary between the workers and their employees, thus the membership reduction will cause another wave of strikes as a consequence of unsolved misunderstandings between the two sides of the employment relations. (Tebbit, 1993) On the other hand, which is doubtful and rather improbable, but is still possible, is that for the absence of the third party, the worker and his employer will try to find common language and thus learn the skills of making agreements and looking for compromises. In this case the reduction of trade union membership will appear to be positive for both the worker and the employer. (Cully & Woodland, 1996) There are a great number of models, which describe the aims and behaviors of trade unions, the process of their negotiations with employers, etc. For example, a trade union may be considered as the seller of the services of protecting the economic interests of the worker, and the worker who becomes the member of the trade union is considered as a buyer. In this case there are obviously the demand and the supply of the service, which makes the relations between the trade union and its members purely marketing. The success of the trade union's activity may be evaluated through the two most important parameters: the level of salary among its members and the level of employment. These indices in their turn influence the employment relations between the worker and his (her) employer. The correlation of these parameters can be different, but it is not always clear how one can be endowed for the sake of another. Theoretically, it is absurd to strive for the unlimited salary increase, as this leads for the decrease of employment to the inadmissibly low level. However, in practice trade unions use this striving as their only aim. Trade unions play an important role of solving the problems of workers with the small work experience to find an appropriate post for them. As a consequence, and as a reason of trade unions membership reduction, those, who apply for jobs and get refusals for them being inexperienced, cannot find legal solution of this conflict situation through trade unions, which certainly worsens employment relations and increases unemployment in general. (Gennard, 2005) The scientists have not yet come to the one and the only opinion as for the role of trade unions in the economy and in the regulation of employment relations, as well as the consequences of the market unionization. The representatives of the traditional neoclassical theory suppose that trade unions, as any other display of the monopolistic power, do not foster the rational distribution of resources, as a result of which both the production and employment decrease. The practice of creating new workplaces and keeping the number of the labour force slows down the development of the more effective and labour-saving technologies. In relation to the employment relation inside the enterprise, these actions prevent the management from increasing the effectiveness of their enterprise, which in its turn destroys any possibility for increasing salaries among the workers. Though the main role of trade unions in regulating work relations is in finding a common solution and a compromise in the level of salaries, the trade union members often forget, that the level of salary is dependent on many factors, and trying to make enterprises put the wages onto the level demanded by the trade union, may raise the wave of opposition, which in the worst case can lead to the personnel shortening. It is often, that trade unions limit the opportunities of enterprises, preventing them from creating work schedules, defining the production tasks and many other decisions, directed at increasing the work effectiveness increase. Thus, to some extent the reduction of the trade union membership will give the enterprises some freedom in creating the policies the management supposes will be effective in the long term period. Simultaneously, it should be remembered, that in creating such long term policies, the higher management often forgets about the interests of the lower workers, with the disappearance of trade unions these workers will feel unprotected. Thus, there should be found the so called 'golden mean', when the enterprises will have to carry out meetings with the representatives of trade unions in designing the long term aims and targets, with finding the common solution which will suit both the workers and the management, making employment relations stable and non-conflict. (Kalleberg, 2000) We should make a kind of summary in relation to the role the trade unions play in regulating employment relations, with determining the effects of the trade union membership reduction. 1. The participation of trade unions in the employment relations regulation allow to more flexibly connect the economic interests of the workers, managers and the owners. It is easier for workers to express their wishes and claims to management through trade unions. Due to this fact the conflicts may be promptly eliminated as a consequence of negotiations without firing people. According to Vosko (1997), trade unions allow decreasing the personnel flow for 30-65%, which in its turn positively influences the productivity. Finding common solutions without going into conflicts and firing is an integral, and probably the most important part of employment relations, thus the reduction of trade unions and their membership will ultimately lead to the higher percentage of firings and lockouts, about which we have already spoken in this work. 2. The participation of trade unions in the activity of enterprises favors the development of rules and procedures for wages accounting, official promotion and increasing the personnel qualification. Being sure, that the trade union will protect the workers from the infringement on their posts, they are more open in giving their knowledge to the newcomers. In this case the reduction of the trade unions participation will lead to the worsening of employment relations not only between the higher and lower workers, but between the workers of the same level, which will negatively influence the general results and indices of the company's activity. Simultaneously, the newcomers will have fewer opportunities to make career in the company, as they get no assistance from the workers who are more experience and have already worked in the company for a certain period of time. (Hakim, 1994) 3. There exists an opinion, according to which the active trade unions membership fosters the increase of the discipline among workers, thus positively influencing the inner atmosphere among the personnel and increase the level of their motivation. This statement might be looked at from the two different viewpoints. 'On the one hand, trade unions really increase the motivation of workers through regulating their employment relations, and thus giving them other stimuli for better achievements in their working activity. On the other hand, the excessively active participation of trade unions in eliminating conflicts and looking for compromises may deprive the workers of any motivation in their relations with the senior management and other workers of their level, putting the whole responsibility and activity on the trade unions.' (Carnoy, Castells & Brenner, 1997) Thus, the reduction of the membership here can be both positive and negative, which has also been considered in this work. As in general the employment relations, which are regulated by trade unions, are more effective and profitable, their reduction will certainly lead to the higher percentage of misunderstandings and conflicts, lower level of salaries and higher level of firings as the best way for managers to get rid of any problems at workplace. As the level of salaries is the cornerstone in any employment relations, it should be noted, that trade unions activity leads to the evening-out the salaries of those who fulfill the same kind of work, while in the firms where trade unions are absent, the workers with the same obligations often receive absolutely different wages. Thus, the reduction of the trade unions participation will lead to the increase of income inequality, which in its turn will cause the gap in cooperation between the workers of the same level. Conclusion The reduction of trade unions membership is seen as mostly negative, though some positive sides also exist in this phenomenon. On the one hand, trade unions work for creating unitary salaries for the workers of the same qualification and level of education, in case they fulfill the same obligations and have similar achievements in the enterprise they work. On the other hand, the weakening influence of trade unions in the recent decades has made the labour market more flexible, has increased the mobility of the labour force and the effectiveness of its use. Together with this, it has led to the breaking of the relations which have existed for years in relation to the labour force and the capital, the sharpening of the social tension and the decrease of the workers' incomes. Thus, as no phenomenon is absolutely negative or positive, the reduction of the trade union membership in the UK can't be viewed as absolutely negative event. It is clear, that the presence of the third authoritative party in solving any problems and conflicts of work character inside any company makes the decision more balanced and profitable for the worker. Simultaneously, this reduction creates the necessity for the workers, managers and owners to look for the common language and learn the skills of eliminating conflicts in employment relations. I suppose that the decrease of membership in trade unions is a usual and expected process four our reality and will ultimately lead to the balanced situation in the labour market, with the least presence of any third parties in making labour agreements directly between the employee and the employer. References (1) Bain, G.S. & Price, R. (1981) Union growth: dimensions, determinants and destiny. In Ed. Bain G.S. Oxford: Blackwell (p. 212-216) (2) Beaumont, P.B. (1992) Public sector industrial relations. London, Routledge (3) Bird, D. & Corcoran, L. 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