Decline of Trade Union Density - Essay Example

Trade Union Density Has Undergone Significant Decline Since 1979 Introduction Trade unions play a big role in the organization of workers anywhere inthe world. They are normally established to represent the workers in an organization or a group of organizations (Blandon, Machin and Van, 2006). Trade unions are important organizations since they seek to instil harmony in the employment environment. They are vital for the adequate representation of the workers’ interests and performance of fair managerial practices across all levels of employment. On behalf of workers, trade unions often negotiate wages, workplace policies and safety, work rules, rules governing hiring, promotion and firing of employees, and employment benefits. A few decades ago, the trade unionism in the United Kingdom used to be very vibrant. Almost all the workers in both the public and private sectors were represented in the trade unions in UK (Blyton and Tumball, 2004). The trade unions had a huge representation of male workers who worked in the mass production industries. However, from 1979 trade union density in the country began to drop according to Blyton and Tumball (2004). Before this unfortunate decline, statistics show that membership in the trade unions considerably high; during this time, more than half of the entire workforce in the UK belonged to one form of trade union or another. This is stark contrast to the situation today when the trade unions only have 26% of UK workers as their members (Labour Force Survey Report, 2006). The private sector only contributes a mere 12% of its workforce as members to trade unions in the UK. The same statistics show that the majority of union workers are those who are in the public sector. Very few part time employees enrol in any of the unions. According to Butler’s (2005) analysis, there are fewer men than women in the most trade unions. Workers from across the country, regardless of whether they were working in public or private organizations were all affected by this decline. There are a number of factors that led to the decline of trade union membership in the private and public sector and they will all be discussed in this paper. Trade Unions Decline in the UK Unfavourable Government Policies, Laws and Regulations during the Thatcher Administration The decline of trade union membership density in the UK started to be felt after Margaret Thatcher took over the premiership in 1979. Though her leadership is not the sole reason for the decline, it played a major role in not preventing the decline of trade unions in the United Kingdom. Right after Thatcher became the Prime Minister of Britain, there were several civil unrest cases throughout the whole country according to Butler (2005). The tension between the government and the trade unions resulted in membership withdrawal from many quarters during the 1980s. The few members who remained could not affect any changes that were beneficial to them because they lacked in numbers. During the Conservative Party governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, the hostile political climate to trade unions was directed at discouraging strikes fuelled by the unions (Blyton & Turnbull, 2004). During their reigns, government policies were introduced that primarily aimed at reducing the power of unions in the labour market through the enactment of a series of laws that more and more denied immunities and rights previously enjoyed by trade unions. For example, two Employment Acts were enacted in 1980 and 1982 that illegalized secondary strikes, allowed picketing only if workers engaged in the activity at their places of work, entirely illegalized post-entry closed shops, and allowed post-entry closed shops if only voted for by 85 out of every 100 workers (CIPD, 2010). Later in 1984, under the Trade Union Act, the unions were required to apply secret ballots during their elections. Further, the 1988 and 1990 Employment Acts illegalized all closed shops and placed responsibility squarely on trade unions for their members’ unofficial actions unless in writing they disavowed such actions. Instead of including trade unions in the political system as it previously was the case, the British government’s attitude changed and no longer sought consensus with the organizations. This strategy of trade of union exclusion was meant deliberately to reduce the unions’ powers to improve the levels of production. With the level of unemployment continuously growing in the mid 80s – as a direct result of the government’s attitude towards trade unions – and the public’s perceived distaste for excesses in the unions meant that company owners and employers got embolded (CIPD, 2010). One of the most significant occurrences that took place between 1984 and 1985, and that changed greatly the history of trade unions in the UK was the miners’ strike. Backed by the government, the miners were defeated in their strike against their employers owing to the fact that they forfeited the backing of other trade unions. This particular incident according to CIPD (2010) led to the dramatic fall in the number of strikes much as it led to the reduction of days lost during strikes. Today, the UK, among OECD countries, is found down in the league table of strikes. Legal Changes and Unemployment According to CIPD (2010), trade union membership between 79 and 97 fell to approximately seven million. Membership has continued to fall over the years reaching a meagre 6.5 million in the mid nineties. This was caused mainly by legal changes, and high unemployment levels. What this meant is that the majority unemployed could not join any trade unions which left only the few employed to join them. Yet again, during this period, many employers de-recognized unions, and emerging Greenfield sites often were kept free of unions. Also, structural changes in the economy, most notable of which was the shift from focus on manufacturing to service provision resulted in the reduction of large concentrations of employment. CIPD also notes in this respect that small employers are known to be difficult to organize than their larger counterparts more like white collar employees are more difficult compared to those who work in the industrial setup. This meant that the main concentrations of people who registered as union members were mainly those who worked in the public sector. Amalgamation and Evolution With rising pressure from government and other quarters, many unions have opted to amalgamate as noted from past experience; compared with 1979 which had 109 unions, TUC in 2007 had a meagre 66 affiliated unions (CIPD, 2010). In other words, the number of trade unions has reduced as a result of their merging or amalgamation. The UK government, through the enactment of the 1999 Employment Relations Act among other measures, introduced changes that members of trade unions quite well appreciated and accepted. Some of these included the establishment of National Minimum Wage and introduction of maternity leave for those who worked part time. As a result of the introduction of these changes, trade unions grew less active in their opposition to government and membership continued to decline as more and more people saw no sense of joining the unions. Anti-union Policies in Organizations As changes in legislation and industrial structures were enacted, trade unions were challenged with organizational requirements to suit the new state of events (Charlwood, 2004). It was common for the industrial managements to employ anti-union policies designed to limit the success of the trade unions. For instance, unions had a difficult time between choosing co-operation with employers and signing no-strike agreements without which they would not be recognized at all (Martin, 1992). Change in Employment Distribution and Neglecting of Labour Laws Changes in the distribution of employment back in the 1980s created recruitment challenges to trade unions. Further, decline of large-scale manufacturing industries replaced by the development of services from private sectors, created employment patterns, which were hard to organize trade unions. In Britain alone, a 5.7 percent decline in employment from manufacturing sector was recorded between 1983 and 1988 (DTI, 2007). The changes introduced by the dominant system of industrial relations have contributed immensely towards the fall of the trade unions according to Martin and Ross (1999). For example, the management of industrial concerns have been setting up terms and conditions of employment independently without consulting respective trade unions. In fact, as a rule, the employees are required to consult with the management as individuals and settle for agreements without due regard to trade union requirements, and national or industrial level regulations and requirements (Martin and Ross, 1999). In other words, legislations governing or defending individual workers which were earlier entrenched in the collective bargaining requirements have widely been neglected by employers. Globalization The efforts of turning the world into a global village have been instrumental in the decline of the trade union membership density in the UK. The globalization process has led to the diffusion of processes of production and service delivery around the world. First of all, many multinational companies have grown in size to extents beyond the control and grip of national and regional policies and regulations (Farnham and Lesley, 1995). Globalization has in itself brought great uncertainties for industries across the world (Gall, 2007). With an aim of maintaining competitiveness, companies have had to develop new survival strategies. Some of these companies have, for example, shifted their points of production to areas where there is cheaper labour by outsourcing to countries where labour is cheap such as India. This effectively means that many organizations employ fewer people in the UK and therefore trade union membership is reduced. Rise of international production networks, increasing global capital mobility and economic competition, neo-liberal economic policies, privatization, rapid technological innovation, outsourcing, growth of the services sector, employer resistance to unionization, changes in processes of production, and the reduction of the manufacturing sector have made worse challenges faced by trade unions while also affecting their members’ commitments (Diamond and Freeman, 2002). Globalization has also led to massive job losses, downsizing and outsourcing, labour flexibility, subcontracting, informalization and casualization of labour. This has robbed trade unions of their main constituencies; the regular worker (Gall, 2007). Without any doubt, increasing unemployment levels in the UK has resulted in the decline of unionization especially in cases where regular workers are displaced (Smith and Smith, 1996). Rise in Wage Inequality Trade unions reduce inequality through standardizing pay rates among workers within and across employment establishments (Martin and Ross, 1999). As many employers realize the threat of unionization, they have employed the scheme of raising payments and benefits well above the trade unions’ specifications in some cases. In the United Kingdom, the actual value of minimum wage declined significantly across the period between 1970 and 1990 according to Butler (2005). In the UK, wage councils used to set sectoral pay rates for the young and the unskilled labour forces. The councils were abolished in 1980s and as a result, the minimum wages fell significantly creating a conducive environment for rise in inequality (Schifferes, 2004). This contributed immensely to the fall of trade unions. Organizational Reforms Following the election of the 1997 labour government, a turning point of industrial relations in the public sector was realized (Salamon, 2000). Large portions of the public sector were privatized alongside restructuring of the remaining public service sectors into semi-independent ventures. The conservative government valued fragmentation of the management in the public sector. It campaigned for organizational reforms, which replaced the unified civil service. Such initiatives challenged the existence of the trade unions (Hollinshead and Nichols, 2003). The landscape of the public sector continued to change more primarily as a result of the conservative government. As the need for decentralized payment bargaining power arose, a more compelling management practice involving independent human resource practice ensued (Rose, 2008). However, it was undermined by occasional politicization alongside resistance for formally organized professional groupings (Kelly, John and Bailey, 2007). Today, companies have greatly changed their human resource strategies (Blandon, Machin and Van Reenen, 2006). Apart from carrying out traditional human resource functions, they have developed strategic HR plans. Companies have continued to embrace strategic human resource management and high performance work systems that are geared towards ensuring the wellbeing of workers, therefore, many workers in the UK do not see the need to join trade unions (Salamon, 2000). Effects of the Plummeting Economy on Trade Unions In the past few years, the economic situation in most parts of the world has been quite severe. This has in turn affected many people in many different ways (Gospel and Wood, 2003). According to Charlwood (2004), people have been forced out of their jobs because of the downturn in the economy, not only in the UK but also all over the world. Yet these same people are the ones who make membership in trade unions possible (Butler, 2005). Without anyone to represent, the trade union movement is likely to die a quiet death. The Future of UK Trade Union Membership One of the reasons that precipitated the decline of trade union membership density was restrictive government policies. The future of trade unions is also challenged by not only decline of mass production organizations, which supported their involvement, but also the dynamic new world, which values individual relationships and autonomy (Charlwood, 2004). Due to the decline of large work places that had earlier served as the backbone of employment such as the steel works and the mines, male dominance in such industries has declined accordingly. The growth of trade unions had been pegged on the dominance of male workers in the unions (Diamond and Freeman, 2002). However, the employment pattern is drastically changing towards a more female to male ratio and the females do not seem too inclined to join any trade union. This situation has challenged employees and managers to look for ways through which they can gain employee loyalty (Gall, 2007). This puts trade unionism in a very fragile place, since it is quite apparent that many workers would rather be loyal to their employees than to a trade union. There is also the problem of massive privatization of public institutions and organizations (Edwards, 2003). The private institutions are known to offer workers better terms than public companies, therefore, workers in the private sector are unlikely to join trade unions. Trade unions used to be about collective bargaining, regardless of which type of organizations the members worked for. However, these objectives of trade unions on collective bargaining have been replaced by a conventional individualistic approach to employment requirement (Martin and Ross, 1999). As such, the value of trade unions continues to decline amid the challenging employment situation (Salamon, 2000). However, with all these challenges, the future of the trade union movement in the UK is not on the brink of death. The worst era of Trade Unionism in the UK seems to be almost over. Trade unions are now starting to pick up from where they left more than 30 years ago. More and more workers in the UK are eager to join the unions if only they can be reassured that their interests will be handled with the seriousness they deserve (Curran, 2007). There are few policies that have been introduced and they give a new lease of life to the ailing trade union movement in the UK (Gall, 2007). As mentioned earlier, there are new players in the lives of workers who are ready to fight for their rights. Trade unions as a result have opted to cooperate with such players and, from new a new perspective, have continued to address employees’ concerns and issues. Conclusion Trade unions have a big role to play in the life of workers in the private and public sectors. People have mainly joined trade unions as a source of protection especially if there is no welfare state to cater for their needs, to campaign for reforms, to counteract the huge economic strength of their employers, and to provide legal assistance where they feel that injustices have been done. However, several changes have occurred in the economic and political environments that have led to the decline of trade unions, their influence and position. In general, changing economic, political, legal, technological and social factors have led to the dramatic change in trade unions and their membership over time (Blandon, Machin and Van Reenen, 2006). References Blandon, J, Machin, s and Van Reenen, J., (2006) ‘Have Unions Turned the Corner?’, British Journal of Industrial Relations 44(2). Butler, P (2005) ‘Non-union employee representation: exploring the efficacy of the voice process’ Employee Relations: 27(3). Blyton, P. and Turnball, P. (2004) The Dynamics of Employee Relations, (2nd edition), Palgrave Macmillan. Certification Office (2007) Annual Report of the Certification Officer 2006-2007 and earlier years, Certification Office, UK. Charlwood, A (2004) ‘Influences on Trade Union Organizing Effectiveness in Britain’ British Journal of Industrial Relations: 42(1). CIPD (2010) Trade unions: A short history, viewed 7 December 2009 http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/empreltns/tradunin/tradunihist.htm Curran, K (2007) ‘Organising to Win: a programme for trade union renewal’ , viewed 7 December 2009 www.uin.org.uk Diamond W J, Freeman R B (2002) ‘Will Unionism Prosper in Cyberspace? The Promise of the Internet for Employee Organization BJIR 40:3, September. DTI (2007) Trade Union Membership 2006: National Statistics, DTI. Edwards, P (2003) Industrial Relations Theory and Practice, (2nd edition) Blackwell. Farnham, D. and Lesley G. (1995). Trade unions in the UK: Trends and counter-trends since 1979. Employee Relations Journal ,17(2) pp. 5 – 22. Fernie S. and Metcalf D. (2005) Trade Unions Resurgence or Demise? Routledge: London. Fosh P. (1993) Membership Participation in Workplace Unionism: Tthe possibility of union ‘renewal’, BJIR 31(4), December. Gall, G (2007) ‘Trade Union Recognition in Britain: An emerging Crisis for Trade Unions?’ Economic and Industrial Democracy: 28(1). Gospel, H and Wood, S (2003) Representing Workers: Union recognition and membership in Britain (edited). Routledge, London. Hollinshead G, Nichols P, Tailby S (2003) Employee Relations, Financial Times, Pitman. Kelly, John and Bailey Rachel (July 1 2007). British trade union membership, density and decline in the 1980s: a research note. Industrial Relations Journal, 20(1), pp 54-61. Blackwell. Labour Force Survey Report 2006. Trade Union Membership, viewed 7th December 2009 http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=4 Martin A, Ross G., 1999. The Brave New World Of European Labor, viewed 7th December 2009 http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=To4wWzVGEbwC&pg=PA29&lpg=PA29&dq=Trade+Union+Density+Has+Undergone+Significant+Decline+Since+1979&source=bl&ots=j42poYuOZ5&sig=abqSUlA8leDNnvYvzH7F3xL_PWY&hl=en&ei=2cMgS7vKOdWJ4QbI85j2CQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=#v=onepage&q=&f=false Oswald A. (1991) Pay-setting, Self Employment, and the Unions. Oxford Review Of Economic Policy, 7(3), pp 31-40. Rose E., (2008) Employment Relations, Financial Times, Prentice Hall. Salamon M (2000) Industrial Relations: Theory & Practice, Financial Times, Prentice Hall . Schifferes, S., 2004. Tha Trade Unions’ Long Declline. BBC News, viewed 7th December 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3526917.stm Smith C, Smith P (1996) The New Workplace and Trade Unionism, Routledge, London. Stiftung, F.E., (1999, May) The UK experience of labour market-regulation 1979-1996, viewed 7 December 2009 http://library.fes.de/fulltext/stabsabteilung/00485002.htm Stirling, J., 2005.There’s a New World Somewhere: The Rediscovery of Trade Unionism, Capital and Class, viewed 7 December 2009 http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache%3A2Nb93ND2Cd4J%3Awww.cseweb.org.uk%2Fpdfs%2FCC87%2F5._Stirling.pdf+why+did+trade+unions+decline+in+the+UK&hl=en&gl=ke Read More