Human Resource Management - Research Paper Example

The unions have grown from local associations that fought to maintain status quo of craftsmen and were dominated by men to national unions representing employees nationwide through amalgamations. The unions have a lot of influence on workers from public and private sector though union membership has been on the decline since the installation of Thatcher conservative government that is aggressive to the unions (CIPD, 2009). Due to globalization and technological advancements as well as change in employee dynamics, unions have changed drastically and become friendly to employers and work in partnership with them in order to help workers.

Their relevance is also on the decline due to changes in workplace management practices especially after emergence of human resource management which appreciates workers and views them as partners. In order to understand the future of trade union movement in the 21st century in public and private sector, we need to appreciate the history of the movement especially the legalities that have shaped the movement ever since and continue to guide the unions today. According to Hyman (2001), British trade unionism dates back to two centuries.

The earliest trade unions were formed by skilled workers or craftsmen with the aim of guarding their trade and establishing wage levels and followed the laissez-faire form of market control hence voluntarism characterized by low legal regulation and no government intervention (The national archives, 2010). Workers were free to organize collectively and so did employers have freedom to dismiss union members. Although unions bargained collectively, employers had the right to refuse to negotiate with the union.

Strikes were legal but workers had the right to dismiss striking workers if they breached their contracts (Hyman, 2001). The craftsmen prevented entry of other members into their trade so as not to increase supply and hence