Trade unionism in the UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Trade unionism in the UK - Essay Example They organise a particular section of skilled or unskilled workers and with them as members of the Union, the office bearers become the legal representatives of such workers and union by attaining the power of representing them in all matters of employment and thus, in most of the countries they attain the status of an important legal entity. They negotiate collectively on behalf of their members over pay, working hours, wages, terms and conditions, cleanliness, perks, benefits, pensions, etc. If bargaining fails, Unions can undertake industrial action and strike and can cause immense harm to a well-running business and in major cases, to the economy of the entire country. Since the late 1970s there had been a rapid decline in unionisation in UK. This failure had been attributed to the inability of unions to organise new establishments in the same lines as they did twenty years ago, though it is not as simple as that. "The sharpest falls in unionization occurred in private manufacturing establishments set up post-1980, with significant falls also occurring, but from a lower initial level, in private sector services" http://158.143.49.27/machin/pdf/bjir2000.pdf There had been overwhelming arguments that the age of establishments has a lot to do with the decline of unions. Younger organisations pitted against the older ones, have shown totally different trends of conducting business, recruiting people, retaining them, or even retrenching them, to which unions are not fast enough to adjust themselves. "Finally, there is some evidence that age of workplace, rather than age of worker, is the critical age based factor as the negative association with unionization is found for all age groups in workplaces set up post-1980" ibid. Unions of yore had different sets of principles and ways of working. They were mainly centralised with highly centred authority wielded by the Union Leaders, who could sway the entire massive group of workers by a word or deed. In recent years, this trend has received a set back, with more and more vociferous demands by workers for a democratic set up. "Since the 1960s a democratic ethos has developed within the trade union movement Whilstleaderships may be formally in control, their power is constrained and checked on a number of issues (Hodgson 1981: 135)", in Webb (1992, p.83). Lately, there had been extensive arguments about the possible reasons for decline of Trade Unions in Britain. As a matter of fact, it is a universal trend, which came before the globalisation started and Britain had only been part of it. Her participation in the decline could not be stemmed and we have to agree that the influence and strength of trade unions have definitely suffered a major set back, with managements having an upper hand in every situation. "In the economic arena, unions face more confident managements, implementing politics of restructuring often without explicit reference to Unions. No longer are trade union leaderships party to the formulation of policy and programmes which take into account the specific concerns and interests of their memberships," Fairbrother (2000, p.10). The trend started with a steady decline in trade union membership. In last three decades and to put it mildly, it had been