Union Strategy
Union Strategy,
Trade unions have immense
challenges ahead of them. It is hard to be a union member today, Technological
and economic changes alter the nature and type of jobs (Visser, 2019). Membership in
traditional unions has sharply declined over the past two decades in the Figure
1.
(Source:
Resolution Foundation, 2017)
· Quasi-union:
Wide range of
organizations that have developed to represent the interests of otherwise overlooked
people in their work lives and in their interactions with their employer,
seeking to address matters of worker rights and to enhance working conditions (Heckscher and Carré, 2006).
· Alt-labor:
The informal alliance of organizations that is pushing to improve
workers’ rights in the wake of decreased union membership. Most of these modern
forms are working outside of what is deemed traditional collective bargaining (Walsh, 2018).
Unions must change their tactics to adjust to shift in global economy and put more resources into organizing workers at either targeted companies or within specific industries (Schramm, 2005). The union should continually educate members about its mission, as well as its expectation from the membership and union needs to routinely encourage members to get involved in union activities (Mthethwa, 2020). Unions must recruit members of all genders equally since in the modern era female workers are also high in numbers and in the past, unios prefer majority of male members but the time has come to changed now (Pedersini, 2010).
In Video 1, Beth Farhat (2018) talks about that unions need to attract young workers. The video recognizes that young workers have low expectations of work, don’t necessarily trust their colleagues, and feel a sense of futility about their ability to change things.
Video: 1 – Young workers are in need.
(Source:
Trade Union Congress, 2018)
To bring young workers, onboard the unios, new directions must be taken. Unions must break down the barriers and listen to them and importantly the approach should be digital (Pedersini, 2010). Unions must promote the benefits of joining an union such as, build trust among the workforce, ensure workplaces are safe, improve staff retention, and promote equality (Eliot, 2010).
References:
Dhal, M. (2015) HR
Practices & Union Management Relationship on JSTOR. Available at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/24547011?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_ contents.
Eliot, I. (2010)
‘'Working with trade unions to improve working conditions’, Journal Article,
44(Dec 01 2014), pp. 0–10.
Farhat, B. (2018). Young workers are in the desperate need of a voice at
work. Trade union congress [Online]. https://www.tuc.org.uk/campaigns/reaching-young-workers. Accessed on 30th August
2021.
Heckscher, C. and Carré,
F. (2006) ‘Strength in networks: Employment rights organizations and the
problem of co-ordination’, British Journal of Industrial Relations,
44(4), pp. 605–628. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8543.2006.00516.x.
Hirsch, J. M. and Seiner,
J. A. (2018) ‘A modern union for the modern economy’, Fordham Law Review,
86(4), pp. 1727–1783. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2924833.
Mthethwa, B. (2020).
Recruiting workers to the trade union. Tips for organisers [online].
Available at: https://www.lrs.org.za/2020/02/24/recruiting-workers-to-the-trade-union-tips-for-organisers/.
Accessed: 30 August 2021.
Pedersini, R. (2010)
‘Trade union strategies to recruit new groups of workers -Italy’, Eurofound,
pp. 1–51. Available at: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu. Accessed: 30 August
2021.
Ramasamy, N. (2004)
‘Shaping the future of trade unions in a rapidly changing working environment’,
MTUC/LO-Norway National Seminar on New Approaches to Wage Fixing in the
Light of Globalization, pp. 56-59.
Schramm, J. (2005) ‘The
Future of Unions’, Vision (4). pp. 3-8
Visser, J. (2019) Trade
Unions in the Balance. International Labour Organization, 12(2),
pp.35-36.
Walsh, D. (2018). Alt-labor, explained. MIT Sloan [online]. Available at:
https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/alt-labor-explained. Accessed: 8
August 2021.
Wright, B. (2002). Building Tomorrow’s Unions”. Unions
21[online]. August, Available:
http://www.unions21.org.uk/makingunionsmatter/unionsmatter.htm, Accessed: 29 August 2021.
Agreed with the content. Lack of leadership, loss of memberships likewise, unions faced significant issues, and organizations are struggling with incredibility development of technology and the cost factors. Overcome these factors, and both parties collaborate without a demand. For the entire business's success, both parties must maintain a friendly relationship (Manoranjan, 2019).
ReplyDeleteWhen talking about lack of leadership, according to McDowell, 2018 unions lack in gender base leadership. This effects unions when considering problems of members with mix gender.
DeleteIt is appreciate about consider your workers related to union strategies. According to Kahmann(2002) with his research paper of “ trade unios and young people”, young workers are not satisfied with traditional union actions and crisis of legitimacy of institutionalized politics among young workers make them much less dedication to union strategies. Also according to the statement of World congress of the international confederation of free trade union-Durban on2000, while entering unios to the new millennium, re-fashioning, re-focusing, re-energizing has to be focused and unions can be strong with the continuation of above mentioned factors.
ReplyDeleteYes Thushari, although there is a growing number of unionised millennial, unions need more young people to benefit from the strength in numbers a union on the job provides. Most millennial have a positive outlook on unions, but that is not enough. unions have seen waves of young people mobilise, protest, and take up progressive issues. The labour movement is the perfect vehicle to harness that energy into a new wave of economic prosperity for younger workers (Catsoulis, 2018).
Deleteagreed. The main contention of the “mutual gains” literature (Kochan and Osterman, 1994) is that firms and their employees benefit from the adoption of progressive employee management practices. These practices have a separate and earlier history and are known as “high-involvement,” “high commitment” or “high-performance” workplace practices (Walton, 1985; Lawler, 1986; Appelbaum et al., 2000), though the latter term has problems in that it sometimes conflates performance-management with employee engagement. For firms, the benefits of a “commitment” over “control” approach accrue through improvements in labor productivity and profitability, while for employees they arise through intrinsic rewards related to engaging in enjoyable work, control of their own work environment, having a “say” at work more generally and feeling part of the enterprise
ReplyDeleteAccording to Young (2018), William Kahn in 1990 stated that when the employee is involved in work having a 'say' in what he/she is doing, with the feeling of belonging. That employee will display loyalty and ownership.
DeleteAgreed. I would like to add some more points to this. There is a research conducted by Hirsch and Seiner
ReplyDelete(2021) on a modern union for the modern economy where it critiques on quasi-union effort in the technology sector using Uber Guild as a case. Since there are no formal unions for the companies like
Uber Guild, there is no protection for the employees from the laws and acts.
Sumeera, The Uber Guild is a unique organisation that has been tailored to fit the
Deleteparticular concerns raised by the structure of the working relationship of the
company with its drivers. It operates with benefits and representation outside
of the traditional union setting (Hirsch & Seiner, 2018).
I agree with the declining of same and apart from low membership coverage and the fragmentation of trade unions, there is also a decline in the membership (Sheth, 1993a).
ReplyDeleteFurther there is a growing alienation between trade unions and their members, particularly due to the changing characteristics of the new workforce (Sheth, 1993b; Ramaswamy, 1988; Sengupta, 1992)
I agree that there is a decline in membership, but the unions must fight back with new strategies. Then only there will be balance in the workplace (Weber, 2019).
DeleteYes agreed. Almost universally, trade unions in Europe (and globally) are on the defensive, having suffered a decline in membership, in public status and in effectiveness in achieving their core objectives. There has been widespread discussion of the need for modernization, revitalization and renewal (Hälker and Vellay 2006).
ReplyDeleteExactly Nuwan, with out modernisation of current union methods there will be no future for the unions (Hirsch & Seiner, 2018). One of the main aspects that they should look in to is recruitment and organising (Schramm, 2005)
DeleteUnder a National Party government (1990–), the Employment Contracts Act has accelerated decentralization while removing most statutory supports for collective bargaining (apart from minimal access rights and the right to strike in single-employer negotiations). Those unions that had largely depended on state sponsorship found themselves faced, at the very least, with financial stringency and redundancies among full-time officials (Oxenbridge 1996). Between 1991 and 1996, union density in New Zealand fell from approximately 50 to 25 per cent of wage and salary earners (Boxall 1997: 27).
ReplyDeleteYes Khalid, there are unions which are already struggling for survival, especially those in the private services sector. Throughout the 1990s, unions struggled with economic problems, and its union activities have increased while its membership rate has fallen steadily (Lismoen, 2000).
DeleteAgreed with you. Trade unions have a number of obligations to their members. Bargaining for better wages and working conditions; nurturing worker-employer relationships; facilitating collective actions; developing new demands; providing assistance during disputes and grievances processes; and improving the standard of living of members and their families are just a few of the responsibilities. Unions must address members' concerns, such as the impact of automation, new types of employment, unfavorable economic policies, and employers' refusal to recognize worker organizations. A increasing membership is a fundamental measure of a good union. As a result, unions must constantly update their strategy for recruiting, organizing, and retaining members(Dhal, 2015).
ReplyDeleteAdding to that Dhal (2015) also said that, Unions have to leave the path of confrontation and cooperate with the management for their sustenance, as well as for organisational growth and development. Union should concentrate on their effort to improve the industrial relations climate, rather than hold firmly to an adversarial position keeping in view the challenges of changing economic scenario.
DeleteNimna in full agreement with what you have stated. The wrong perception about the relationship that unions and management should have affects the overall productivity in a negative way. In the new world, collaboration between unions and management is the best way to achieve pleasant working environment (Dhal, 2015).
ReplyDelete