The power of trade-unions et its importance depend on the national habits. That’s why we can oposed two main type of trade-unions in Europe: In the first hand, german or scandinav trade-unions which are reformists and priviligee negociations between employers and employees; and in the other hand, latin trade-unions, as the french one, which are more revolutionary and act through strikes in order to defend salarees
This difference makes us understand that there’s a growing gap between the unionization rate of those two kind of countries. So, for instance this unionization rate represents less than 10% where as in Sweden it reaches around 80%.
In fact, if each trade-union has different caracteristics in each country, this trends ttends to be reduce. Effectively, the most part of european countries recognize trade-unions as privilegee partners in term of social and legal regulation.
French trade-unions.
Beyond working-class origins and strict revendications, trade-unions symbolize the best way for salarees to be represented and defended (From farmers trade-unions to trade-unions of tertiary sector).
That’s why trade-unions is essential in the firms life, dealing with social organisms wich manage retirement, social services and unempoyment benefits.
The crisis of trade-unions since 1970
a) Some figures
Through this figures we can constat that the number of unionized workers has obviously decreased. For instance, CGT numbered nearly 1,870,000 unionists in 1973 where as they’re only 639,000 today. Moreover, we can suppose that this decrease has influence the number of labor conflicts: in fact, workers are less involved in strike for exemple in strike because they’re not protected by unionization
The Term Paper on Collective Bargaining Social Unions Trade
A Great Social Invention " There's strength in numbers " This is a clich, or could even be called a proverb that most of us have heard at some stage in our lives. It also lies at the heart of collective bargaining, and it provides a reasonable, although simplistic reason for the use of collective bargaining, and also gives us an indication of where and for whom it is most useful. Collective ...
Through this second tabler, we observe that the uninization rate in France has been reduced to 56% this last past 20 years. At the opposite, in Sweden or Danmark it tends to grow. Finally, we can say that France has the less important unionization rate compared with the other developed countries.
b)The reasons of trade-unions crisis
For twenty years, french syndicalism is on the decline. That’s mean a reduction of the number of unionists, the increase of abstentionism and a less important involvment of activists
First-of-all it can be the result of the growth of unemployement. In fact, a large part of workers considers that they have no interest in being unionized because they have they collect social benefits and assurances from other organisms. Moreover, they’re not conviced that being unionized prevents them from redundancy.
Then, it seems possible that suscription can be a threat for workers. With the reduction of their purshasing power, they probably prefered economize suscriptions in order to expense it through another way.
Moreover, we have to keep in mind that unionization doesn’t give any advantages to its members. A unionized worker owns only the right to elect its union representatives.
Definitly, the only interest is to earn the ability to defend what they think through a social solidarity amongst workers who have the same activities. In parallel, in Sweden, an unionist enjoyes complementary services and benefits, as for instance, an unemployement benefit added to the national help.
The mutation of labor is also a reason of this crisis. The ,working-class represented a large part of the french unionism. But today their number into the total labor-force is reducing. At the opposite, women represent a large part of the actual labor force but are not involved in trade-unions.
But, with the european Union, this problem can be solved through european trade-unions and the substitution of the works cuncil in multinational firms.
The Research paper on Union Trade In Malaysia
Malaysia Airlines (MAS), a government linked company continues to violate worker and trade union rights. Recently, MAS commenced disciplinary action against Mohd Akram bin Osman, the Secretary General of the National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (NUFAM), and 30 other NUFAM members. The show cause letter date on or about 14/2/2014 asked why disciplinary action should not be taken against ...
American trade-unions.
a) History and decrease of trade-unions influence
In the USA, unionization is possible only if the trade-unions have been elected by the salarees of a firm, in order to defend them and negociate collectiv agreement.
This law was made under F. Rooswelt investiture in 1935 and has been questionned after the second War.
Effectively, where as the global political context was evolving (“Cold War”, come back of Republicans at the haed of the congress), some amendments of this law and also several judicial and administrativ decisions have give the opportunity to employers to reverse the balance of power to their advantage.
For instance, the amendment Talft-Hartley wrote in 1947 which manages the possibility for employees to go on strike: trade-unions must give a sixty-day notice; the federal authorities can forbid a strike to preserve national benefits. This amendment recognizes also the right for managers to influence their employees on the election of their unionized delegates.
Then, employers can in last resort ,a year next to the election, try to show that the trade-union is non-representativ. In order to that, a vote must be organized.
Finally, the federal department in charge of trade-union management, the National Labor Relation Bureau, is elected by the federal government. So, if a government is more pro-liberalism, trade-unions will see their influence reduced. That’s why, today, trade-unions choose to act by them-selves by doing demonstration, boycott,…
b)Adavntages of unionization…
First-of-all, unionists earn more money than a non-unionist thanks to the collective agreement of the firm.
Then, they have benefit of additional salaries in term of social coverage( disease, old age and disabling)
Endly, in term of retirement, the coverage depends depend on you’re unionized or not: in 1995, 79% of unionized workers had advantage of complementary retirements benefits, which are guaranteed by the employers and a federal agency, against 44,6% for non-unionized workers.
c) …limited by a lot of concessions
But, in parallel, with a decrease of the trade-unions influence, a lot of concessions have been made.For instance new workers in a firm must accept lower salaries, reduction of the salaries indexations agreement, more flexibility in work-planning And there’s also an essential detail to quote: that employers have the right to fire and replace an unionist who goes in strike…
The Term Paper on Trade Unions in South Africa and Argentina
Introduction: South Africa is a country that is crippled by the heritage of the apartheid, this is because the struggle for democracy was a long and exhausting one (Budeli, 2009: 68). Argentina also suffered among the hands of the military regime, as the lives of ordinary people was accompanied with hunger and a forceful government (Brysk, 1994: 1). The trade union movement has been pivotal in ...
