Trade unions, also known as labor unions, are organizations of workers who come together to advocate for better working conditions, wages and benefits. They play a significant role in shaping the workplace landscape and the lives of millions of workers around the world.
What is a trade union?
A trade union is an organization formed and financed by working people with the purpose of protecting their interest.
The main objective of a trade union is improving pay and working conditions of their members as well as providing them with legal and financial support and employment-related services.
As trade unions receive funding from the members, they are democratically-ruled organizations which are accountable to their members for policies and actions.
Roles of trade unions
Here are some key points about the purpose of trade unions:
- Collective bargaining. Trade unions provide support to employees who experience poor working conditions, are heavily underpaid according to industry standards or claim unfair dismissal. They negotiate with employers on behalf of their members to secure better wages, benefits, and working conditions such as healthcare, paid time off, safety standards and grievance procedures.
- Worker representation. Trade unions give workers a collective voice and increase their bargaining power compared to individual negotiations. They put pressure on employers to ensure that all legal requirements are met regarding employment. It is more efficient for employers to negotiate with one officer from the trade union rather than with all individual workers. The growth of responsible partnership unionism gives employers a forum for discussing issues of common interest and making new workplace agreements.
- Advocacy. Trade unions lobby for policies that benefit workers, such as minimum wage increases, workplace safety regulations, and social programs.
- Productive communication channel. Trade unions provide a productive two-way channel of communication with workers through management of the union where problems and grievances could be raised. A trade union can also impose discipline on members who plan to take any spontaneous actions that could disrupt a business.
Different types of trade unions
There are many different types of trade unions including the following:
- Craft Unions. They represent specific types of workers of traditional crafts such as musicians, bakers, etc.
- Industrial Unions. They represent members from particular industries such as coal, steel-making, shipbuilding, etc.
- General Unions. They represent a mixture of people in different jobs and sectors, hence have members who cover wide range of skills in many different industries.
In reality nowadays, many smaller craft unions and industrial unions merged to create a few very big general unions.
Examples of trade unions
Trade unions represents people working in a range of different occupations and industries in both the public and private sectors.
Some of the examples of trade unions include The South African Democratic Teachers Union, The General Workers Federation in Mauritius, The National Union of Mineworkers, Educational Institute of Scotland, The Transport and General Workers Union, etc.
Tasks carried out by trade unions
Examples of the main issues that trade unions help their members with include:
- Negotiating with employers to increase pay and improve working conditions. This is the main role of trade unions – representing members in talks with employers at national or local level in negotiations for better conditions of service, e.g. rates of pay, fringe benefits, adequate work facilities, hours of work, work breaks, maximum hours, bonuses for achieving targets, holidays, health and safety in the workplace, job security, etc. Also, negotiating contract rights such as job descriptions, person specifications, rights to professional training, redundancy payments, etc.
- Resolving workplace conflict. Another role of trade unions is solving disagreement between an employer and its employees which the workers themselves have been unable to resolve. Representatives of the trade union will try to negotiate a solution on behalf of its members.
- Providing legal support and advice. Trade unions support individuals with necessary advice when needed about their legal rights as an employee including aspects such as discipline, grievance, etc. When a worker is treated unfairly by an employer then his or her trade union will offer the services of legal specialists to take legal action against the employer. Accessing legal services is available thanks to members paying an annual fee to contribute towards the costs of running the union to cover the costs of legal advice and representation for members.
- Providing employment-related services for members. Trade unions provide a range of benefits for their members which are not offered by the employers. The purpose of this is to provide financial support to members during their employment period as well as to those who might have been unfairly dismissed or made redundant. Services are increasingly offered by unions and include
- Insurance schemes.
- Pension schemes.
- Holiday schemes.
- Discounts on travel and goods.
- Education courses.
- Mortgage discounts.
- Welfare and sickness benefits.
Effectiveness of trade unions
Effectiveness of trade unions in achieving their objectives typically depends on the following factors:
- Skill and experience of negotiators.
- Number of members.
- Member unity.
- Economic situation.
- State of the industry and business influence.
- Labor vs. capital substitution.
- Public opinion.
- Government involvement.
In recent years many, smaller unions have merged in order to increase their membership count and influence.
