COLLEGE OF BUSINESS, HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT, IR & OHS

HRM501: INTRODUCTION TO IR/HRM
TUTORIAL 2
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Tutorial Questions Week 3:

Trade Unions

1. Why do employees join trade union and what do they expect to achieve for their
union members?

1. Economic reasons

For higher wages, increased benefits, shorter hours and improved working conditions are
certainly important reasons for joining a union.

2. Job security

One basic human need is security. In the work environment, employees find themselves in a
dependent relationship on their bosses and on what they probably view as impersonal
organizations. They want to know that their jobs will exist in the future and that they will be
protected against unfair or arbitrary treatment. Anyway, with the growth of technological
change, however, workers feel especially vulnerable to job loss. For example, several thousand
robots are now being utilized in manufacturing, with continued growth expected for the use of
robotics in the near future.

3. Social reasons

Men and women are social beings. Therefore, workers have a strong need to be accepted by
their peers, to belong, and to go along with others. Some unions offer attractive benefits, such
as insurance. Peer pressure may also cause workers to join unions.
4. Recognition

Some employees have found that the union structure offers them an opportunity to gain
recognition not available to them in the business organization. For example, a worker with little
education may serve on a shop committee or even be elected as a position of influence, such as
steward or officer in the local.

5. Participation

Many workers have explained their union membership in terms of their desire to obtain a voice
in decisions that affect them in their working environment. To other workers who feel lost in
our large, complex, industrial society, the union is viewed as a last hope that they will be able to
influence their destiny.

6. Compulsion

Aside from social pressure to join a union, some workers become union members simply
because the employment contract requires them to do so. It would appear that unions serve a
broad network of employee needs.

One of the big reasons workers join a union is to ensure fair treatment in the workplace. As a
union member, you have a strong collective voice for negotiating with employers about pay &
wages, work hours, benefits - including retirement plans, health insurance, vacation and sick
leave, tuition reimbursement, etc., Union members earn more money, have better benefits,
and help employers create a more stable, productive workforce in which workers have a say in
improving their jobs.

2. Identify and discuss the roles and functions of Trade unions.

Provision of benefits to members:

Early trade unions, like Friendly Societies, often provided a range of benefits to insure
members against unemployment, ill health, old age and funeral expenses. In many developed
countries, these functions have been assumed by the state; however, the provision of
professional training, legal advice and representation for members is still an important benefit
of trade union membership
Collective bargaining:

Where trade unions are able to operate openly and are recognized by employers, they
may negotiate with employers over wages and working conditions.

Industrial action:

Trade unions may enforce strikes or resistance to lockouts in furtherance of particular

goals

Political activity:

Trade unions may promote legislation favorable to the interests of their members or
workers as a whole

3. Discuss the objectives of trade union

Trade unions are formed to protect and promote the interests of their members.

Their primary function is to protect the interests of workers against discrimination and unfair
labor practices.

Trade unions are formed to achieve the following objectives:

1. Representation
Trade unions represent individual workers when they have a problem at work. If an
employee feels he/she is being unfairly treated, they can ask the union representative
to help sort out the difficulty with the manager or employer. Unions also offer their
members legal representation. Normally this is to help people get financial
compensation for work-related injuries or to assist people who have to take their
employer to court.

2. Collective Bargaining/Negotiation

 Negotiation is where union representatives, discuss with management, the issues which
affect people working in an organization.

 There may be a difference of opinion between management and union members.

  Trade unions negotiate with the employers to find out a solution to these differences.
Pay, working hours, holidays and changes to working practices are the sorts of issues
that are negotiated.

 In many workplaces there is a formal agreement between the union and the company
which states that the union has the right to negotiate with the employer.

 In these organizations, unions are said to be recognized for collective bargaining

purposes.

3. Voice in decisions affecting workers

 The economic security of employees is determined not only by the level of wages and
duration of their employment, but also by the management’s personal policies which
include selection of employees for lay offs, retrenchment, promotion and transfer.
These policies directly affect workers.

 The evaluation criteria for such decisions may not be fair. So, the intervention of unions
in such decision making is a way through which workers can have their say in the
decision making to safeguard their interests.

4. . Member services

TU also offer range of services to their members. These includes:

 Education and training - Most unions run training courses for their members on
employment rights, health and safety and other issues. Some unions also help members
who have left school with little education by offering courses on basic skills and courses
leading to professional qualifications.

 Legal assistance - As well as offering legal advice on employment issues, some unions
give help with personal matters, like housing, wills and debt.

4. List and explain the various types of trade unions with examples.

. Craft Unions:

Are organisations of skills workers e.g. woodworkers (coppers), carpenters, bricklayers,

engineers, steel workers, etc

Earliest forms of trade unions – 1st arose in UK such as Engineering workers Unions in UK,
Textile Workers Union
Promote the skilled status of members

Reasons Why they Formed:

To protect their Trade

To attempt to regulate the supply of Labour independently of employers and then use the
control of supply as a basis for determining wages

2. General Unions

- Are unions where the recruitment system is open to all workers working anywhere
regardless of their occupation and skills. E.g. In UK, Transport & General Workers Union
(TGWU), General Municipal Boilermakers and Allied Trade Unions.

In Fiji we have Local Government Municipal Workers Union.

3. Industrial Unions:

Is a union which organize workers along the industrial lines irrespective of the occupation. E.g.
in agricultural industry, Tourism Industry, manufacturing Industry, Mining Industry etc.

For e.g. In UK, National Union of Mine Workers, in Fiji-‘National Farmers union’ (NFU), National
Factory Workers Association, Fiji Mine workers Union, Bank and Financial Sector Union

Promotes sectoral based collective bargaining

4. Enterprise Unions:

A union which represents all the workers in a company/Firm.

For e.g. Most common in Japan (around 70000 Enterprise unions)

5. Splinter Unions:

This is formed when one Trade union splits to form two unions. This can happen for individual
unions or national TUC.

E.g. Fiji- Telecom and Post-office unions Splits.

The fraction that splits is referred as splinter Union

6. In-house unions/company sponsored unions

These are unions encouraged and sponsored by employers . E.g ‘Vatukoula Works Council’
was formed to replace the Fiji ‘Mine Workers Unions’ – after 17 years of Strike – longest strike
in Fiji History. Fiji Ship Building Trade Unions.

5. Discuss the factors mainly responsible for the decline of trade union density.

. Due to changing composition of employment and workforce demographics. The rapidly

expanding contingent workforce such as immigrant workers, women, temporary workers, and
part-time employees has proven to be difficult for unions to organize.

b). Due to decline in the manufacturing industries, where unionization was high compared to
other sectors in the industry and rapid growing of employment in services sector, which
employs part-time, casual and temporary workers.

c). Today’s young workforce are not very keen and interested in joining trade unions because
they think they can negotiate their pay and working conditions themselves rather than unions.

Retirement of older workers who were TU members.

e). Due to out-sourcing and increase in non-unionized part-time casual women, immigrant
workers and hiring of temporary and agency workers.

f). Introduction of individual contracts.

Prohibition of compulsory unionism and preference to unionists.

More difficult procedures for union rights of entry.

New and increased

Legislation – Right-wing government. (Employers lobby government to pass employer-friendly

IR/ER legislation & polices).
G). Role of Management

Management tactics aimed at reducing union membership:

Due to the introduction of Human Resource Management/Department in organizations.

additional incentives to employees

greater level of formal internal communication channels

job satisfaction

individual contracts.

Polices aimed at replacing union role in the workplace:

enhanced communications

involvement in decision making

employee shareholding schemes.

h). Public perception of unions

Negative community attitudes reduce the willingness of individuals to join a union.

Employees who held negative image of unions and their leaders were significant less likely to be
unionized.

I). Government policies

Hostile labor laws have made it both harder to stay with the union and easier to leave a
union. Statutory individual contracts and increased penalties for industrial action have placed
unions on the defensive.

j). Union structure and policies

union structure and policies have contributed to decline in union membership. Union
became to close to government and employers and failed to advance the interest of union
members. Union structures became less democratic.

6. Discuss the major roles of Trade Union Confederation/ Congress

 Trade Union Congress/Confederations

TUC – basically umberral body to which each individual trade unions are affiliated to.

Roles of TUC

Responsible for coordinating activities of member unions with the aim of improving
wage and working conditions.

Assisting unions with IR/ER disputes and other problems

Lobbying with government to protect the interests of its members

Present TU views on Labour Legislation and government policies on ER/IR

7. Explain the two forms of employee representation at work?

Non Union representation

Two forms of representation;

a. Voluntary

Initiated voluntarily by management, which includes forms of employee consultation

and participation [e.g. company unions, consultative committees]

State Sanctioned

state intervenes to compel employers to consult with or even gain the consent of non
union representatives of

Union Representation

Informal Collective bargaining;

where unions emerge to bargain informally with employers without state sanction

b. Statute – sponsored collective bargaining, conciliation and arbitration;

more formal mechanism by which unions draw on legal compulsion either to force
employers to bargain or to enforce agreements reached with employees.