Grade 9 – Economic and

Management Sciences

TRADE UNIONS
Definition of a Trade Union
A trade union is an association of employees
who have common interests and have formed an
organisation with the purpose of protecting and
promoting their interests through collective
bargaining/ negotiation with their employers.
It can also be…
A Trade Union is an organization of
workers (employees) working together to
fight for the rights of workers and to fight
for better working conditions
What do they do?
• Generally, negotiations concerns wages and working
conditions

Unions can have a

positive or negative
impact on businesses
 Negative impacts
• Violent strike actions create an image of
instability in South Africa
• Strike actions discourage investments in South
Africa by outside countries
• Assets of a business can be damaged during
protest actions
• Entrepreneurs increasing prices to make for the
Positive Impacts
damaged goods.
• Trade unions are very effective in forming
• More jobs being lost if businesses close down
mechanisms to resolve conflicts in the
• It can reduce the output of a business
workplace
• Resources can go to waste
• Business can end up paying high fixed costs
• Decrease in profitability
• Dissatisfied customers
• Lack of motivation of workers
• Poor work ethics in the workplace
• Unhappy working environment
• Loss of wages due to not working
Forms of Industrial Action
• Industrial action usually happens when a dispute in the workplace can't be resolved through negotiation

There are three main forms of industrial action

Strike Where workers refuse to work for the employer

Action short of a strike Where workers act, such as working to rule, go slows, overtime
bans or callout bans

Lock-out A work stoppage where the employer stops workers from

working
Contribution of trade unions to
sustainable growth and development

• To create more jobs, the economy must develop and grow.

• Growth in the economy means production of goods and
services needs to increase and this in turn increases the gross
domestic product (GDP).
• The growth needs to be ongoing and not stopped through
strikes.
• It needs to be sustainable meaning it must grow year after year
to create more jobs every year as well for a growing population.
• But this growth should not have any bad effect on the
environment and the communities.
Trade unions can contribute in the following ways:
• To put pressure on government to spend money on big infrastructure project to
create more jobs and help develop transport and communication networks.

• To urge government to increase spending on skills training for workers through the
Skills Education and Training Authorities (Seta’s), which help workers to be trained
several industries.

• They ensure workers are paid fair wages and this improves productivity in the
workplace, which adds to growth

• They ensure good working conditions and safety in the workplace, and this also
increase productivity. Th their wages and working conditions.

• They ensure that workers are happy within the workplace.

• Through negotiations they can settle disputes in an orderly manner with employers.
This reduces disruptions to work that would occur if workers were negotiating as
individuals
 Words I should remember….
Vocabulary you need to know
Lobbying The act of lawfully influencing other people
Arbitrator Somebody who is appointed when there is a disagreement, to hear both sides of
the story and then make a decision to resolve the situation
Collective When Trade unions negotiate workers rights with employers
bargaining
Deadlock A situation in which two sides cannot reach an agreement
Go-slow A form of industrial action(strike) in which workers carry out their normal
working routines but at a considerably slower pace
Industrial action Any group action that workers take to protest against their employers
Lock-out the exclusion of employees by their employer from their place of work until
certain terms are agreed to.
Negotiation Aim of reaching an agreement between parties that disagree
Organised worker A worker who belongs to a trade union
Shop steward A union member elected as the union representative of a shop or department in dealings
with the management.
Sit-ins a form of protest in which demonstrators occupy a place, refusing to leave until their
demands are met.
Strike To stop production by workers refusing to return to work until their demands are met

Wildcat strike Sudden, unplanned and unofficial strike not authorized by the employees trade union

Work to rule follow official working rules and hours exactly in order to reduce output and efficiency,
especially as a form of industrial action.

Work-ins a form of industrial action in which a factory that is to be closed down is occupied and
run by its workers.
Picketing Standing outside a workplace and try to prevent people going into or out of the building