Renewal Or Replacement

. – A Reevaluation Of Trade Union Responses. Essay, Research Paper

Renewal or Replacement. – A reevaluation of Trade Union Responses.

Since the 1980 s academia and professionals alike have been picking at the bones of discussion regarding the decline of Trade Unions, their strategies of survival and issuing prescriptions as to the most suitable form Trade Unionism can take in order to modernise, compromise and indeed to qualify for a role within the new workplace. Within this plethora of discussion much is made of placing relevant unions into suitable and identifiable criteria, whether it be the AEEU and it s Enterprise unionism or UNISON s Managerial unionism. Although these criteria may be suitable within a fixed period or in order to understand a particular situation, the argument remains that they are static and do not necessarily reflect the many forms that unionism can take. Indeed much of the criteria presented is regarding the union as an organisation, as a business even, and in this way does not account the most important factor, that of a Union s members and the branches within which they interact.

Membership and the Collective voice is the foundation of Trade Unionism, it will therefore be argued that faced with a New Industrial Relations Trade Unions, in this country, have illustrated an uncoordinated approach and have merely tested solutions, moving gradually back to the membership in order to consolidate their position. Naturally there will be those unions who will stay with a tried and tested formula , however with the impending Fairness at Work legislation unions will be given space to engage their membership rather than attempting to engage managers in attempts at recognition.

The reevaluation of union strategies will involve a critical analysis of both set criteria, prescriptions of moderation and a reconsideration of militancy . The argument will thus draw parts of certain criteria and aim towards methods whereby engagement and resistance may coexist effectively enabling effective partnership with effective representation through the education and strong organisation of union members.

The term New Industrial Relations encompasses the change in the workplace, managerial trends, Trade Union strategies and the backdrop against which the play commences and adapts. This backdrop consists of historical, economic and social factors which have influenced industrial relations as it now exists. Much is documented about the gradual transformation of roles that occurred during the 1980 s and certainly in the 1990 s; The legislative onslaught upon the Trade Unions, by the Conservative Government, effecting both their financial and organisational strength. The backing and encouragement of the growth of big business, by the Conservative Government, in order to counteract the rise of unemployment and to replace the decline in such traditional areas such as manufacturing. The rise in unemployment effected a fragmentation on the workforce and ended the notion of a job for life , replacing the full time, dominantly male, workforce was the part time, temporary and the rise of the female workforce, itself transforming society and family roles. As can be seen through this chain of events the traditional base of trade unionism had disintegrated, hailing criticism that trade unionism is no longer relevant to this new workplace, criticisms that were supplemented by a falling membership and a weakened bargaining base.

In extension and, to some extent, response to this business and managerial trends were being heavily influenced by both the presence of and the success of international companies who were utilising new management techniques. The two main trends that will be briefly discussed, in regards to their effect on Trade Union renewal, are that of Japanisation and Human Resource Management primarily through the work culture they wish to produce rather than their distinct workplace structures. It is to be noted, in regards to these two trends (which themselves have overlapping features), that two academic criteria have arisen in direct response and with distinct and reflective attributes, these two response criteria are Enterprise Unionism and Managerial Unionism .

Enterprise Unionism can be best described in conjunction with the Japanisation of British Industry. Japanisation occurred not only through the presence of Japanese companies in Britain (Hitachi, Nissan etc.) but also through British business observations of the success if Japanese Business, therefore the matter is twofold with Japanese businesses applying their business culture to their British subsidiaries and British business borrowing the better parts of Japanisation for themselves. The main aims of Japanese practices is best described by White and Trevor (1983) in that they aim to create:

” a stable workforce with a high level of commitment to the company: extremely cooperative in accepting change, extremely unwilling to enter into strikes or any other forms of conflict, and generally putting the company s interests level with or even ahead of it s own. The outcome is a high and rising level of productivity, and an altogether easier climate in which management can plan for changes in products and processes”

Dedication to the company and its ideals goes one step further when applied to the workplace and the presence of a trade union. The most obv