Trade Unions

There are about 6.7 million people in 70 trade unions in Britain. They join together in the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

Types of trade union

• General unions – these represent a wide range of workers in different jobs e.g. the Transport and General Workers Union.
• Industrial – which represent workers in one particular industry e.g. the National Union of Mineworkers.
• White collar unions – representing people who work in offices and in the professions e.g. the National Union of Teachers.
• Company unions – representing workers in a particular company e.g. The Abbey National Group Union.
• Craft unions – representing particular skilled jobs e.g. the General Union of Loom Overlookers. These have nearly all disappeared.

What do trade unions do?

• Collective bargaining – unions negotiate with employers to achieve better pay and working conditions. Pay does not just include basic pay but also:

• bonuses
• overtime pay
• pay scales
• performance-related pay

Working conditions include:

• working hours
• holidays
• sick pay
• parental leave
• pensions
• health and safety
• physical conditions (e.g. canteen facilities and toilets)

• Job protection – to protect members from

• Redundancy
• Unfair dismissal
• Discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, sexuality, age disability

• Legal representation – to provide help for members in:

• Legal cases e.g. claims for compensation for industrial injury
• Tribunals e.g. unfair dismissal hearings
• Disciplinary hearings e.g. action by an employer against an employee for bad time-keeping

• Financial assistance – many unions have funds to support members in financial difficulties e.g.

• strike pay – money paid to workers on strike
• dependents funds (for families/partners of members who have died)
• retirement homes

• Training – unions run courses and produce information booklets for members on issues such as discrimination, health and safety and employment rights. These are often for trade union workplace representatives and shop stewards.

How are trade unions organised?

Trade unions are democratic organisations. Their leaders are elected and their policies made by conferences of elected delegates and executive committees. They have local branches that all members can attend with elected officers.

Trade unions employ officials to do a lot of the work for members. They also have workplace representatives, often called shop stewards, who are elected and handle issues and complaints in the workplace.

What power do trade unions have?

Trade union power has been an issue ever since they were formed. In their early days, trade unions were illegal. Gradually they became powerful and won important rights. After a huge growth in union membership, and a wave of strikes in the 1970s and ‘80s, laws were passed to limit the powers of unions. Union rights also diminished after a series of defeats in the 1980s, especially that of the miners’ strike in 1985.

Trade unions try to get what they want by:

• negotiation – persuading employers to improve pay and conditions, often using the argument that a happy workforce is a more efficient and productive one
• legal action – when employers break the law e.g. on health and safety
• arbitration – sometimes trade unions and employers in dispute will agree to submit a claim to arbitration. An independent organisation called The Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) will act as a go-between to try to settle the dispute.

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• industrial action

• Strikes – refusing to work. This can be continuous or for several days at a time. For a strike to be legal it has to be called by a union and voted on by the members. Strikers often picket the workplace – strand outside it to persuade other drivers not to deliver goods or other workers not to take their jobs. The right to strike and picket in Britain is very limited by law.
• work to rule – working strictly to contract and banning overtime which can slow down production.