How did US Labour Movement change in the period 1945-60?
How did US Labour Movement change in the period 1945-60? This essay examines the changes that took place in the period 1945 to 1960. Many of these changes were brought about not by the unions themselves but by external factors. American culture espouses the cult of individuality and the US labour movement without the socialist or social Democratic background of europe was more prone to the influence of economics, politics and social opinion. Economically this essay will show that as industry changed the unions changed likewise and union membership reflected the changing job market. Politically the unions with no strong political party affiliations [unlike British trade unions and Labour party] were at the mercy of public opinion and bandwagon politics as will be seen with the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. Finally this essay will examine the increasing role of women and ethnic minorities in trade union membership and argues that their increased influence was in spite of and not because of trade union practices. The American Federation of Labour founded by skilled craftsmen in1886 emerged as the only permanent national focus for the political struggle of the American worker. The AFL scorned wider goals and concentrated exclusively on wages, hours and conditions. Ethnic diversity, race, the large agricultural sector, the western frontier, better
What Are Trade Unions For?
WHAT ARE TRADE UNIONS FOR? A trade union is an organisation whose purpose is to protect and improve the position of its members at work. A trade union must be independent of the employer. Most trade unions are affiliated to the Trade Unions Congress (TUC), and in N. Ireland to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. These are umbrella organisations which co-ordinate various inter-union activities, for example, trade union education and campaigning on proposed legislation. People want their trade unions to negotiating agreements with the employer on terms and conditions, for example, on pay, holidays, occupational pensions and general working conditions. Without the powerful voice of a trade union many employees would be easily taken advantage of in their workplace. People would also want monitoring of the employer's legal responsibility for health and safety at work. In an absence of this procedure an employer may cut down on costs by using dangerous machinery / equipment. This would put a large risk of injury on the employee, which may not be fully covered by their insurance. If a person did obtain an injury in their workplace they would want advice and negotiation on benefits available. If these sort of negotiations where taken to court people would expect legal services, for example, representation at industrial tribunals and legal advice in cases of the employer's
Social impact of ICT.
Unit 19 - Social impact of ICT. Computers have already had a great effect on society and work. How have we evolved? - Room at bank 20 yrs ago - 1 comp now, 100!! What technology has enabled us to have this change - microprocessors? Silicon - a semi conductor - allows impulses to pass through cleanly. Far east - miniaturising!! - Small Industries - food - reduce the need for human labour. 1.e. cow, milk and bucket. When cheese gets in great demand, cant milk cows myself, so get more people. But still cant keeps up! Can't mechanise cow but can the milking! Now need admin dept to manage staff!! - Paper base system to collate all orders. But now big company - need technology. Man who builds machine needs more men to build more machines. Etc. Technology has both positive and negative effect. 000's of jobs have gone because of computers. The rapid advances in computer and communication technologies have occurred during periods of considerable change in industrialized economies and although many different factors have conspired towards the generally higher levels of unemployment ICT has undoubtedly played a major role in creating new industries and jobs in general, introduction into it systems in organizations may result in: A need for staff retraining; redeployment; deskilling; regrading; redundancy; changes in job satisfaction; new job opportunities; remote/tele
The role of trade unions
Introduction A trade union is an organisation formed by workers. In Australia,unions may acquire the status of a legal entity (known as "collective bargaining ") over wages, working hours and other terms and conditions of employment, meaning that such things are not set unilaterally by management, but must be agreed upon by both parties. In many circumstances, unions do not have such rights and workers may typically threaten strikes or other collective action to pressure employers to a mandate to negotiate with employers to maintain and improve wages and working conditions for the workers it represents. In such cases, unions have certain legal rights, most importantly the right to negotiate collectively with an employer. Unions often use their organizational strength to advocate for social policies and legislation favorable to their members or to workers in general. However, trade union movements in Australia are confronting multiple challenges. Among the adversities that union leaders face they are pressing organizational problems: union membership is eroding due to structural changes in the economy and society, unfavorable political and institutional conditions make organizing even more difficult, and attempts to attract and represent new social groups remain inefficient. De-unionization and its consequences for collective bargaining and the political clout of union
Employee Relations - Fire Brigade Strikes of 2002.
Employee Relations (HRM3005) - Fire Brigade Strikes of 2002 Student Number - Name - Claire Duff Course - BA Business Studies Year - 4 Total Number of Words - 1495 The fireman's wage strikes occurred in the latter part of 2002. A series of forty eight hour and eight day strikes were implemented. The objective of these strikes was to cause disruption to the normal fire cover provided by the fire department thereby making the general public aware of their pay demands. By highlighting their monopoly on fire control and trading on their high standing in the community the union hoped to influence the government's decision to offer the firemen a 40% wage increase. The union representing the firemen were asking for such a substantial increase because they felt that a fire fighters pay had not increased in parity with other essential services pay over the past 25 years. The initial proposal regarding the amount of the service pay of a fireman was submitted back in July 2001. By September 2002 the country was on the verge of facing its first firemen's strike in 25 years, Tony Blair was repeatedly saying that the 40% wage increase was an unrealistic offer. However, Andy Gilcherist the leader of the firemen's union was refusing to consider lowering the percentage increase in wages that was being demanded. Consequently this meant that negotiations were at a
Examine how "the decline of trade unions and low levels of out of work welfare payments, and several other factors have all made it easier for firms to keep wages down'.
Labour Market - Essay Questions (a) Examine how "the decline of trade unions and low levels of out of work welfare payments, and several other factors have all made it easier for firms to keep wages down'. A group of workers in a industry who fight for their rights. These are workers who are unionised as one and they make sure that their workers don't get exploited. The head of the trade union will speak up for the whole union and will try to meet up with their demands. The trade union is good for the workers as their can be many people involved they is a more greater chance of them being heard. The head of the union will try to increase the real pay and the earnings of their members. He will also try to protect the pay differences with other workers and will try to improve the working conditions. He will also try to prevent redundancies in jobs and will promote health and safety at work and will also protect this members from unfair dismissals. So as you can see the basic purpose of the trade union is the welfare of their union. As we know the number of trade unions have fallen dramatically since 1979. This has be caused by various factors such as changes in composition of employment. This includes manufacturing deindustrialisation and downsizing. Also expansion of the service sector employment and also the rise in self employment and many more. But all of these factors
It is our intention to examine the interplay between industrial relations (IR) and human resource management (HRM).
Introduction It is our intention to examine the interplay between industrial relations (IR) and human resource management (HRM). There are many contradictions both in theory and in practice between HRM and IR at workplace level and beyond. The central contradiction concerns the very essence of the nature of HRM and IR. IR has traditionally been concerned with collective representation of employees. This means that through the process of collective bargaining, employee representatives negotiate with employer representatives over a large range of substantive issues such as pay, working conditions etc., as well as procedural arrangements such as disciplinary, disputes and redundancy procedures. Trade Unions by their very nature are concerned with protecting the interests of the employees, firstly by securing the highest price for their labour. Employers, on the other hand, wish to buy labour at the lowest cost to themselves. Therefore, there is a conflict of interest between employees and employers. The conflict is ever present and needs to be continually regulated through the process of collective bargaining. One of the issues that HRM places emphasis on is the commitment of the individual employee to the employer's organization. The main contradiction referred to above is between the individualism of the HRM approach to the employment relationship to the collectivism
Impact of Industrialisation - The purpose of this essay is to describe and discuss the changes, which have taken place in working practices since 1960.
IMPACT OF INDUSTRIALISATION The purpose of this essay is to describe and discuss the changes, which have taken place in working practices since 1960. Roughly 200 years before the 1960 people were involved in agriculture. The people worked in farms. The women made cloths spinning wheeling and sewing. They also baked bread from locally grown corn, brewed the beer, salted meat for winter and sometimes helped in their fields. Men made nearly all their own equipment, for example axes, shears knives, wagons and carts. They used stone and chalk for buildings cottages and barns. Every village had one or two crafts men for special jobs, such as a blacksmith, potter, joiner, weaver. Children had to help as soon as they were strong enough to hold a broom or carry timber. Work was hard; they were up by dawn and to bed at sun down. Rural housing was very primitive. Village lived in hovels. Cottages were tiny, perhaps one living room and one bedroom for the entire family. The ceiling was low, with small windows, which had to glass; the floor was beaten earth, probably covered with straw. Around the 1750 machinery where introduced and many jobs in factories were available. This meant that many people moved from the countryside to the city. Britain becoming an urban society, this change from 1700-180o was the industrial revolution. These jobs were in very poor conditions, the working
Why some men opposed the employment of women in industry during the First World War?
Assignment 2 Question 4 Why some men opposed the employment of women in industry during the First World War? During the First World War, male dominated the British society. Many men thought women were inferior. Also, Trade Unions were really powerful. Since 1908, Trade Unions had been working very hard for better pay and working condition for workers. Later on in the decade, Trade Unions joined up and organised syndicalism. Violent clashes between police and workers, therefore the Government was threatened by the Trade Unions. They even forced the Government to sign an agreement when the war broke out to ensure their job is secured. Some men were still concerned about the employment of women because they were worried that women will take away their jobs. Women work for less wage but produce better quality work and so men were worried that there would be a dilution of labour and wage. Therefore when women started working, they were really harsh and deliberately obstructive. The foreman gave women wrong/incomplete instruction or alter them in such way which made women had to work over time. They didn't speak or offer help to women, because of that, women's social life was deeply affected. Men even nailed up women's drawers and pour oil over everything to make women look stupid and inefficient. From the Government report issued in the early months of the war says, "In every
Employee Relations and Trade Union Recognition Within The Catering Sector.
HRM 3005 Employee Relations Assignment Two - Employee Relations and Trade Union Recognition Within The Catering Sector Name: Claire Duff Student Number: Year: 4 Course: BA Business Studies Marking Tutors: Billie Osbourne and Dorothy Foote Introduction For The Attention Of The Human Resources Director The hotel and catering industry represents around 10% of the working population of this country. Two and half million in total. Conversely it is seen as a principle industry in many other countries. Within the UK, historic sites and counties which depend heavily on tourism, such as Cornwall and Devon, also rely heavily on this sector of industry to provide the services required. Without this added aid popular hotels would cease to function properly and other groups within the business world would suffer a knock on effect from lack of trade. So although the hotel and catering industry is a specific thing many other issues depend upon its success. With this in mind I am going to investigate the pros and cons and implications of instigating a potential claim for recognition of a trade union both now and in the future. This report has been completed after I have research and read copious papers on the subject. Terms and Conditions There are many reasons why the terms and conditions remain so poor within the catering and hotel industry. The main factor for any employee is