Trade Unions in the Modern World
Introduction
Trade unions have long acted as a means of uniting employees to protect their rights and interests. In an era of new business relationships, under the pressure of a fast-paced globalization process, the need for continued existence of trade unions is being called into question. Business and labor relations in the postmodern era become subject to digitalization and less often act as a means of unification under capitalism.
Nevertheless, trade unions at this stage are the guarantor of normal labor relations. Collective bargaining is a key means by which employers, their organizations and trade unions can establish fair wages and working conditions (Mundlak, 2020). Increasing the inclusiveness of collective bargaining and collective agreements is a key means of reducing inequality and enhancing labor protection. One example of the need to protect the rights of employees in the era of digitalization is presented in an article by Levit (2017) that explains the need to ensure work-life balance. In the new era, the need to protect labor rights will remain a necessity, so trade unions will persist; however, they can transform to new working conditions.
Article’s Review
Finding a balance between work and personal life has become especially relevant in a period of growing popularity of remote and overtime work from home. Modern communication tools allow employers to force employees to check work messages and communicate with customers even after employees leave the offices. The firm and guaranteed eight-hour day is being questioned, and employers are not paying extra for overtime work (Levit, 2017). Stress and burnout from overtime, which has become possible thanks to technological progress, is increasing every year (Levit, 2017). A new law passed in France in 2017 requires employees to clearly define the rights of employees in relation to communication outside of working hours (Levit, 2017). Laws like the French one will encourage better dialogue about effective work-life balance. There is an urgent need to protect employees from new forms of exploitation through the adoption of such laws. This article argues that the era of globalization offers new ways to capitalize on the violation of workers’ rights, so trade unions, as agents of advocacy for the protection of the rights of the working class, must be preserved to address new challenges.
History of the Question
Workers from different countries began to realize the need to unite to protect their rights from the 18th century. The birthplace of the trade union movement is England due to the rapid pace of the industrial revolution. After the protest movement, all labor associations and strikes were banned, and union leaders faced criminal prosecution and confiscation of all money. The strike of highly skilled workers, who could not be replaced, brought such losses that the factories and the state thought about creating trade unions.
The most advanced and large organizations began to create prototypes of modern trade unions. The first prototype of the union originated in 1792 among the spinners of Lancaster, one of the most advanced and mechanized industries of the time (Samuel, 2018). In 1824 the Law of Associations was repealed and workers could again fight for their rights (Samuel, 2018). However, the society took it too literally, and the country was drowned in strikes (Samuel, 2018). Subsequently, strikes and collective bargaining were again banned, but trade unions could nominally exist in one form or another.
For a long time, the situation basically remained the same, but people perceived the need to unite and created semi-legal associations of engineers, masons, carpenters, joiners. In 1867, the Earl of Derby, leader of the Conservative Party, set up a commission that examined the issue of trade unions and reported to Parliament (Samuel, 2018). As a result, in 1871 Parliament passed the Trade Unions Act, which is one of the main documents in the history of British labor law (Samuel, 2018). Key provisions of the Act helped trade unions claim that workers’ associations should no longer be held liable for collusion, unless it is a criminal offence. The workers finally had the opportunity to assert their rights peacefully.
The trade union movement gradually began to take on a mass character. 20 years after the reform, about 60% of the entire working-age population in the UK were already members of trade unions (Samuel, 2018). The influence of trade unions on the workforce has continued to grow and remains significant to this day. The absence of a union does not allow the company to work productively. Union-protected workers can be more motivated and therefore perform at their best.
Current Situation
At the moment, trade unions have entered a crisis stage in which their necessity is being questioned. However, there are a number of significant issues regarding the enforcement of labor rights that can only be resolved by uniting workers and protecting their organizations. For example, in the United States there are not enough vacation days and not all companies guarantee sick pay (Levit, 2017). Guarantees of a fixed work week of up to 40 hours are also being broken by new means of communication through which workers oblige employees to work overtime. These problems need to be addressed in a comprehensive manner, and without the participation of trade unions, it will be much more difficult to do it.
Some private companies may find unions disadvantageous for their profits. In order to prevent workers from uniting on their own, some organizations create fictitious trade unions that are controlled by the company’s management (Gumbrell-McCormick & Hyman, 2019). Under this form of organization, workers do not have a voice and cannot freely express their discontent. To address this problem, it is necessary to approve new forms of trade unions at the state level. In the future, unions will exist, but their form may be changed, because it is obvious that without such associations, labor protection is impossible.
Trade unions are traditionally associated with manual labor professions. However, in the modern world, there is a need to protect the rights of citizens working in newly emerging areas associated with mental labor. Trade unions in the field of IT already exist or are under development. Big companies like Google and Amazon talk about unions as a way to ensure labor laws are enforced (Gray & Suri, 2019). Trade unions in modern digital professions are obviously necessary to protect labor in the new conditions: protection from overwork, guaranteeing cybersecurity and privacy.
The Future of Trade Unions
While union membership is declining around the world, this phenomenon has a great future when it is restructured. The overall cumulative decline in unionization and size is affected by the global shift from manufacturing to services, automation and changing labor relations. For example, people with non-traditional forms of employment, self-employed, remote and project workers are less likely to join trade unions (Urbaniec & Zmija, 2022). Despite the fact that their form of employment is not traditional, they must also count on the provision of all guarantees for the legitimacy of work.
The future of trade unions may be hampered by legal restrictions on rights. Violations of trade union rights are widespread and include, for example, the violation of the right to organize and bargain collectively (Johnston, 2020). As a result of these violations, unions are faced with an inability to organize and serve workers. Accordingly, union membership will continue to fall if the very form of organization is legally questioned. However, state regulation is able to change this situation; modern laws and rules are needed to guarantee the possibility of trade unions.
Although trade unions may continue to face difficulties, their role is important in guaranteeing the rights and freedoms of workers, so they must be preserved in the future, in a form adapted to the new working conditions. Unions are needed to serve new young workers, including those in the informal sector. Trade unions will enable collective positive action in different economic sectors at the global level. Trade unions are a guarantee of sound internal governance of the organization, by creating and maintaining a transparent set of rules. IT companies have already begun the process of creating organizational structures similar to labor unions. The public request is aimed at a mandatory guarantee of the rights of workers in any field, so corporations strive to at least formally comply with it. Unions must be able to protect workers from the challenges that technological progress presents: data theft, cybercrime and privacy threats.
Trade unions can become the basis for an inclusive social community in a globalized economy. Unions organize and serve new or traditionally underrepresented groups of workers. Inclusive and effective social dialogue increases the power of trade unions (Zanoni, 2019). Unions must engage in social cooperation to improve decent work as well as sustainable development that affect workers around the world. Increasing inclusiveness should be the modern agenda of trade unions, which will allow reaching a wide range of the population.
Conclusion
Trade unions, both in the past and in the present, have had a significant impact on the development of labor relations. For hundreds of years, unions have helped their workers achieve better working conditions. In today’s world, private organizations are trying to limit these rights due to concerns about the negative impact on worker productivity. In fact, the situation turns out to be exactly the opposite, the more the employees are confident in the security of their position, the more motivated they will strive to do their job effectively.
The economic situation in the post-modern era is changing rapidly and at the moment it is difficult to imagine how trade unions will develop in the future. This form of organization will have to include employees of new digital professions, which often have a non-traditional form of employment. With the involvement of new workers, trade unions will continue to transform to meet new economic and social challenges. The benefits of trade unions in improving the reputation of the employer and the productivity of workers remain clear. Given the economic benefits of such formations, they will persist in the future, despite the serious changes that await them.
References
Gumbrell-McCormick, R., & Hyman, R. (2019). Democracy in trade unions, democracy through trade unions? Economic and Industrial Democracy, 40(1), 91-110. Web.
Gray, M. L., & Suri, S. (2019). Ghost work: How to stop Silicon Valley from building a new global underclass. Eamon Dolan Books.
Johnston, H. (2020). Labour geographies of the platform economy: Understanding collective organizing strategies in the context of digitally mediated work. International Labour Review, 159(1), 25-45. Web.
Levit, A. (2017). France is forcing its employees to power down: Will it work? Www.linkedin.com. Web.
Mundlak, G. (2020). Organizing Matters: Two Logics of Trade Union Representation. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Samuel, F. (2018). Professionalism: Past, present and future. Building Research & Information, 47(2), 248–250. Web.
Urbaniec, M., & Zmija, D. (2022). Flexible forms of employment in the age of digital transformation. In Industrial Revolution 4.0 (pp. 143-156). Routledge.
Zanoni, P. (2019). Labor market inclusion through predatory capitalism? The “sharing economy,” diversity, and the crisis of social reproduction in the Belgian coordinated market economy. In Work and labor in the digital age. Emerald Publishing Limited.