Trading Units and The Government at the UK Essay

Trading Units and The Government at the UK - Essay Example The development of UK trade unions after 1970 is marked by the ascendance to power of Margaret Thatcher, in 1979, and the subsequent period of Conservative rule in Britain referred to as Thatcherism. 1979 can be considered the culminating point of trade union influence and power in the UK. According to sources, by that time, more than half of all British employees belonged to unions, with more than 4/5 included in different mechanisms of collective bargaining1. Margaret Thatcher and her three consecutive Conservative governments from 1979 to 1990 introduced a series of measures to liberalize and decentralize the economy, measures that relied on the role of the market in creating business rules. The market required competitiveness, both in terms of efficiency and cost issues, so the role of the trade unions was fought off and marginalized in the 80s. The accession to power of the Labour Party, with Tony Blair as Prime Minister, in 1997, had rekindled some of the trade unions hopefuls, given the history of tight relations between the Party and the trade unions. However, many of the reforms that Margaret Thatcher had adopted during the 80s remained and the results saw the trade union movement in one of the weakest positions in its history: trade union density has halved and collective bargaining mechanisms are at the lowest levels in trade union history2. In many cases, individual industrial relations have developed. Collective disputes can take several forms, differentiation following the severity of the dispute in question. They can take any form, from "silent or indirect protest (absenteeism, lack of motivation, rejects) to open strikes"3. Obviously, the most radical of these measures refer to the collective stoppage of work in an organization. Nevertheless, this is always a head-on game and will turn out on the side of whoever of the two parties involved will be able to hold its position. The management will look out to force union members back to work with punitive measures, such as salary deductions for each period of time that is not spent on the job. On the other hand, it is to be discussed how long the management can support an organization that is not properly functioning due to the strike. It is probably best that this type of recommendation from the UK union will come only after negotiations have not proven useful and after other forms of tacit disputes have been tried beforehand. Following the definition of International Labour Organization Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention in 1949, collective bargaining is a "voluntary negotiation between employers or employers' organizations and workers' organizations, with a view to the regulation of terms and conditions of employment by collective agreements"4. In terms of scope, we can refer to several important advantages that the collective bargaining mechanism brings about. First of all, it aims to level a differing position of two parties (management vs. work organization) through "dialogue and consensus"5 rather than a conflicting situation.