Mandatory Union Recognition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Mandatory Union Recognition - Essay Example Before the ERA 1999, union membership and recognition in UK were characterised by voluntarism, in which employers and employees could bargain over the terms and conditions of employment without any legal interference. With the statutory system ushered in by the new law, voluntary recognition of unions is no longer allowed and it becomes unlawful for British employers to deny recognition to unions under any circumstances. That conveys the impression that ERA created a radical change in British industrial relations. This paper takes the contrary view, however, and proposes that while the new industrial relations law looks revolutionary in principle, there are no fundamental changes in actuality for the change to qualify as "earth-shaking" in the UK context. The trade union movement in UK used to be such a potent political force that it unseated two governments in the 1970s and may have helped brought the ruling New Labour Party into power. Nonetheless, it is believed that the movement has a soft underbelly because of the movement's vulnerability to attacks from the state and the employer sector (Howell, 2000). The reason is the state policy of voluntarism in collective bargaining negotiations, which finds expression in the Department of Trade and Industry campaign to woo other European investors into UK. In its printed brochures to attract foreign investors, the DTI states that employment regulations in UK are largely on a voluntary basis with no requirements for mandatory union agreements and fewer restrictions on both recruitment and dismissal (Machin, 2001). Thus, the state consistently denies political access to trade union, restricting their role to the industrial arena. This combines with a mindset among British employers as a cl ass to prefer individual dealings at the expense of collective relations with employees (Howell, 2000). The problem for the trade union movement in general was compounded by the workplace trends at the turn of the millennium when the nature of jobs took on a new dimension such that there are now more employees on part-time and temporary contracts, more jobs are being outsourced, tight definitions of jobs are out, and functional flexibility is in. The possible causes of the decline in unionism include the increasing use of subcontracting, automatic machines and flexible working. Other developments include the fragmentation of the workforce in most establishments, and the decline in the proportion of workers covered by established systems of consultation and negotiation. There is also the advent of American-influenced human resource management, which eschews collective representation and instead promotes individualism. This means that employers increasingly deal with employees on a mo re personal basis, thus eliminating the need for union representation and making union organising more difficult. As a result, industrial relations became more and more characterised by individualised or personalised actions instead of collective power and solidarity. In UK, the trade union movement started to feel the decline in union recognition as early as the late 1970s when Thatcher made the attack on union power the key item in her change agenda. In 2001, union coverage dropped to 47 percent from 50 percent in 1997, with the closure of unionized