RISE OF TRADE

UNIONISM

INTRODUCTION

A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English) is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with employers. This may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, complaint procedures, rules governing hiring, firing and promotion of workers, benefits, workplace safety and policies.

Originating in Europe, trade unions became popular in many countries during the Industrial Revolution, when the lack of skill necessary to perform most jobs shifted employment bargaining power almost completely to the employers' side, causing many workers to be mistreated and underpaid. Trade union organizations may be composed of individual workers, professionals, past workers, or the unemployed. The most common, but by no means only, purpose of these organizations is "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment"

Over the last three hundred years, many trade unions have developed into a number of forms, influenced by differing political objectives. Activities of trade unions vary, but may include: Provision of benefits to members: Early trade unions, like Friendly Societies, often provided a range of benefits to insure members against unemployment, ill health, old age and funeral expenses. In many developed countries, these functions have been assumed by the state; however, the provision of professional training, legal advice and representation for members is still an important benefit of trade union membership.

Collective bargaining: Where trade unions are able to operate openly and are recognized by employers, they may negotiate with employers over wagesand working conditions. Industrial action: Trade unions may enforce strikes or resistance to lockouts in furtherance of particular goals. Political activity: Trade unions may promote legislation favorable to the interests of their members or workers as a whole. To this end they may pursue campaigns, undertake lobbying, or financially support individual candidates or parties (such as the Labour Party in Britain) for public office.

HISTORY

The origins of unions' existence can be traced from the eighteenth century, where the rapid expansion of industrial society drew women, children, rural workers, and immigrants to the work force in numbers and in new roles. This pool of unskilled and semi-skilled labour spontaneously organized in fits and starts throughout its beginnings, and would later be an important arena for the development of trade unions.

When the publication of the History of Trade Unionism (1894) by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, the predominant historical view is that a trade union "is a continuous association of wage earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment.

A modern definition by the Australian Bureau of Statistics states that a trade union is "an organization consisting predominantly of employees, the principal activities of which include the negotiation of rates of pay and conditions of employment for its members."

EUROPE

In France, Germany, and other European countries, socialist parties and democrats played a prominent role in forming and building up trade unions, especially from the 1870s onwards. This stood in contrast to the British experience, where moderate New Model Unions dominated the union movement from the midnineteenth century and where trade unionism was stronger than the political labor movement until the formation and growth of the Labour Party in the early years of the twentieth century.

AUSTRALIA

Supporters of Unions, such as the ACTU or Australian Labor Party, often credit trade unions with leading the labor movement in the early 20th century, which generally sought to end child labor practices, improve worker safety, increase wages for both union workers and non union workers, raise the entire society's standard of living, reduce the hours in a work week, provide public education for children, and bring other benefits to working class families.

SHOP TYPES
A closed shop (US) or a "pre-entry closed shop" (UK) employs only people who are already union members. The compulsory hiring hall is an example of a closed shop in this case the employer must recruit directly from the union, as well as the employee working strictly for unionized employers. A union shop (US) or a "post-entry closed shop" (UK) employs non-union workers as well, but sets a time limit within which new employees must join a union.

An agency shop requires non-union workers to pay a fee to the union for its services in negotiating their contract. This is sometimes called the Rand formula. In certain situations involving state public employees in the United States, such as California, "fair share laws" make it easy to require these sorts of payments. An open shop does not require union membership in employing or keeping workers. Where a union is active, workers who do not contribute to a union still benefit from the collective bargaining process. In the United States, state level right-to-work laws mandate the open shop in some states.

UNION PUBLICATIONS
Several sources of current news exist about the trade union movement in the world. These include LabourStart and the official website of the international trade union movement Global Unions. Another source of labor news is the Workers Independent News, a news organization providing radio articles to independent and syndicated radio shows. Labor Notes is the largest circulation cross-union publication remaining in the United States. It reports news and analysis about labor activity or problems facing the labor movement.

TYPES OF UNIONS

Craft unionism Craft unionism refers to organizing a union in a manner that seeks to unify workers in a particular industry along the lines of the particular craft or trade that they work in by class or skill level. It contrasts withindustrial unionism, in which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of differences in skill.

Directly Affiliated Local Union A Directly Affiliated Local Union (DALU) is a U.S. labor union that belongs to the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) but is not a national union and is not entitled to the same rights and privileges within the Federation as national affiliates.

General union A General Union is a trade union (called labor union in American English) which represents workers from all industries and companies, rather than just one organization or a particular sector, as in a craft union orindustrial union. A general union differs from a union federation or trades council in that its members are individuals, not unions.

Industrial unionism Industrial unionism is a labor union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same unionregardless of skill or tradethus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in bargaining and in strike situations. Advocates of industrial unionism value its contributions to building unity and solidarity, suggesting the slogans, "an injury to one is an injury to all" and "the longer the picket line, the shorter the strike."

Labour council A labour council, trades council or industrial council is an association of labour unions or union branches in a given area. Most commonly, they represent unions in a given geographical area, whether at the district, city, region, or provincial or state level. They may also be based on a particular industry rather than geographical area, as for example, in the Maritime Council of Australia which co-ordinated the waterfront and maritime unions involved in the 1890 Australian Maritime Dispute.

Trades Hall A Trades Hall is an English term for a building where trade unions meet together, or work from cooperatively, under a local representative organisation, known as a Labor Council or Trades Hall Council. The term is commonly used in England, Scotland and Australia.

They are sometimes colloquially called ''the worker's parliament''.

National trade union center A national trade union center is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a single country. Nearly every country in the world has a national trade union center, and many have more than one. When there is more than one national center, it is often because of ideological differencesin some cases long-standing historic differences. Some countries, such as the Scandinavian, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland h ave different centers for blue collar workers and professionals.

Anarcho-syndicalism Anarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism which focuses on the labour movement.[1] Syndicalisme is a French word, ultimately derived from the Greek, meaning "trade unionism" hence, the "syndicalism" qualification. Syndicalism is an alternative co-operative economic system. Adherents view it as a potential force for revolutionary social change, replacing capitalism and the state with a new society democratically self-managed by workers.

UNION FEDERATION
AFL-CIO Change to Win Federation Labor federation competition in the United States International Trade Union Confederation International Labor Rights Forum International Workers Association

LIST OF TRADE UNIONS GENERAL

Eight-hour day Anarcho-syndicalism Political Catholicism Labor aristocracy New Unionism Solidarity Strike action Salt (union organizing) Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act Syndicalism Workers' Memorial Day Labour Day Labour movement Hazards Campaign Opposition to trade unions Union busting