Weakening Strength of Unions

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the diminishing need for unions over the past few decades, with the main focus on the past few. The emphasis is the effect of the changing nature of workplace relations. First, a brief background of unions in general is discussed, followed by an overview of workplace relations, in order to provide a context of the study surrounding the diminishing need for unions in the modern world. Finally, the modern world of workplace relations and its effect on union involvement within workplaces is examined.

From the Paper:

"The environment that confronts trade unions today is extraordinarily different to that which they dealt with at their origins, and in their heyday. The modern world consists of a political and intellectual consensus that competition, not protection, is the appropriate response to the challenges of a more highly integrated world economy. The current uncertainties facing trade unions come after three decades of extensive restructuring of workplace and employment relations. This restructuring was accompanied by extensive legislative reforms as successive governments sought to shift the balance of power towards employers. Decentralisation and globalization are associated with a weakening of the institutions of labour regulation (such as arbitral labour courts and trade unions) (Macken 1997). This has allowed employers greater choice in deciding the type of workplace relations' policies that freeze out unions. Employers are increasingly hostile towards trade unions and adopting HRM practices that aim to exclude or weaken unions at the workplace (Peetz 1998) (Petzall et al 2003, pg 162)."

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