NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Workers' rights

A union (labor union in American English; trade union in British English; either labour union or trade union in Canadian English) is a group of workers who act collectively to address common issues. American English or U.S. English is the diverse form of the English language used mostly in the United States of America. ... Diagram showing the geographical locations of selected languages and dialects of the British Isles. ... Canadian English is the form of English used in Canada, spoken as a first or second language by over 25 million Canadians (as recorded in the 2001 census [1]). Canadian English spelling is a mixture of U.S. and British, but Canadian speech is much closer to U.S. English... The term working class is used to denote a social class. ...

In many countries, unions may acquire the status of a legal entity (called a "collective bargaining agent" in the USA). Typical examples, depending on the country, could be all the assembly workers for one employer, all the teachers in a local school district, or all the workers in a particular industry. In such cases, unions have certain legal rights, most importantly the right to collectively negotiate with an employer (or employers) over wages, working hours and other terms and conditions of employment -- meaning that such things are not set unilaterally by management, but must be agreed upon by both parties. A legal entity or artificial person is a legal construct with legal rights or duties such as the legal capacity to enter into contracts and sue or be sued. ... An employment contract is an agreement entered into between an employer and an employee at the commencement of the period of employment and stating the exact nature of their business relationship, specifically what compensation the employee will receive in exchange for specific work performed. ...

In many circumstances, unions do not have such rights and workers may typically threaten strikes or other collective action to pressure employers to negotiate.

Unions also often use their organizational strength to advocate for social policies and legislation favorable to their members or to workers in general.

The political structure and autonomy of unions varies widely from country to country. American, Canadian and European unions are founded upon democratic principles and leaders are selected by election process, while in China and Cuba, unions are controlled and run by the state. This article is about the continent. ...

History

The concept of trade unions began early in the industrial revolution. More and more people left farming as an occupation and began to work for employers, often in appalling conditions and for very low wages. The labour movement arose as an outgrowth of the disparity between the power of employers and the powerlessness of individual employees. The Industrial Revolution is the name given to the massive social, economic and technological change in 18th century and 19th century Great Britain. ... Farming, ploughing rice paddy, in Indonesia Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). ...

The 18th century capitalist economist Adam Smith noted the imbalance in the rights of workers in regards to owners (or "masters") in The Wealth of Nations. In chapter 8, Smith wrote: (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... In economics, a capitalist is someone who owns capital, presumably within the economic system of capitalism. ... An economist is someone who studies Economics. ... Adam Smith Adam Smith (June 5, 1723 – July 17, 1790) was a Scottish political economist and moral philosopher. ... An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations is the magnum opus of Adam Smith, published in 1776. ...

As indicated in the preceding quotation, unions were illegal for many years in most countries. There were severe penalties for attempting to organize unions, up to and including execution. Despite this, unions were formed and began to acquire political power, eventually resulting in a body of labour law which not only legalized organizing efforts, but codified the relationship between employers and those employees organized into unions. Many consider it an issue of fairness that workers be allowed to pool their resources in a special legal entity in a similar way to the pooling of capital resources in the form of corporations. A corporation (usually known in the United Kingdom and Ireland as a company) is a legal entity (distinct from a natural person) that often has similar rights in law to those of a Civil law systems may refer to corporations as moral persons; they may also go by the name...

The right to join a trade union is mentioned in article 23, subsection 4 of the UDHR, and today a government-imposed ban on joining a union is generally considered a human rights abuse. The UDHR also states in article 20, subsection 2. that "No one may be compelled to belong to an association" and so compulsory state-enforced union membership could also be considered abuse. Most democratic countries have many unions, while most authoritarian regimes do not, although in most Communist countries unions exist as state organs. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (also UDHR) is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (A/RES/217, December 10, 1948), outlining basic human rights. ... A human rights abuse is abuse of people in a way that violates any fundamental human rights. ... The term authoritarian is used to describe an organization or a state which enforces strong and sometimes oppressive measures against the population, generally without attempts at gaining the consent of the population. ... Communism - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ...

Origin of unions

Unions are sometimes thought to be successors to medieval guilds. This is still being debated by historians. Medieval guilds existed to protect and enhance their members' livelihoods, through controlling the instructional capital of artisanship, and the progression of members from apprentice to craftsman, journeyman, and eventually to master and grandmaster of their craft. In the rigid hierarchical world of medieval rights and responsibilities, the guild exhibited aspects of the modern trade union, a professional association and the modern corporation. A guild is an association of persons of the same trade or pursuits, formed to protect mutual interests and maintain standards of morality or conduct. ... Instructional capital is a term used in educational administration, to reflect capital resulting from investment in producing learning materials. ... An artisan is a skilled manual worker. ... If youre looking for the TV show, see The Apprentice. ... Craftsman is an artisan who practices a handicraft or trade; a style of architecture and furniture arising from the Arts and Crafts movement; a military rank within the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, equivalent to a private; and a brand of tools. ... A journeyman is a tradesman or craftsman who may well have completed an apprenticeship but is not yet able to set up their own workshop as a master. ... Grandmaster could mean: The title of the master craftsman leading the organization of a guild or Fraternal organization The title of the leader of an religious order A title to signify some very important or superior talent. ... This article or section should be merged with professional body In countries where the legal system entitles defendants to a jury by their peers, the general public may not be considered sufficiently knowledgeable in a field of practice to act as a peer in some legal cases. ... A corporation (usually known in the United Kingdom and Ireland as a company) is a legal entity (distinct from a natural person) that often has similar rights in law to those of a Civil law systems may refer to corporations as moral persons; they may also go by the name...

The guilds have also been viewed as cartels, limiting the number of producers and thus stagnating the supply and development of products and production methods and hindering the rise of welfare and living standards.

Since 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." (Webb) 1894 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Categories: UK Labour Party politicians | British MPs | Peers | Secretaries of State for the Colonies (UK) | 1859 births | 1947 deaths | People stubs ... Categories: Stub | 1858 births | 1943 deaths ...

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

Yet historian R.A. Leeson, in United we Stand (1971), said: "Two conflicting views of the trade-union movement strove for ascendancy in the nineteenth century: one the defensive-restrictive gild-craft tradition passed down through journeymen's clubs and friendly societies,...the other the aggressive-expansionist drive to unite all 'labouring men and women' for a 'different order of things'..." A friendly society (sometimes called a mutual society or fraternal organization) is a mutual association for insurance-like purposes, and often, especially in the past, serving ceremonial and friendship purposes also. ...

Recent historical research by Dr Bob James in Craft, Trade or Mystery (2001), puts forward that trade unions are part of a broader movement of benefit societies, which includes medieval guilds, Freemasons, Oddfellows, friendly societies and other Fraternal organizations. Bob James can refer to: An actor Bob James A jazz musician Bob James An historian Bob James This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... A guild is an association of persons of the same trade or pursuits, formed to protect mutual interests and maintain standards of morality or conduct. ... American Square & Compasses Freemasonry is a worldwide fraternal organization. ... The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is an ancient fraternal organization thought to have been established in England in the mid-1700s. ... A friendly society (sometimes called a mutual society or fraternal organization) is a mutual association for insurance-like purposes, and often, especially in the past, serving ceremonial and friendship purposes also. ... A fraternal organization is an organization that represents the relationship between its members as akin to brotherhood. ...

Shop types

Companies that employ workers with a union generally operate on one of several models:

A closed shop is a business or industrial establishment whose employees are required to be union members or to agree to join the union within a specified time after being hired. ... In organized labor, a hiring hall is an organization, usually under the auspices of a labor union, which has the responsibility of furnishing new recruits for employers who have a collective bargaining agreement with the union. ... A union shop is a place of employment where the employer may hire either labor union members or nonmembers but where nonmembers must become union members within a specified period of time or lose their jobs. ... An agency shop a place of employment where workers must pay union dues whether they are a member of a labor union or not. ... The Rand formula (also referred to as automatic check-off) refers to a workplace situation where payment of labor union dues is mandatory even if the worker is not a member of the union. ... State nickname: The Golden State Other U.S. States Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Official languages English Area 410,000 km² (3rd) - Land 404,298 km² - Water 20,047 km² (4. ... In terms of labor relations, an open shop is a place of employment at which one cannot be required to join a labor union as a condition of hiring or continued employment. ...

Criticism

Trade unions are often accused to benefit the insider workers, those having a secure job and high productivity, at the cost of the outsider workers, those who are unemployed or at the risk of unemployment or who are not able to get the job that they want. The so-called insider-outsider theory analyzes this problem.

Usually, the marginal benefit of an additional worker decreases as the number of workers increase. This implies that the lower the minimum wage, the more workers a company can profitably employ. Thus, while an increase in the minimum wage benefits the insiders, as a result less new workers are employed and less retiring workers are substituted by a new one. In a capital-intensive production plant this effect is typically smaller than in a work-intensive service company. The minimum wage is the minimum rate a worker can legally be paid (usually per hour) as opposed to wages that are determined by the forces of supply and demand in a free market. ...

The economic analysis of a cartel applies completely to most unions, to those that try to fix the (minimum) price of work, to limit supply (e.g., by some criteria on membership or education) or to limit competition. On the other hand, unions often have also other functions than those of a cartel: they may advise the workers, warn about disadvantageous contracts or terms of employment etc. These latter functions are usually considered as beneficial for both the workers and for the society as a whole (though not necessarily for corporations or shareholders), whereas the opposite applies to cartel-type minimum terms. A cartel is a group of producers whose goal it is to fix prices, to limit supply and to limit competition. ...

Often the union on a particular industry puts pressure on politicians to subsidize the industry concerned. This benefits both the workers, companies, shareholders and consumers of the product of that industry at a cost to other people. Thus, it depends on the question whether the interests of a trade union are for or against the interests of the companies, workers, unemployed, tax-payers or the society as a whole.

The problem of international comparison

As labour law is very diverse in different countries, so is the function of unions. For instance in Germany, only open shops are legal. This affects the function and services of the union. On the other hand, German unions have played a greater role in management decisions through participation in corporate boards and co-determination than have unions in the United States. Co-determination is a practice whereby a labor union or worker representatives are given seats on a companys board of directors. ...

In addition, unions have very different relationships with political parties in different countries. In many countries unions have formed long-term relationships with a political party which is intended to represent the interests of working people. Typically this is a left-wing or socialist party, but there have been many exceptions. In the United States, by contrast, while the labor movement is historically aligned with the Democratic Party, the labor movement is by no means monolithic on that point; the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has supported Republican Party candidates on a number of occasions and the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) endorsed Ronald Reagan in 1980 (the following year, Reagan effectively destroyed PATCO, breaking a strike by bringing in permanent replacement workers). The AFL-CIO has refused to take a pro-choice stance on abortion so as not to alienate its large Catholic constituency. In the United Kingdom the labour movement's relationship with the Labour Party is fraying as party leadership embarks on privatization plans at odds with what some perceive as workers' interests. In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition... The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ... The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ... The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, commonly known as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) or simply the Teamsters, is one of the largest labor unions in the United States. ... The Republican Party, often called the GOP (for Grand Old Party, although one early citation described it as the Gallant Old Party) [1], is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ... The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization was a labor union which formerly represented air traffic controllers and weather observers in the United States in matters relating to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. ... Order: 40th President Vice President: George H.W. Bush Term of office: January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989 Preceded by: Jimmy Carter Succeeded by: George H.W. Bush Date of birth: February 6, 1911 Place of birth: Tampico, Illinois Date of death: June 5, 2004 Place of death: Los Angeles... 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Categories: Stub | AFL-CIO ... The Labour Party is a centre-left or social democratic political party in the United Kingdom (see British politics), and one of the United Kingdoms three main political parties. ...

Finally, the structure of employment laws affects unions' roles. In many western European countries wages and benefits are largely set by governmental action. The United States takes a more laissez-faire approach, setting some minimum standards but leaving most workers' wages and benefits to collective bargaining and market forces. Laissez-faire is short for laissez faire, laissez passer, a French phrase meaning to let things alone, let them pass. First used by the eighteenth century Physiocrats as an injunction against government interference with trade, it is now used as a synonym for strict free market economics. ...

Trade unions in Britain

The legal status of trade unions in the United Kingdom was established by a Royal Commission in 1867, which agreed that the establishment of the organisations was to the advantage of both employers and employees. Most British unions are members of the TUC, the Trades Union Congress, and where appropriate, the Scottish Trades Union Congress and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, which are the country's principal national trade union centers. The Labour Party arose from the organised labour movement and still has extensive links with it. Margaret Thatcher's governments weakened the powers of the unions in the 1980s and some within the British trades union movement criticise Tony Blair's Labour government for not reversing some of Thatcher's changes since taking office in 1997. In countries that are members of the Commonwealth a Royal Commission is a major government inquiry into an issue. ... Trades Union Congress headquarters at Congress House in Great Russell Street near Tottenham Court Road, Camden, London. ... The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is the co-ordinating body of trade unions in Scotland. ... The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), formed in 1959 by the merger of the Irish Trade Union Congress (founded in 1894) and the Congress of Irish Unions (founded in 1945), is the organisation to which trade unions in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland affiliate. ... A national trade union center is a federation of trade unions in a single country. ... Margaret Hilda Roberts Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC (born 13 October 1925) is a British politician and the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, a position she held from 1979 to 1990. ... Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... The Right Honourable Anthony Charles Lynton Tony Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British MP. He is currently Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, having served as Leader of the Labour Party since John Smiths death in 1994. ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Reef. ...

Labor unions in the United States

Most labor unions in the United States are members of a larger umbrella organization, the AFL-CIO, or the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations. The AFL-CIO advocates for policies and legislation favorable to workers in the United States and Canada. The AFL-CIO also often works with other international and national unions on global trade issues. Categories: Stub | AFL-CIO ...

Unions of workers in the private sector are tightly regulated and overseen by the United States Department of Labor under the authority of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), passed in 1935, which is Administered by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). To join a union, workers must either win voluntary recognition from their employer or have a majority of workers in a "bargaining unit," as determined by the federal government, vote for union representation. In either case, the government must certify the existence of the union. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (or Wagner Act) protects the rights of workers in the private sector of the United States to organize unions, to engage in collective bargaining over wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment, and to take part in strikes and other forms of... In the United States the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is a five-person appointed federal agency charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor pratices. ...

Unions for public sector workers are governed by labor laws and labor boards in each of the 50 states; in many states, typically those in the north, these laws and boards are modelled after the NLRA and the NLRB. In other states, public workers have no right to establish a union as a legal entity. (About 40% of public employees in the USA do not have the right to organize a legally established union.)

Once the union has won the support of a majority of the bargaining unit and is certified in a workplace, it has the sole authority to negotiate the conditions of employment. However, the NLRA provides mechanisms for the establishment of a union representing only those members of the barganing unit who expressly request representation, in such cases as those members do not constitute a majority (see Charles Morris). This unionization model was once in widespread practice, but was in large part discarded when unions began to consistently win majority support. However, due to recent developments in labor law that unions view as having effectively curbed workers' ability to organize, unions are beginning to revisit the "members only" model of unionism.

The terms and conditions of employment are spelled out in a legally binding contract between the employer and the union. When disputes arise over the contractual agreement, most contracts call for the parties to resolve their differences through a grievance process to see if the dispute can be mutually resolved. If the union and the employer still cannot settle the matter, either party can choose to send the dispute to arbitration, where the case is argued before a neutral third party. Arbitration, in the law, is a form of alternative dispute resolution — specifically, a legal alternative to litigation whereby the parties to a dispute agree to submit their respective positions (through agreement or hearing) to a neutral third party (the arbitrator(s) or arbiter(s)) for resolution. ...

The Taft-Hartley Act, passed in 1947 over the veto of President Harry Truman, severely limits the powers of unions in the United States, and remains in effect. Closed shops are forbidden; union shops are allowed within the limits allowed by the statute and subject to additional conditions imposed by the National Labor Relations Board and the courts. Jurisdictional strikes (where two unions each claim work that they believe should be assigned to the workers they represent) and secondary boycotts (boycotts against an allegedly neutral company that does business with another company with which a union has labor dispute) were made illegal. Unions are no longer allowed to donate money to federal political campaigns. The Taft-Hartley Act severely restricted the activities and power of labor unions in the United States. ... 1947 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... For the victim of Mt. ... A closed shop is a business or industrial establishment whose employees are required to be union members or to agree to join the union within a specified time after being hired. ... A union shop is a place of employment where the employer may hire either labor union members or nonmembers but where nonmembers must become union members within a specified period of time or lose their jobs. ...

Most importantly, the bill provided the executive branch of the Federal government with the ability to obtain legal strikebreaking injunctions if an actual or impending strike "imperiled the national health or safety", a test that has been in practice interpreted loosely by the courts.

In the 1950s, many U.S. unions lost much of their prestige when links to organized crime were discovered. Since the 1970s, union membership has been steadily declining in the private-sector while growing in the public sector (that is, unions of government employees).

Right-to-work statutes forbid unions from negotiating agency shops. Thus, while unions do exist in so-called "right-to-work" states, they are typically weaker. Such states are humorously referred to as "right-to-work-for-less" states by union members. Right-to-work laws are statutes enforced in several US States, which prohibit several types of deals between employers and unionized employees, such as union security. ... An agency shop a place of employment where workers must pay union dues whether they are a member of a labor union or not. ...

Unions in other countries

Some countries such as Sweden, Finland, and the other Nordic countries have strong, centralized unions, where every type of work has a specific union, which are then gathered in large national union confederations. The largest Swedish union confederation is LO, Landsorganisationen. LO has almost two million members, which is more than a fifth of Sweden's population. Finland's equivalent is SAK, the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions, with about one million members out of the country's 5.2 million inhabitants. France is thought to have one of the lowest union densities in Europe, however unions are much more likely to strike in France than they are in Northern Europe. France also has a much higher unemployment rate than the nations of Northern Europe. The Nordic countries (Greenland not shown) The Nordic countries is a term used collectively for five countries in Northern Europe. ... The Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen i Sverige or LO) an umbrella organisation for sixteen Swedish trade unions that organise blue collar workers. ... The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions, usually referred to by the acronym SAK (Finnish: Suomen Ammattiliittojen Keskusjärjestö) is the biggest trade union confederation in Finland. ...

The Australian labour movement has a long history of craft, trade and industrial unionism. While unions have sometimes been very strong, at the moment they are relatively weak and in decline, due in part to the actions of Prime Minister John Howard and the Liberal party. The Australia labour movement reaches back to the 19th century and has a long tradition of organised unions of workers. ... Craft unionism, or sometimes trade unionism, is a labor union organizing method by which labor unions are divided along the lines of workers specific trades, regardless of what industry they work in. ... Industrial unionism is a labor union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union -- regardless of skill or trade -- thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in bargaining and in strike situations. ...

International cooperation

The largest organization of trade union members in the world is the Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, which today has 231 affiliated organisations in 150 countries and territories, with a combined membership of 158 million. Other global trade union organizations are the World Confederation of Labour and the World Federation of Trade Unions. Claiming 157 million members in 225 affiliated organisations in 148 countries and territories, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) came into being on December 7, 1949 following a split within the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU). ... The World Confederation of Labour was founded in 1920 under the name of the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions as a confederation of unions associated with the Christian Democratic parties of Europe. ... The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) was established in the wake of the Second World War to bring together trade unions across the world in a single international organization, much like the United Nations. ...

National and regional trade unions organising in specific industry sectors or occupational groups also form global union federations, such as Union Network International and the International Federation of Journalists. A global union federation is an international federation of national and regional trade unions organising in specific industry sectors or occupational groups, sometimes also known as an international trade secretariat. ... Union Network International (UNI), calling itself a global union, is a global union federation for skills and services, gathering national and regional trade unions. ... International Federation of Journalists, IFJ, is global union federation of journalists trade unions. ...

News

There are several sources of current news about the trade union movement in the world. These include LabourStart and the official website of the international trade union movement Global Unions (http://www.global-unions.org). LabourStart is the online news service of the international trade union movement. ...

History GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");