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RELATIONS
1. Different between labour movement and trade union
movement”-
The scale of the crisis, and the avalanche of job losses, underlines the need for the working class to
fight. This is why it was so disappointing to see two unions that have led the resistance, the teachers'
NUT and the civil service's PCS, turn away from strikes earlier this month.The immediate issue at
stake was a response to Gordon Brown's pay curbs in the public sector. The NUT executive decided
that a 52 percent vote for action was not enough. Within hours, the government had authorised talks
with the PCS over the pay issues which led to a strike planned for 10 November. Again, the executive
decided to suspend action.In both cases Socialist Workers Party members on the executives voted for
strikes, against the majority.
The leadership of trade unions is a much neglected aspect in the field of contemporary leadership studies
despite the growing importance of the role as these organizations struggle to survive in the current
political and economic climate extant in most Western countries. By employing a methodology which
uses a series of biographical case studies of leaders to examine the leadership in a single trade union,
this article evaluates the significance of union leadership and demonstrates the importance of historical
context in leadership study. It also shows how leadership and the organization's environment inter-
connect to shape the way unions develop over time together and discusses some of the implications of
the study for theory.
Historically, the term "Labour Union" was applied to the type of structure which welcomed all classes of
workers as opposed to the "Trade Union" which was an association of workers in a particular craft or trade.
Today, the "Labour Union" has assimilated trade/craft workers in an industry, fostering the concept of
solidarity of the working class and the "brotherhood of man."
5. what is settlement:-
A settlement, as well as dealing with the dispute between the parties is a contract between those parties,
and is one possible (and common) result when parties sue (or contemplate so doing) each other
in civil proceedings. The plaintiff(s) and defendant(s) identified in the lawsuitcan end the dispute between
themselves without a trial[1].
The contract is based upon the bargain that a party foregoes its ability to sue (if it has not sued already),
or to continue with the claim (if the plaintiff has sued), in return for the certainty written into the settlement.
The courts will enforce the settlement: if it is breached, the party in default could be sued for breach of
that contract. In some jurisdictions, the party in default could also face the original action being restored.
The settlement of the lawsuit defines legal requirements of the parties, and is often put in force by an
order of the court after a joint stipulation by the parties. In other situations (as where the claims have been
satisfied by the payment of a certain sum of money) the plaintiff and defendant can simply file a notice
that the case has been dismissed.
In 1956, the firm merged with Eastman Dillon & Co.[1] The Union Securities name remained until 1972, when what was then known as Eastman Dillon
Union Securities merged with Blyth & Co. to form Blyth, Eastman Dillon & Co. That firm was later acquired by Paine Webber, which is today a part
of UBS
Labor unions were formed to help workers achieve common goals in the areas of wages,
hours, working conditions, and job security. These issues still are the focus of the collective
bargaining process, though some new concepts have become the subjects of negotiations.
Table 1 lists the issues most often negotiated in union contracts.
Union contracts are usually bargained to remain in effect for two to three years but may
cover longer or shorter periods of time. The process of negotiating a union contract,
however, may take an extended period of time. Once the management and union members
of the negotiating team come to agreement on the terms of the contract, the union
members must accept or reject the agreement by a majority vote. If the agreement is
accepted, the contract is ratified and becomes a legally binding agreement remaining in
effect for the specified period of time.
SOURCES OF POWER
If the collective bargaining process is not working as a way to settle the differences between
labor and management, both sides have weapons they can use to bolster their positions.
One of the most effective union tactics is the strike or walkout. While on strike, employees
do not report to work and, of course, are not paid. Strikes usually shut down operations,
thus pressuring management to give in to the union's demands. Some employees, even
though allowed to belong to unions, are not allowed to strike. Federal employees fall into
this category. The law also prohibits some state and municipal employees from striking.
Pensions Recalls
need to cross the picket line in order to do the jobs of the striking workers.
The boycott is another union strategy to put pressure on management to give in to the
union's demands. During a primary boycott, not only union members but also members of
the general public are encouraged to refuse to conduct business with the firm in dispute
with the union.
Though it is rarely done, management may use the lockout as a tactic to obtain its
bargaining objectives. In this situation, management closes down the business, thus
keeping union members from working. This puts pressure on the union to settle the contract
so employees can get back to their jobs and receive their wages.
GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES
Productivity Bargaining
Productivity bargaining is a more specific type of collective bargaining that occurs when managers
begin to draw up specific ways that the employer/employee relationship will be changed. The goal of
management in this case is to increase the productivity of the workers without having to hire more labor.
In return, management agrees to raise the wages of the workers.
Definitions:
The concept of WPM is a broad and complex one. Depending on the socio-political environment and
cultural conditions, the scope and contents of participation change.
International Institute of Labour Studies: WPM is the participation resulting from the practices
which increase the scope for employees’ share of influence in decision-making at different tiers of
organizational hierarchy with concomitant (related) assumption of responsibility.
ILO: Workers’ participation, may broadly be taken to cover all terms of association of workers and
their representatives with the decision-making process, ranging from exchange of
information,consultations, decisions and negotiations, to more institutionalized forms such as the
presence ofworkers’ member on management or supervisory boards or even management by
workersthemselves (as practiced in Yugoslavia).
The main implications of workers’ participation in management as summarized by ILO:
• Workers have ideas which can be useful;
• Workers may work more intelligently if they are informed about the reasons for and the
Intention of decisions that are taken in a participative atmosphere.
Labour welfare has been defined in various ways, though no single definition has found
universal acceptance. The Oxford dictionary defines labour welfare as "Efforts to make
life worth living for workmen." Chambers dictionary defines welfare as "A state of faring
or doing well. Freedom from calamity, enjoyment of health and prosperity[2]".
The Encyclopedia of Social Science defines it as "the voluntary efforts of the employers
to establish, within the existing industrial system, working and sometimes living and
cultural conditions of employees beyond what is required by law, the customs of the
industry and the condition of market"[3].
PART – B
The term labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the
development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their
own interest for better treatment from their employers and governments, in
particular through the implementation of specific laws governing labour
relations. Trade unions are collective organizations within societies, organized for
the purpose of representing the interests of workers and the working class.
Many ruling class individuals and political groups may also be active in and part
of the labour movement.
1. It is an association either of employers or employees or of independent workers. They may consist
of :-
o Employers’ association (eg., Employer’s Federation of India, Indian paper mill association,
etc.)
o Friendly societies
2. It is formed on a continuous basis. It is a permanent body and not a casual or temporary one. They
persist throughout the year.
3. It is formed to protect and promote all kinds of interests –economic, political and social-of its
members. The dominant interest with which a union is concerned is, however, economic.
4. It achieves its objectives through collective action and group effort. Negotiations and collective
bargaining are the tools for accomplishing objectives.
5. Trade unions have shown remarkable progress since their inception; moreover, the character of
trade unions has also been changing. In spite of only focusing on the economic benefits of workers,
the trade unions are also working towards raising the status of labors as a part of industry.
6.
The labor problem" is an economics term widely used toward the turn of the twentieth century
with various applications.[1] It has been defined in various ways, such as "the problem of
improving the conditions of employment of the wage-earning classes.
1. Craft union- They stand for skilled laborers that work in a particular sector
or are employed in a particular craft.
These unions are also called as horizontal unions. For example carpenters
union.
2. Industrial unions- they represent the workers trading in an industry. All the
workers in that industry, not considering which occupation or which job
comes under that industry's union.
3. General unions- general unions represent laborers from all industries and
professions irrespective of what sector of the workforce they come from.
4. White collar unions- they stand for professionals who work from an office such as those who occupy a
managerial or administrative chair.
Generally trade unions prefer peaceful methods for achieving their demands, but they can also go to extends of
indefinite strikes and such practices
Objectives
1To promote critical awareness of problems, privileges
and obligations as workers and citizens;
2To enhance self confidence and build up scientific
attitude;
3To educate them to develop their organizations
through which they can fulfill socio-economicfunctions
andres pons ibilitiesin rural economy and strengthen
democratic, secular and socialist fibre of rural society;
4To motivate for family welfare planning and to combat
social evils.
n Wildcat Strikes
n Jurisdictional Strike
n Lockout
Types of agreement;-
This quick guide provides an overview of the most common types of agreements made
between the university and outside organizations.
Most agreements set specific requirements for transfer of funds or other assistance from
one institution to another; other types of agreements do not include financial assistance.
The agreement types listed here are reviewed, negotiated, and approved by the
Sponsored Projects Office, on behalf of the Regents of the University of California, except
where noted otherwise.
SPONSORED AGREEMENTS
Sponsored agreements set out requirements for accepting funds in support of a specific
project or program. The requirements ("terms and conditions") included in these
agreements usually specify time periods for expending funds and contain provisions for
financial and technical reporting and intellectual property assignments, including patents
and copyrights.
Grant
Contract
A contract is used when the principal purpose of the agreement is to provide tangible
results or other "deliverable" items or to carry out a prescribed service for the direct
benefit or use of the funding agency. Terms and conditions on contracts usually are
strict, and fiscal management normally is not flexible.
Many types of contracts exist. The most common type on campus is the cost-
reimbursement contract, in which the sponsor pays for the full costs incurred in the
conduct of the work up to an agreed-upon amount. The campus rarely accepts fixed-
price contracts, in which the awarding agency pays a predetermined amount rather than
reimbursing actual expenditures. Fixed-price contracts can create serious financial
burdens.
Cooperative Agreement
A cooperative agreement is used when the purpose of the agreement is similar to that of
a grant, but substantial programmatic involvement of or coordination by the funding
agency is anticipated during the project.
A collaborative subaward is written under the authority of and consistent with the terms
and conditions of an award (a grant, contract or cooperative agreement) that transfers a
portion of the research or substantive effort of the Berkeley prime award to another
institution or organization. These agreements, commonly referred to as subcontracts,
can be in the form of a subgrant, subcontract, or subagreement.
SPO is responsible for issuing collaborative awards.
Intercampus Suballocation
An intercampus suballocation is the term for a subaward transferring funds between two
campuses of the University of California. The agreement takes the form of a brief memo
from one campus to the other. As with other subawards, an intercampus suballocation
from one UC campus typically passes on to the other campus the same terms and
conditions of the prime award from the funding agency.
Intra-university Transaction
Consulting Agreement
UNFUNDED AGREEMENTS
Researchers often collaborate on research or share research tools with other scientists or
institutions without receiving funding. For many unfunded collaborations, a written
agreement is beneficial or necessary. Unfunded agreements set out expectations, terms,
and requirements to protect the interests of the investigators and the participating
organizations. Such agreements may also involve use of university property and space,
faculty time, students, protocol for human and animal subjects that must be approved by
university officials and compliance committees. Unfunded agreements from industry
often contain restrictive language that may conflict with basic academic and intellectual
property rights, and other terms that must be negotiated.
Teaming Agreement
A teaming agreement is used when two or more parties want to collaborate in producing
a proposal in response to a solicitation. All parties agree in advance how they will work
together and that they will work together if the award is made.
Visitor Agreement
A material transfer agreement (MTA) is a contract that governs the transfer of tangible
research materials (usually biological) between two organizations. The Industry Alliances
Office negotiates the MTA when a Berkeley investigator wishes to receive materials from
another institution. The Office of Technology Licensing handles MTAs to transfer research
materials from Berkeley to outside institutions.
GIFTS
Unlike funds governed by agreements, gifts are awarded irrevocably and without
contractual requirements ("no strings attached"). The Development Office, on behalf of
the Regents, accepts funds awarded by an external agency, institution, or individual in
the form of a gift or donation.
Read more: To protect workers from unfair wage and benefit discrimination, ensure
safe working conditions, have input on the number of hours worked, including
holidays, fair overtime compensation, and act as...
Workers are to be recognized as a part and parcel of the Organization and must be given good
opportunity to represent themselves in managing at least their own work area and at the wider
perspective offering them opportunities of higher management as and when the actual higher
management cadre is on vacation or on some deputation etc.
Among workers, the talent must be recognized and fully utilized in order to make them future
managers of a given division or department.
Wherever there is failure in recognition and higher offering of position to workers, there would
be unionization, dissatisfaction and turmoil, which will result in all sorts of set back to the
progress of the organization.
This is a very wide subject to write, but here, I think, this suffice.
PART – C
However, by acts of commission or omission, labour unionism in Nigeria has suffered some setbacks in the more
recent past. The emergence of self-serving and corrupt governments in the country has led to the counter-
emergence of compromising, opportunistic and myopic labour unionism, particularly in the public sector. Their
motto now seems to be: ‘If you cannot beat them, join them.’
The employee compensation system is supposed to be related to the level of productivity, with labour unions
ideally mobilizing their members towards higher productivity. While this condition largely holds in the private
sector, it hardly does in its public counterpart. In Nigeria, labour unions generally ignore the productivity side of
the equation in favour of workers welfare and remuneration. Consequently, the Nigerian economy gets repeatedly
ruined, and more people get poorer.
In fairness to the labour unions, the process of economic ruination was actually started off through the
recklessness of the successive governments, which indulgently granted outrageous emoluments to
political officeholders, elected or selected. Such excessively big emoluments never had any
relationship to their respective productivities. Sometimes, government would voluntarily award some
wage increases to the public servants to preempt the reactions of workers and their leaders. At most
other times, labour unions would agitate for wage increases when they realize that top government
officials had had a raise. At any rate, such wage increases never had any productivity increase basis,
nor did they result in enhanced performance. Indeed, productivity has been observed to fall with some
wage increases!
Responsible and informed labour unionism ought to realize the danger of persistent arbitrary salary
and wages awards that are not related to productivity or the state of the economy. Patriotic labour
unions are expected to always seek to prevail on government to stop or reverse such awards rather
than merely agitate to have their own cut. Money is what money can buy. There is no sense fighting
for more money that eventually leads to commanding less goods and services.
It is even more annoying that the labour unions pretend to be helpless. They have often tied their own
hands, when it is convenient for them to do so, by claiming that labour laws preclude them from
engaging in matters not directly related to workers and workers’ welfare. According to them, for
instance, labour unions have no locu standi in matters pertaining to government’s corrupt and
excessive activities. Rather, they deceitfully claim that the only option open to them is to ask for a pay
rise and thereby reduce the funds available to government officials to steal or mismanage. How
wrong, deceitful and naïve! First, there is no way an irresponsible governmental action will not badly
rub off on workers and the general public. Second, there are instances when labour unions had
successfully ‘dabbled’ into non-labour matters, and saved the country from a deep mess. The ‘June 12’
mass action of 1993 that eventually led to the stepping aside of the then military president, Gen.
Ibrahim Babangida, is a case in point. Moreover, only recently, labour unions had threatened to take
action over the electoral reforms matter.
Reckless wages and salaries awards not based on actual or potential increase in productivity harm the
economy in certain ways, which include:
2. Inflationary Financing:
With the unsustainably rising wages and salaries bills, and their deleterious effect on capital
development programmes, government often resorts to various inflationary ways to balance
the budgets. They involve merely printing more money not backed by any production of
goods and services. They include:
i) Ways and Means Advances: This is an overdraft facility granted to the federal government
by the central bank. It involves simply printing more money. We all know the implication of
‘too much money chasing too few goods and services’ – inflation.
ii) Currency Devaluation: The federal government has abused the use of currency
devaluation since 1986 when the Second-Tier Foreign Exchange Market was introduced
ostensibly to promote non-oil export and meet the IMF conditionalities for a loan. While it is
open to debate whether the devaluation has had the desired effect, what is clearer is that
government has found a convenient means in it to balance its budget. By the time the
foreign exchange earnings from oil and other non oil sources are converted, more funds in
local currency is available to the government. Unfortunately, because of the import
dependent nature of Nigeria, several local businesses, particularly manufacturing, die daily
owing to the resultant high costs. Government agencies are not left out. Infrastructural
decay abounds, as affects such critical services as electricity and water supplies. For them
to charge appropriately for their services through correct tariff structures is to send
consumers running away.
3. Debt Burden:
Government borrows both internally and externally to balance its accounts. While the
internal debt component of its debt stock usually ‘crowd out’ private sector borrowings, debt
service commitments generally retard economic progress, especially when such debts were
not profitably applied. Internal loans also have the effect of depressing local businesses
when the loans are not repaid on time, as it currently happens with local contractors.
With the minimum wage now being contemplated for review to N18,000/month as a result
of the agitations by labour unions, the pollutant effect will definitely take place as usual.
Jobs and profitability will be badly affected.
By the way, some people have argued that, rather than labour unions asking for such a big
jump in the minimum wage, it could have settled for a reasonably lower increase but with
government putting some of the teeming unemployed youths to work. Government too
could have initiated this more patriotic option, and prevailed on labour unions to agree to it.
I quite agree with them.
At this juncture, certain clarifications need be made. The public sector workers are poorly
paid in Nigeria, when compared with what obtains generally in the private sector, and also
with the high cost of living facing them. The excessively import dependent nature of Nigeria
in the face of repeated devaluation of her currency has largely accounted for the high cost
of living. For these reasons, indeed, a N50,000/month minimum wage could not be said to
be too high. However, the problem lies with how government finances its high personnel
costs, and its destructive effect on the economy. With the revenue base and depth of
government not increasing, and the productivity of labour not improving, any arbitrary
salary increases will have to be financed from inadvisable sources, such as repeated
currency devaluation and others as enumerated earlier.
Labour unions need to change their attitudes and orientation. It is naïve to think that the
Nigerian politicians, most of whom are largely out to make undeserved money from their
positions, will allow their takes to get diminished. They would rather adopt destructive
measures to accede to the demands of labour unions. Such measures invariably make the
economy worse and workers poorer. Who wants big money that cannot buy big things
anyway? At present, labour unions look on when government makes and implements bad
policies and take irresponsible actions, and then react later to agitate for palliatives to
cushion the effects of such governmental recklessness. Such palliatives hardly last long nor
impact adequately. Prevention is always better than cure, and no disease is even cured by
treating only the symptoms. The high costs of living facing the workers are principally due
to governmental acts of omission and commission. Labour should vehemently and
adamantly say ‘no!’ to such acts henceforth, and the masses of the suffering masses will
support and join with them.
By way of illustration, the people are ready to support labour unions and other activism
organizations when they call their members out to protest against such governmental acts
as inflated contracts, poor contract execution, project abandonment, poor asset and
infrastructural management, funds mismanagement and embezzlement, outrageous pays
and allowances, enactment of oppressive and selfish laws, delay or non-passage of good
bills (such as the Freedom of Information Bill that has been stalled for over 2 years now),
etc. They, and similar others, are at the foundation of the Nigerian socio-political woes, and
they affect the welfare of labour and that of the general public. It is time Labour unions in
Nigeria and similar other countries woke up and save their countries from ruins.
16(b) Trace the growth and development of trade union movement in India:-
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF TRADE UNION IN INDIA
•
Trade Union formed in 1890, Bombay Mill Hands Association byMr.Lokhande to demand amendment of Factories Act
1918. Then severalother unions followed to fulfill specific demands andalso to lend supportto national movment.
•
In 1918:-Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association was borned when dispute
was settled by the intervention of Mahatma Gandhi.
•
In Madras B.P.Wadia formed Madras Labour Union
•
International Labour Organization (ILO) was established in 1919,This
influenced formation of All India Federation of Trade Unions.
•
After world war I, in 1919, large number of strong trade unions wereformed by Annie Besant in Madras and Mahatma
Gandhi in Ahmedabad.After 1924, all major All India Left-wing Trade Unions were formed forclass struggle.
TRADE UNION STRUCTURE
There are three types of unions:
•
A craft unions is formed by workers belonging to same occupation or
specialization irrespective of industry, e.g. Indian pilots, guild, electricians
etc
•
Industrial Union is formed on the basis of industry e.g. cotton textile
factories ( Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh)
•
General Union embraces all workers whatever kind ofindustry or craft
in a place e.g. Jamshedpur Labour Union
2. Small size of unions: The sizes of trade unions haven't been sufficient
enough to have adequate funds and provide legal help to members. The
sizes of trade unions in India have been increasing since 1930-31, but the
overall membership size has been decreasing recently. Various factors
contribute toward the small size of trade unions; the average size of a trade
union in India is about 800. Furthermore, the percentage of women
members is only 6-8%. This small size of trade unions weakens their
collective bargaining power, and makes legal help inaccessible.
(ii) Fraternal
functions
MilitantFunctions
Fraternal Functions
and the strategies of these unions toward workers with atypical jobs in
Europe. What
are atypical jobs? As Rogers has noted, “atypical work is more easily
defined by what
is not than by what it is; it covers a host of forms of work which deviate
from the
standard”
The paper is divided into three parts. In the first part, I offer a critical
review of
the recent literature on the effects that atypical jobs have for the
capacity of
of this type of employment has been responsible for the crisis of the
European trade
unions, due to the difficulties that trade unions have faced in attracting
the support of
that unions can adopt three possible strategies with respect to atypical
workers: a
The final part of the paper brings together the two key issues discussed
in this
paper in a case study of the Spanish trade unions. I first analyse the
effects of the rise
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The central role of collective bargaining between workers and employers and their
organisations in industrial relations in the Member States is recognised by the EU in
Article 28 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union of December
2000 (‘Right of Collective Bargaining and Action’) and in Article 12 of the
Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers of 1989.
‘The Right to Bargain Collectively’ was also declared a fundamental right in the
1961 European Social Charter of the Council of Europe (Article 6). The
interpretation by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg of the right to
freedom of association in Article 11 of the European Convention for the Protection
of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms has extended some protection also to
collective bargaining (Wilson and the National Union of Journalists; Palmer, Wyeth
and the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers; Doolan and others
v. United Kingdom, decided 2 July 2002).
Just as collective bargaining receives legal support in the Member States, this array
of European legal guarantees provides the background for the EU’s recognition of
the centrality of collective bargaining. The operation of collective bargaining in EU
industrial relations is multi-faceted, as evident in the various functions attributed
to collective agreements by EU Directives and the growing role ofEuropean
collective agreements. At EU level, collective bargaining takes place at inter-
confederal/inter-sectoral, multi-sectoral, industry/sectoral, enterprise and inter-
regional level.
As part of its Social Agenda for the period 2005-2010, the European
Commission initiated a discussion on setting up an optional legal framework for
transnational collective bargaining. With the growth of transnational enterprises,
the continuing pressure of takeovers and mergers and the extension and
development of European Works Councils, transnational collective bargaining is
expected to become more common. Therefore, the European Commission believes
that a legal framework might become necessary to regulate such issues as defining
the actors entitled to negotiate, the form and content of agreements, the legal
effect of agreements, links to national and sectoral agreements as well as the right
to collective action. Such an approach is anchored in the ‘partnership for change’
priority advocated by the Lisbon Strategy .