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    Why Do Workers Join Trade Unions: - Economic Needs

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    Payal Parmar
    Workers join trade unions for economic, social, and political reasons. Economically, unions help strengthen workers' bargaining power over wages and benefits and protect jobs. Socially, unions provide a sense of community and cover benefits like pensions. Politically, unions influence legislation and policy on issues like wealth distribution. Unions use collective bargaining, representation, collective action, and lobbying to achieve goals like equitable pay, job security, and a safe work environment. The main types of unions are craft, general, industrial, and public sector unions, with industrial unions being most common. Unions have a membership base and leadership structures at the shop floor, branch, regional, and national levels.

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    Why Do Workers Join Trade Unions: - Economic Needs

    Uploaded by

    Payal Parmar
    386 views20 pages
    Workers join trade unions for economic, social, and political reasons. Economically, unions help strengthen workers' bargaining power over wages and benefits and protect jobs. Socially, unions provide a sense of community and cover benefits like pensions. Politically, unions influence legislation and policy on issues like wealth distribution. Unions use collective bargaining, representation, collective action, and lobbying to achieve goals like equitable pay, job security, and a safe work environment. The main types of unions are craft, general, industrial, and public sector unions, with industrial unions being most common. Unions have a membership base and leadership structures at the shop floor, branch, regional, and national levels.

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    Trade Unions

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    Workers join trade unions for economic, social, and political reasons. Economically, unions help strengthen workers' bargaining power over wages and benefits and protect jobs. Socially, unions provide a sense of community and cover benefits like pensions. Politically, unions influence legislation and policy on issues like wealth distribution. Unions use collective bargaining, representation, collective action, and lobbying to achieve goals like equitable pay, job security, and a safe work environment. The main types of unions are craft, general, industrial, and public sector unions, with industrial unions being most common. Unions have a membership base and leadership structures at the shop floor, branch, regional, and national levels.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    386 views20 pages

    Why Do Workers Join Trade Unions: - Economic Needs

    Uploaded by

    Payal Parmar
    Workers join trade unions for economic, social, and political reasons. Economically, unions help strengthen workers' bargaining power over wages and benefits and protect jobs. Socially, unions provide a sense of community and cover benefits like pensions. Politically, unions influence legislation and policy on issues like wealth distribution. Unions use collective bargaining, representation, collective action, and lobbying to achieve goals like equitable pay, job security, and a safe work environment. The main types of unions are craft, general, industrial, and public sector unions, with industrial unions being most common. Unions have a membership base and leadership structures at the shop floor, branch, regional, and national levels.

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    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 20

    Why do Workers Join Trade Unions

    Economic needs:
    Strengthen bargaining power over wages & benefits

    Job security:
    Protect jobs from dismissal/retrenchments Protection from unilateral action by management (changes to terms and conditions)
    1

    Why do Workers Join Trade Unions


    Social Needs:
    Comradeship and sense of community

    Social Welfare:
    Accident, death and pension benefits Unions may be represented on pension funds Promote the development of communities Use investments to benefit members
    2

    Why do Workers Join Trade Unions


    Self-fulfillment and Development:
    Train and develop members Provide literacy skills to members

    Political Reasons:
    Influence labour legislation Influence government policy on wealth distribution and poverty alleviation
    3

    Objectives of Trade Unions


    Goals include:
    Equitable wage benefits Ensure a healthy and safe environment Promote job security and freedom from arbitrary dismissal Provide legal and other support to members Provide political influence and lobby government
    4

    Methods Used to Obtain Goals


    Collective Bargaining
    An ongoing process with employers, does not end with wages

    Representation
    Election of shop stewards (full time employees) to represent the interests of union members

    Methods Used to Obtain Goals


    Collective Action Consumer Boycott
    link with community to boycott products of the company

    Political Power
    Influence the vote at elections Lobby government and other state structures
    6

    Methods Used to Obtain Goals


    International support
    Getting the support of international trade unions and community organisations

    Legal action
    Using the protection provided by labour legislation

    Media channels
    Promote the view of unions
    7

    Methods Used to Obtain Goals


    Representation on National Bodies
    Eg. Nedlac

    Political alliances
    Eg. ANC, SACP & Cosatu

    Establish benefit funds


    Pension funds, provident funds, medical aid

    Educational programmes
    Train shop stewards, negotiators, & organisers
    8

    Types of Trade Unions


    3 types of trade unions: Craft Unions
    Earliest forms of trade unions Promote the skilled status of members Recruit within a particular craft Power in controlling the supply of skills

    Types of Trade Unions


    General Unions
    Organise all workers regardless of skill or industry More success with unskilled and blue collar workers Weakness = not sectorally based

    10

    Types of Trade Unions


    Industrial Unions
    Most common form of union Organises all workers in a particular industry Promotes sectoral based collective bargaining Strength is in no. of members per sector = strong unions

    11

    Types of Trade Unions


    Other type of unions: White Collar Unions
    Same as industrial unions but focus on white collar workers Concentrate on organising in the Financial and Service Sector, e.g. Insurance and Banking Staff Association

    12

    Types of Trade Unions


    Public Sector Unions
    Same as industrial unions but focus is on the Public Sector Eg. Public Servants Association of SA Some organise in public and private sector, eg. Nehawu (National Education, Health & Allied Workers Union)

    13

    Federation of Unions
    COSATU FEDUSA NACTU INDEPENDENT GROUPINGS

    (See Chapter 6: Self- study)


    14

    Structures of Trade Unions


    Members:
    Pay union dues Elect leaders to the various structures Make decisions (union always acts in the interests of members)

    Shop Stewards:
    Elected by members in terms of organisational rights in the LRA (majority union)
    15

    Structures of Trade Unions


    Shop Stewards:
    Unpaid agents of the union Full time employee of the company Link between union leadership & membership Recruit members and collect subscriptions Advise members of their rights Represent members at hearings Granted time off for attending meetings / training Sometimes full time shop stewards (still paid by the company)
    16

    Structures of Trade unions


    Branch Committees:
    Co-ordinates union activities in the area

    Regional Committees:
    Made up of reps from the branches Co-ordinates the activities of branches in a region
    17

    Structures of Trade Unions


    National Level:
    National Executive - chairperson, vice chairperson, general secretary and treasurer NEC elected by rank and file members Leadership of the union Responsible for all activities of the union

    18

    Structures of Trade Unions


    National Congress:
    Attended by delegates elected at branch level Held annually or biannually Highest authority of the union Policy decisions are made/ resolutions passed Key personnel of NEC elected Presentation and approval of financial statement and auditors report
    19

    The Future of Unions


    What has emerged:
    Uneven development: sophisticated IR and backward IR coexisting Unions still fighting and striking over wages Failure of workplace forums to increase joint decision making at the workplace Continued retrenchments and increasing unemployment

    Trade Unions in SA:


    Still strong and growing Involved in adversarial bargaining

    World wide TU:


    On the decline
    20

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