12. Trade unions: recognition, collective bargaining, and industrial action

2014 ◽  
pp. 151-160
Author(s):  
David Lewis
Author(s):  
Michael Jefferson

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. The chapter discusses the law on trade unions. Topics covered include independence and recognition; the legal enforceability of collective agreements; disclosure of information for collective bargaining; protection for trade unionists; statutory immunity in tort for various types of industrial action.


Author(s):  
Michael Jefferson

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. The chapter discusses the law on trade unions. Topics covered include independence and recognition; the legal enforceability of collective agreements; disclosure of information for collective bargaining; protection for trade unionists; statutory immunity in tort for various types of industrial action. Strikes are always in breach of the contract of employment (unless, as rarely happens, the contract provides for its suspension during industrial action). Therefore, protection given to unions and members in relation to strikes and other forms of industrial action is really important: without it, striking—a fundamental human right—would be illegal in all circumstances.


Author(s):  
Cécile Guillaume

Abstract Based on in-depth qualitative research conducted in one of the major French trade unions (the CFDT), this article explores to what extent and under what conditions trade unions adopt different legal practices to further their members’ interests. In particular, it investigates how ‘legal framing’ has taken an increasingly pervasive place in trade union work, in increasingly decentralised industrial relations contexts, such as France. This article therefore argues that the use of the law has become a multifaceted and embedded repertoire of action for the CFDT in its attempt to consolidate its institutional power through various strategies, including collective redress and the use of legal expertise in collective bargaining and representation work.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-46
Author(s):  
Maarten Keune

In the context of rising inequality between capital and labour and among wage-earners in Europe, this state-of-the-art article reviews the literature concerning the relationship between collective bargaining and inequality. It focuses on two main questions: (i) what is the relationship between collective bargaining, union bargaining power and inequality between capital and labour? and (ii) what is the relationship between collective bargaining, union bargaining power and wage inequality among wage-earners? Both questions are discussed in general terms and for single- and multi-employer bargaining systems. It is argued that collective bargaining coverage and union density are negatively related to both types of inequality. These relationships are however qualified by four additional factors: who unions represent, the weight of union objectives other than wages, the statutory minimum wage, and extensions of collective agreements by governments.


1970 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Dickens

This article takes as its focus the labour legislation of the Conservative governments in Britain under Mrs. Thatcher since 1979. It locates the legislation in its broader context and examines three main prongs of what is seen as a legislative attack on the trade unions: the move away from collective industrial relations; the restricted terrain for lawful industrial action; and legal intervention in internal union affairs. The immediate impact, use of and response to this legislation is discussed and a broader question raised concerning whether, as well as having to adjust to the new legal framework, British trade unions are reappraising their attitude to the role of law in industrial relations more generally.


Tempo Social ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-156
Author(s):  
Baptiste Giraud

This article reviews how French trade union are coping with the neo-liberal policies since the early 1980s. It shows their divergent reactions, and how these liberal reforms are implemented in a context of transformation of trade union action: the use of strikes is more difficult at the same time as the relationship between trade unions and collective bargaining is transformed in a logic of depoliticizing their strategies of action. These developments did not prevent a resurgence of strikes in the 2000s. It reveals the limits of the trade unions’ power of political influence, that implies the use of collective action. However, strikes have declined further in recent years, revealing the weakening of trade union mobilisation power.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-196
Author(s):  
Peter Ackers

Hugh Clegg’s riposte to the 1977 Bullock Report on Industrial Democracy was one of seven papers published from a conference on the subject in April that year. His contribution has to be seen against his long-standing views (expressed, for example, in 1951 and 1960) on industrial democracy which he saw in practical terms as free trade unions conducting collective bargaining. On the Donovan Commission (1965-68), he supported the majority opposition to recommending even voluntary schemes for worker directors. In 1977 he regarded worker directors as irrelevant to the urgent, practical task of reforming British industrial relations. For Clegg, continental versions of industrial democracy worked where there was already a successful prior industrial relations system, developed through workplace and industry institutional practices over decades. One new, top-level initiative could not create that.


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