The Amendment of the Wage-Fund Theory and the Legalization of British Trade Unions in 1871

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Michel S. Zouboulakis
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Wage Bargaining ◽  
Royal Commission ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Legal Position

Before the Trade Union Act 1871 the legal position of trade unions in the United Kingdom was at best ambiguous, as in many ways they remained outside the law. At the same time, Political Economy maintained that, given a country’s stock of capital and the population of workers, any rise in wages would undermine profits and accumulation. This provided the rationale for politicians and industrialists to argue that wages were not negotiable and that collective action was illegitimate. In reviewing William Thornton’s defence of workers’ right to claim higher wages, John Stuart Mill accepted that the denial of the positive effect of trade unions on wages ‘is deprived of its scientific foundation’. Using evidence from debates in the Royal Commission on Trade Unions, 1867-69, this article examines the extent to which Mill’s acceptance of the economic argument in favour of trade-union collective action contributed to improving the legal status and role of unions in wage bargaining and to change in industrial relations.

Purging the Trade Unions

2020 ◽  
pp. 343-373
Author(s):  
Ewing Mahoney
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Service Trade ◽  
Public Sector Employment ◽  
Legal Foundations ◽  
Legal Position

This chapter looks at government attempts to ban trade unions, considering the steps that were taken in lieu of an outright ban on trade union membership. Consistently with other measures taken at the time under the cover of security, government intervention to deal with the alleged menace of Communist infiltration of the civil service trade unions did not take the form of legislation. The legal position reflected both the lack of legal regulation of industrial relations generally and the lack of legal regulation of public-sector employment in particular. In practice, governments rarely needed to reveal or justify the legal foundations for their actions. The benefit for government is that although security policies might well be announced and made public, there would be little accountability thereafter if operated unobtrusively.

The Ambiguous Role of Trade Unions in Startup Formation

2018 ◽  
pp. 308-325
Author(s):  
Sylvia Rohlfer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Resource Availability ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Occupational Choice ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Firm Formation ◽  
The Individual

In this chapter the authors analyze the role of trade unions for firm formation from the perspective of the individual entrepreneur. The industrial relations and entrepreneurship literature reviewed shows that trade unions matter in firm formation decisions in three ways: with regard to the occupational choice problem, the management of potential employees and the resource availability for the startup. Taking the Spanish economy as an example the findings from an empirical study demonstrate the perceived actual and potential role of unions for firm formation. The findings are compared with trade union activity in Germany and the United States in order to draw recommendations for trade union strategists.

The Politics of Social Inclusion and Labor Representation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Connolly ◽  
Miguel Martínez Lucio ◽  
Stefania Marino
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Immigrant Workers ◽  
Immigrant Community ◽  
European Level ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Union Renewal ◽  
Union Action

The book explores the question of social inclusion and trade union responses to immigration in the European context, comparing the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. Drawing on in-depth qualitative research the book focuses on how trade unions - particularly more established and institutionalised trade unions - respond to immigrant workers and what they perceive to be the important points of renewal and change that are required for a more integrated and supported immigrant community to emerge. The book also considers the role of European level trade union relations on the question of immigration and how trade unionists have attempted to deal with very different national configurations of trade union action. The book argues that we need to appreciate the complexity of trade union traditions, paths to renewal and competing trajectories of solidarity. While trade union organisations remain wedded to specific trajectories, trade union renewal remains an innovative if at times problematic set of choices and aspirations.

scholarly journals TRADE UNIONS AS AN INTEGRAL ELEMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICE

2019 ◽  
pp. 13-19
Author(s):  
O.S. Bezvin
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
The State ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Labor Rights ◽  
Rights And Interests ◽  
Trade Union Organization

The article deals with the trade unions as a grant to protect the rights and interests of civil servants, reveals the main tasks of trade unions. The activity of trade union organizations in the structure of the state body in Ukraine is analyzed. The legal mechanisms of asserting the violated rights of a civil servant by a trade union organization of a public body and the role of trade unions in protecting the rights of civil servants in developed countries are emphasized. The state at certain times gave the trade unions great powers to protect the rights and interests of workers, and then deprived the trade unions of these powers. In connection with this, various problems arose in regulating the activities of trade unions in the protection of individual and collective rights and interests in the protection of public servants. All this affected the legal status of trade unions. However, it should be noted that trade unions are in constant flux and this leads to improvements in the regulations governing their activities. However, it should be noted that today there are many problems in Ukraine regarding the exercise by the trade union organizations of their powers in the civil service. In particular, the legal status of trade unions in the civil service is not regulated enough, which, in turn, does not allow them to fully protect the legal rights and interests of civil servants. Considering the importance of trade unions in protecting labor rights and the socio-economic interests of workers, in developing democratic forms of citizen participation in managing economic and political processes, a democratic, legal, and social state, which is Ukraine, should support trade unions and take care of legislative consolidation. their authority. Trade unions at all levels should once again return to the consideration of their core functions and pay attention to those that will now be more conducive to the achievement of the main objective of the creation and activity of trade unions – the protection of social-labor rights and interests of trade union members. Today’s Ukraine needs strong unions. A strong union is a union that effectively protects the interests of its members, enjoys their trust and support, is able to organize, if necessary, collective action to protect the socio-economic rights and interests of employees, has sufficient organizational, financial, and human resources to fulfill its statutory tasks. Keywords: trade union organization, protection, rights, the role of trade unions, legal mechanisms.

scholarly journals Ratification of International Labour Convention and the Reformation of Trade Union Recognition Process in Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siti Suraya Abd Razak ◽  
Nik Ahmad Kamal Nik Mahmod
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Recognition Process ◽  
Collective Agreements ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The Impact

The decline in the density of trade unions and the decreasing number of collective agreements had resulted in a deplorable situation in Malaysia. It is difficult to resolve the problems because the trade unions’ recognition process is often complex and legislatively restrictive. Nonetheless, the ratification of the International Labour Convention and ILO Convention No.87 could be a stepping stone in the reformation of the recognition process’s legal framework. Therefore, the present paper analysed the role of the ILO convention in reforming the trade union recognition process in Malaysia. Additionally, a qualitative method was employed to examine the role of the convention and its mechanism in the reformation of trade union recognition. Next, pure legalistic analysis and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the industrial relations key player to obtain their perspectives on the effect of ratification on industrial relations. Based on the generated outcomes, there were mixed views on the ratification of the stated convention. Additionally, this paper analysed the impact of the ratification of the convention by the member states of the ILO and how these countries benefitted from the ratification. Finally, this paper concluded that despite the challenges, the ratification of the convention improved the trade union recognition process in Malaysia. Therefore, the Malaysian government should immediately ratify ILO Convention No.87.

Legal Expertise: A Critical Resource for Trade Unionists? Insights into the Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cécile Guillaume
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Institutional Power ◽  
Collective Redress ◽  
Critical Resource ◽  
The Law ◽  
Legal Expertise

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.

Statutory Safety Representatives and Safety Committees: Legal and Industrial Relations Implications

1982 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.B. Creighton
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Statutory Provision ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Sufficient Detail ◽  
Structured System ◽  
Safety Committees ◽  
Practical Implications

This article examines the increasingly important issue of the role of statutory safety representatives and safety committees in helping to promote and protect the health, safety and welfare of the Australian workforce. It consists first of an examination of the development of statutory provision in this area in the United Kingdom, culminating in the passing of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the introduction of the far-reaching Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations of 1977. It then describes and analyses the reception of these provisions, and the philosophy which underpins them, in Australia. Thirdly, it attempts to identify and discuss some of the more important legal and practical implications of this kind of statutory provision. There is reason to suppose that some of these issues have not been analysed in sufficient detail in either Britain or Australia, but overall it is clear that a properly structured system of statutory safety representatives/com mittees can play an important and constructive part in helping to promote a proper awareness of health and safety issues in this country.

scholarly journals Migration infrastructures and the production of migrants’ irregularity in Japan and the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nando Sigona ◽  
Jotaro Kato ◽  
Irina Kuznetsova
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Legal Violence ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Social ◽  
Access And Quality ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe article examines the migration infrastructures and pathways through which migrants move into, through and out of irregular status in Japan and the UK and how these infrastructures uniquely shape their migrant experiences of irregularity at key stages of their migration projects.Our analysis brings together two bodies of migration scholarship, namely critical work on the social and legal production of illegality and the impact of legal violence on the lives of immigrants with precarious legal status, and on the role of migration infrastructures in shaping mobility pathways.Drawing upon in-depth qualitative interviews with irregular and precarious migrants in Japan and the UK collected over a ten-year period, this article develops a three-pronged analysis of the infrastructures of irregularity, focusing on infrastructures of entry, settlement and exit, casting a comparative light on the mechanisms that produce precarious and expendable migrant lives in relation to access to labour and labour conditions, access and quality of housing and law enforcement, and how migrants adapt, cope, resist or eventually are overpowered by them.

Approaching the 21st Century: Perspectives on Korean Industrial Relations

1997 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seoghun Woo
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Presidential Address ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Direct Interaction ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Government ◽  
Time Changes ◽  
Future Direction ◽  
Major Factors

This paper argues that the future direction for the development of Korean industrial relations will evolve through direct interaction between employers and trade unions (either conflictual or cooperative). The government is likely to play a less interventionist role in industrial relations, compared with the past, and to adopt the role of mediator between unions and employers. Characteristics of Korean industrial relations during the pre- 1987 period is firstly examined; four major factors are used to explain the industrial relations practice during this time. Changes after 1987 are also considered. Special consideration is given to interaction between the environment and the three major industrial relations participants, and the interactions between them. Both macro and micro aspects of industrial relations are examined. The special Presidential Address (26/04/1996), known as New Conception of Industrial Relations, is also analysed in terms of its implications for future industrial relations issues in Korea.

scholarly journals Crisis and opportunity: Varieties of capitalism and varieties of crisis responses in Estonia and Slovenia

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magnus Feldmann
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Varieties Of Capitalism ◽  
Wage Bargaining ◽  
Progressive Politics ◽  
Social Council ◽  
Crisis Responses

A growing literature has analysed capitalist institutions in Slovenia and Estonia, two countries often viewed as representing very different varieties of capitalism in Central and Eastern Europe. Slovenia has been unique in the region, given its highly centralized wage bargaining and the importance of corporatist institutions, notably the tripartite Economic and Social Council; it is thus an exception to the general pattern of weak unions and ‘illusory corporatism’ across the region. By contrast, Estonia is commonly viewed as a prime example of a liberal market economy, in which industrial relations are decentralized. This article analyses how these distinctive institutional configurations have shaped the two countries’ responses to the global economic crisis beginning in 2007–2008. It explores whether these institutions have undergone changes as a result of the crisis, and also seeks to identify lessons from this experience for the future prospects for corporatism and tripartism, and also for the revitalization of trade unions and progressive politics in Central and Eastern Europe more generally.

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