Is there a role for Trade Unions in the new employee relations Essay

Is there a role for Trade Unions in the new employee relations - Essay Example Current paper focuses on the examination of the role of trade unions in the new employee relations developed in businesses across Britain. The studies published on the above issue will be critically analysed; the studies will be identified using the following two criteria: a) studies published in Britain will be preferred by those published in other countries and b) recent studies - of the last 3 years - will be preferred - aiming to represent the actual interaction between the trade unions and new employee relations in firms across Britain. It is proved that the value of trade unions in supporting the rights of employees in Britain is quite high; however, in certain cases trade unions in Britain fail to respond to their role-mistakes in their strategies and their management style seem to be the main reason for this failure. On the other hand, the support of the state towards the unions has been limited - a fact that led to the further limitation of the importance of trade unions in representing employees in Britain. ... In fact, these unions have helped towards the improvement of the terms of employment in Britain - even under difficult political and social conditions. The development of trade unions in Britain has been extensively examined in the literature. Different approaches have been used in order to evaluate the role of trade unions in the specific country; all these approaches seem to have a common point of reference: the importance of trade unions for the improvement of employment in Britain is not doubted; however, it is assumed that the policies used by trade unions should be updated in order to meet the needs of current employee relations. 2.1 History of trade unions The history of trade unions is an issue that is often given less attention than required. In fact, most commonly, trade unions are related with their role - as intervening bodies in the resolution of employment disputes; the specific view is supported by Howell (2007, 5) who notes that 'trade unions often appear to exist only in order to solve collective action problems for employers having little independence existence or history'. Through a different approach is stated by Upchurch et al. (2009, 26) that 'trade unions in Britain have been less integrated into the post war body politik than in more corporatist countries like Germany'. The above view focuses on the relationship between trade unions and politics rather than on the importance of the history for the evaluation of the role of trade unions in British employment relations - like in the study of Howell (2007) mentioned above. In their first appearance trade unions were considered to be in opposition with law; for this reason, the participation of a person into these unions was punished. In accordance with the Combination Acts