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Employment relationship

           It is transactional(between 2 parties) and paid.

1.         open ended - (when you hire someone you have to motivate them first)

2.         continuous -

1.         individual level (median time=15years for men, 9women)

2.         collective level - you workforce stays same

3.         private (you are dependent on you employer, dissmissed workers that returned by law usually leave soon)

4.         normative - you are compared to others

Employment contract(set of rules)

1.         incomplete - defined ex post, great deal to read into it, lawers have to find what is custom

2.         controversial

3.         collective - pay is more individual, co. don't reconise trade  unions, but they have common policy on cars etc.

Rules and assignments

1.         unilateral management

1.         state - controls contracts like safety, min. wage and child employment

2.         employee - (Trade union and profession) - State also regulates (ie favors PhD for doctors). Craft unions appeared in 19c.

3.         employer - more when workforce is small and trusting. When firm is large, it is hard to drive out union.

Human Resouce Management - It was expensive to work w/o union, not anymore. Some HRM attac unions, most try to drive out unions by hostile. Cascading down info. to small groups, motivating people by videos, surveying labour force.

2.         collective bargaining (bilaterally managed) - independent body managed

It used to be 80%, now 40%.

1.         negotiation - outcome is contract influenced by relative strenghts of union

2.         consultation - just exchange of opinona and experience

UK shifts from 1 to 2nd. Firms used to negotiate with tu before change, now after.

Substancive and Procedural agreement

Substancive - ie when can you be sent to abroad

Procedural - how are you sent, how are you made redundant, how you strike

Enfocement

legal status

level of determination

bargaining structure

The emergence of enterprise bargaining

Bargaining structure

1.         levels

National(confederation), industrial(employers' associations), Enterprose, division, establishment (factory workplace)

2.         units

The benefits of industrywide bargaining

1.         passing on wage rises to consumers- tu affects all firms in the industry

2.         discourage new entrants - ie min wage.

3.         reduce union control at workplace

4.         facilitate industrial training(common training, none can steal trained people)

The chalenge of enterprise bargaining

1.         discrete over pay

2.         choice of job description (can be trained especially, not broadly)

3.         scope for internal labour market (others can't bid over, because especial job titles etc.)

Roots of employer solidarity

Strike insurance funds. Solidarity striking.

1.         Speed of ind.revolution, employers have unionised.

2.         state sympathy to unions

3.         size of early employers (1 dominating firm can broke up the union)

Legal support of bargaining structure

National legal systme diverse. Some states don't care how the agreement is reached, but if it has, state forces employers to obey it. Others (US) can force agreement by collective ballot.

Britain is different

No right to

1.         organise

2.         strike

3.         sue for breach of agree't (suing the opposition)

1906 Trade Disputes Act - you can't sue the other side for costs arising from strike except in contemplation or furtherance od a trade dispute.

Consequences

1.         lack of written agreements

2.         lack of responsible agents(who is responsible for damage within company)

3.         Informality and Fluidity

Orign of national legal systems

Most countries have writtein laws in crises

Occupied forces supported unions.

Rise of UK industrial bargaining

Early 20c very few laws, but government supported unions.

1950 has comprehensive roots on bargaining. They only lied of govn. sponsorship and few legal law. Then unempl. was very low.

Challenge of full emp

1.   wage drift

2.   wild car strikes

Donovan commission was set up in 65-68

2 system - informal system in single employer and formal in industry. So the industry wide collapse, because of international competition.

Single employers bargaining become important. International trade is important, so must be internationally competitive.

The crisis facing trade unions

Trade unions purpose

Seeks to regulate it's memebers relationships with employers.

Webb's rules:

1          friendly societies- clubs. Now back to that reason.

2          Political activity

3          collective bargaining - they are defending not attacting.

It has moral objectives, strongly associated with catholic church. Solitarians (Hitler) wanted to control them. Politicians see them as a getting a message through, and unions have the power of the strike.

Union membership declines. The no. drops, and they merge. Now more womean, non manual and parttime workers are in a union.

They merge because it is not apprentices anymore. You can't control and industry anymore as people will switch industries.

They can't be financed alone anymore.

1939 TUC Bridligton Agreement - you can't recruit to you union from another unions having a dispute. It was challenged in 80s from employers who wanted to choose union and 93 act that made joining voluntary.

Single Union Agreements - employers choosing the one union they want.

Rise of shop steward organisations

60s it became commonly accepted that people elected to represent a workplace were called stop-stewards. One steward per 50 workers. Highly representetative hierarchy. In the 50s they were self reliant and employers used them. They were irritants at the beginning, not now.

Combined commities - linked shops stewards in a company. They managed to organise factory, but when company contracted, these were the factories to be closed.

De facto enterprise unions - rely on management in buying thiings and funding. British steel is most effective although with closed shops, they are not united. So the company have to deal only with workplace unions.

Speculating is not accurate (change of govn).

Workers directions

British Steel, British postoffice, in 1967 everything >2000. Equal representation in the board of directives. But they didn't decide just accepted and didn't work.

1978 Approved Profit Sharing System (christman bonuses, but non discretionary (everybody must be given a possibility) and no loyality). 1993 coveres 1000 firms.

1980 Save As You Earn Share Option Scheme. Non-discretionary. Employers are given shares that they can sell later on. 1993:1000 firms.

Discretionary Share Option Scheme. Can be retained for 3 years and if sold afterwards no capital gains tax. They can be up to 4x salary. 1993:35% of managers had.

Profit related pay is tax-free, buut too many people use and thuus Exchequor could abadon in next budget.

John Lewis Partnership has a high degree of worker participation (Waitrose). Extremely good emplyers practice. Workers never had a majority in management, but a representative share. Other competitiors followed.

National Freight Consortium (Lynx, Piickfords), managers went to the ministery in charge when privatisation in 1950. In 1980 it was 70% owned by workers and very successful. Employers made good deals with shares, but it does not work now.

Employee involvement and works councils.

Mid 1960 join consultation was not essential to UK. It has changed now to 1994 EU works council directive associative to Social Chapter. Britain is not signature to Chapter. But UK still has them because international institutions don't exclude that. By law if people want council, they will get it, but final outcome is not determined. It is still better than nothing and if well organised can lead to adoptations in both sides. Counciling idea is thatyou do not threat.

1.         Collective bargaining

2.         Individualisation(HRM)

3.         Workers Control (workers co-operations)

4.         Workers directors

 

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