The Rudiments of Personnel Management
Part I
Davidson argues that trade unions are part of the industrial relations systems and should be considered as being shaped as well as helping to shape the system. Their conservative nature makes them reactionary rather than proactive in changing or influencing the political and economic order. There were very powerful trade unions prior to 1979 in the era of the boom where they organized large numbers of low-paid employees. However, their influence was gradually eroded as the economic situations became more critical. Post-World War II prosperity can be attributed to the perceived maturity of industrial relations especially in Britain. This led to a cycle that allowed trade unions to gain as a whole. Pay rises coped with inflation as “prosperity of a rise in income was about equal to the growth of overall income”. Unions that were well organized were able to keep pressure and their members continued to enjoy a rise in incomes as the boom continued. This was however shadowy as there was no real and permanent changes in the distribution of income. Observers during this period termed it as a race where no one wins. Those that were leading were ultimately overtaken by others in a continuous process and vice versa. During this period, tactical alliances made specific groups to keep up with the race. However, when the boom reversed in 1979, the division was made apparent between occupations and industries that were unable to keep up with the income structures. There was a general rise in unemployment throughout the globe which led to radical moves like the abolition of the minimum wage structures in countries like Britain. Davidson was right in his conclusion that trade unions were not as effective as they thought they were but were successful as a result of being able to absorb presented conditions assisted by their collective bargaining strategies.
The presence of worker cooperatives is one of the strategies that can be adopted to counter the waning influence of trade unions. Creating jobs for people within these worker cooperatives means that they can be able to absorb labor without the restraint of having to compensate shareholders. Since the workers are the owners of the capital, they can effectively compete with private capital and can largely offset the negative effects of recessions. In times when the labor supply is high and the demand for labor low due to recession, the worker cooperatives can absorb the surplus labor and prevent a necessity for the downward adjustment of wages which improves the bargaining power of trade unions.
Part II
Yeo’s book review provides a case study of Singapore that is very similar to that advocated by Davis and Laub in their papers. The formation of a trade union cooperative strategy starts by the injection of workers capital into the cooperatives. The membership of the cooperatives closely reflects that of trade unions. The success of this strategy can be evidenced in the fact that those that are employed or are part of the cooperative receive wages that are as a result of their efforts and not those arrived at through collective bargaining as is the case for traditional trade unions. In Singapore, cab drivers who are part of the cooperatives own cabs after some time and have saving schemes that allow them to buy replacement vehicles and for retirement. On the overall, the strategy seems to be effective in that country.
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