Technology And Trade Unions

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

parties are more concerned with maintaining a working government and with the economic conditions of the families of striking workers than in allowing strikes to continue for a long period of time and harm entire communities. As a result, many tough new laws have severely limited unions' exercise of power but also their ability to aggregate power. (Rico, 1987)
Unemployment has also been high in Britain in recent years, which has been the most important factor contributing to the precipitous decline in union influence. The unemployment rate for the United Kingdom increased annually from 1980 through 1985, with an annual average of almost 11 percent ( OECD 1986). The 3.4 million people out of work in February 1986 represented one out of seven of the working population, for an unprecedented official unemployment rate of over 14 percent. Many laid-off unionists, especially those in manufacturing industries located in the North and Northwest of England, will never return ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

candidates.
Additionally, technology has now become the genesis of rising wages. Increased technology required an increasingly educated worker, and the more educated worker can demand a higher wage. Unions can no longer ignore technology as a force that eliminates jobs when the presence of technology in the workplace allows unions to demand higher wages. Unions are effectively caught between the proverbial 'rock and a hard place,' and have to change their tactics if they wish to maintain power, and relevance.
Consequently, the Trades Union Congress (TUC), an umbrella confederation of roughly 90 trade unions, has undertaken a twofold approach to dealing with the challenges facing ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.

CITE THIS PAGE: