Trade Unions: Essential Tools for Worker Welfare in Developing Nations - Essay Sample

Introduction

Trade unions are created to present the grievance of the workers to the management. In nations where work ethics and workers management is still an issue, trade unions are essential tools in agitating for the welfare of workers. Organizations are prone to abusing workers, especially those who work in manual or low skills jobs (Meijerink and Keegan, 2019). In developing nations, there is an oversupply of labor, meaning that workers have little bargaining power against their employers. The excess labor supply puts them at risk of immediate replacement if they request for better conditions such as safety gear. On a different note, developed nations are entirely different, workers are well educated, and they have a deeper understanding of their rights. The supply of labor is somehow limited, and organizations seek to retain the best from the available pool. On the one hand, workers in developing nations have to get together through trade unions to agitate for their rights (Meijerink and Keegan, 2019). On the other hand, the need for unions in some nations has proved less essential as workers are given the necessary treatment. Thus the question, is workers representation through trade unions required? The discussion analyzes the problem of whether workers' representation is needed and suggests a way forward on handling workers' grievances.

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Understanding Trade Unions

Trade unions are created as a continuous association of wage earners with the intent of maintaining and bettering their lives. Trade unions are essential as they serve as labor market institutions. They also form part of a social movement, therefore, improving the status of workers. Working as interest groups, they help advocate for the rights of the workers. Unions are essential as they provide the voice that the members need; they can advocate for them independently or collectively. They have played a vital role in improving the working conditions of workers across all sectors. With unions, it has been possible to protect existing jobs. Some jobs would be obsolete were it not for the agitation of the unions. (Meijerink and Keegan, 2019) note that strong unions can influence the management plans, thus benefiting the workers. Workers within the association have a strong sense of identity as compared to those who have no associations. With the identity, the workers can strive for equal opportunities, thus reducing differentials.

To employers and the economy, trade unions have an impact on them. They frustrate the operation in a free market, thus hindering competition (Meijerink and Keegan, 2019). The decisions to declare strikes disrupt the production of services. With strong unions, it is possible to protect the insiders whose jobs are put at risk by the outsiders while still advocating for their rights. Sablok, Bartram, and Stanton (2013) state that over time, unions have supported the rights of workers to the point that there is a feeling that they have enough rights.

The strong unions mainly provide the voice effect, they are ideal in the protection of workers, and they can present collective representation. Workers who are in a union quit less as compared to their counterparts, therefore bringing about the lower cost of recruitment and training (Sablok et al., 2013). The management can effectively communicate with the workers as they make use of the unions. With collective bargaining, it is possible to save on time and provides a more stable pay environment. Over time, more opportunities policies are created through the unions.

Through unions, it is possible to control the monopoly effect. The labor cost is controlled, especially where there are no external industries to compare the industry average (Sablok et al., 2013). The working hours are put under control, including how overtime is managed. Through the unions, the supply of labor is checked. Therefore, people entering the labor market and those leaving are put under check. Through alliances, it is possible to control the impact of monopoly industries.

Better or national unions are ideal as they control the management attitudes. Product and labor market factors that the management may be against are put in check by the unions (Sablok et al., 2013). Management attitudes such as resisting union organization, controlling labor cost and outsourcing are entirely put in check by the unions. Moreover, it is possible to understand the role of stakeholders in companies and create a favorable labor market.

Trends in Trade Unions and Working Conditions

Understanding the trends in the labor market is essential as it helps determine if labor unions are essential or should they be done away with. One critical trend is the perspectives that are linked to the labor market (Wilkinson and Wood, 2017). Modern employees are employed with a contract; most of them are open-ended on the amount of labor that can be extracted from the employees, thus changing the employment mix (Bamber, Bartram and Stanton, 2017). Three perspectives are created, the unitarist, pluralist and radical (Meijerink and Keegan, 2019)

Pluralism is a view within organizations that assumes the manager's role is to lead by persuasion (Bamber et al., 2017), there is a differing interest between the management and labor and that there exist and the adversarial employment relationship. Employers are seen to hold different values and objectives from those of the employees (Skoludova and Brodsky, 2015). Whenever conflicts arise, there is a reliable procedure to resolve problems, and issues of power relations are unequal in the pluralism view.

The problems with taking the institutional approach are radical perspectives. A pattern of organizational working that focuses more on the capitalist path and upholding class antagonism (Bamber et al., 2017). For the employers, they are in pursuant of profits where they seek the maximum returns on the capital invested. With an ideal environment, they are prone to exploiting the workers, and they have little loyalty to the nations that they are in (Bamber et al., 2017). workers feel that they never obtain the full fruits of their labor and thus the need to organize and defend their living standards. Most workers fear insecurity and the risk of unemployment.

With the struggle between the workers and the employers, there is a need for third-party intervention. The government comes in as the third party and acts as an economic manager controlling the wage and the level of inflation in the nation. It also employs the public sector and the local governments (Bamber et al., 2017). In well-functioning governments, they can provide the necessary regulation that protects the workers from abuse. Skoludova and Brodsky (2015) state that in modern times, cases of conflict are also solved through having the government as the reconciliatory.

Current Status of Working Conditions

Several factors determine the working conditions of the workers, the primary players are the economic policies, the social policies put in place by the government. The association that they have with their employers, the legal practices such as minimum wage, and dismissal protection also play an essential role in protecting the workers (Kim, 2017). Industry relations, including the action of trade unions, provide the required voice mechanisms.

The nature of corporate governance acts as an essential tool for ensuring that workers and their working conditions are at their best (Kim, 2017). Kim (2017) states that the shareholders and the stakeholders have a role in seeing that the corporate reputations remain intact; to do this, employees must be well taken care of. Essential things to do include ensuring the right pay and working conditions, creating grievance procedure that is easy to follow in case of unfair treatment is also being given a top priority in today's organizations (Kim, 2017). Efforts are being made to ensure that the employee satisfaction rates remain above 87% and the staff retention above 97% (Skoludova and Brodsky, 2015). Most organizations are working to see that the remuneration is 10% above the industry average (Skoludova and Brodsky, 2015). In the recruitment process, recruitment of staff has been raised to an 85% success rate (Skoludova and Brodsky, 2015).

Through the management processes, it has become easier to enhance the communication of organizational objectives to employees. Kim, 2017 states that the definition of work activities is continually being refined to match the goals. The promotion and contribution of the employees have been geared to match the organizational objectives. Today's organizations are working to see that there is continuous improvement in both employee and organizational performance (Cristiani and Peiro, 2014). There have been efforts to see that organizations have systematic improvement across the board. The management strategies have been essential in changing the platform through which workers operate.

The adoption of strategic pay has changed the role that traditional trade unions play (Zadik et al., 2019). Unions have been there to agitate for better pay, including pay that matches the individual efforts (Kim, 2017). However, the use of strategic compensation ensures that individual performance in related to the pay system and thus does not undermine the team efforts, a continuous reduction in free-rider problems, and constant motivation of the employees (Cristiani and Peiro, 2014). Strategic pay also considers the individual capabilities, including action by extroverts, promotion with fewer regards to gender, and a check on the executive pay.

The role of the government is, however, essential in the working of trade unions. Many countries, including the UK and the US, regulate the aspects of pay. There is a statutory national minimum wage or the use of fiscal and monetary policies to control employee pay (Cristiani and Peiro, 2014). With this, organizations have adopted in that they no longer offer the bureaucratic stability in employment. Cristiani and Peiro, (2014), note that traditional trends such as lifelong employment, linear careers, working in a preferred location, and stable workplace communities are less common.

Today's workers are also dynamic; the need for a better economic environment brings about more flexibility. The societal developments that are happening set the minimum working conditions that the employees can endure (Cristiani and Peiro, 2014). The globalization, fashion, and neoliberalism have had an impact on the work trends and the nature of the market. According to Kim (2017), there has been a decline in the loyalty levels that were evident from employees in the past.

Today, there has been an emergence of labor platforms. The rise in freelancers has brought a change in the work market (Lo Presti, Pluviano, and Briscoe, 2018). Entrepreneurs who are often contracted have changed the market. Drive partners and service providers are a new trend in the workforce, reducing the needs for full-time employees. Lo Presti et al., (2018) note that Agents and independent sellers are also bringing down the need for trade unions and full-time employees.

Discussion

Trade unions have had a significant impact on the lives of workers in the past hundred years. However, their roles seem to be changing over the years (Kim, 2017). Initially, they were created to better the living condition of workers through better pay and improved work environment. However, Vladislavl (2014) note that organizations, primarily in the developed nations, have taken it upon themselves to see that they provide the ideal conditions to attract the best pool of workers.

There is also a trend in the change in empl...