Advanced Search

Worksheet on the Employment in the Market Economy (Tutor Version)

• Introduction
• Background Information
• Task
• Useful Links
• Example Article
• Teachers Notes

Introduction

This online task is designed to be undertaken within a single hour class, but leaves several openings for further work.

It involves some basic background information so the task can be completed without extra notes, and also utilises links to useful resources so that those with time and online access may explore the subject and relevant references in more detail.

Background Information

• Trade Unions: Groups of workers who join together to protect their interests.
• TUC: Trades Union Congress: (http://www.tuc.org.uk/)
  a voluntary association of unions which decides the policy of the trade union movement and expresses it to business, the media and government. It also deals with disputes between unions.
• Shop Stewards: Voluntary trade union representatives in a workplace who are elected by their fellow union members.
• ACAS: The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration service- An independent body set up in 1974 which plays the leading part in attempts to settle industrial disputes peacefully and to improve industrial relations.
• Industrial Tribunal: An independent body dealing mainly with claims for unfair dismissal and other alleged breaches of employee's rights.
• CBI: The Confederation of British Industry:(http://www.cbi.org.uk/home.html)
  Employers equivalent to the TUC.
• Employers' Association: represents the employer's in the collective bargaining process.
• TGWU: The Transport and General Workers Union: (http://www.tgwu.org.uk/)
  The TGWU is the largest general union in Britain and one of the biggest in Europe.

  ---

Useful Links

Recommended websites for further related information

• Biz/ed TUC Frequently Asked Questions (http://www.bized.co.uk/compfact/tuc/tucindex.htm)
  provides the answers to frequently asked questions about the TUC, including: TUC structure and organisation; functions and roles; employment issues as well as two specially written case studies which look at the experience of school leavers in an insecure labour market and young people's labour market experiences in the 1990s.
• The Multinational Monitor (http://multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/mm0695.html#int)
  looks at some of the International aspects of trade unions in an interview with Bill Jordan, and provides reference to international bodies.
• GreenNet (http://www.gn.apc.org/issues/labour/index.html)
  links to other interested bodies from around the world including the other side of the TUC story.
• International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (http://www.icftu.org/)
  The ICFTU is the voice of the international labour movement, it works to promote the rights of workers worldwide and to secure recognition of trade unions. This site includes policy documents of the ICFTU and full text reports of its campaigns, covering areas such as: child labour, and union rights. There are also press cuttings of recent stories relating to workers and union rights.

Key Terms to Include

You should include at least 2 of the following terms somewhere in your article. Credit will be given for use of these.

• Industrial Relations: The relations between employees and employers, or management.
• Closed Shops: Places where only union members may be employed.
• Industrial Action: Action taken by union members designed to reduce or stop production.
• Picketing: Trying to persuade people who are still going to work during a dispute to join a strike.
• Collective Bargaining: Talks between representatives of employers and trade unions to decide pay rates and other terms and conditions of employment.
• Official Strikes: Withdrawal of labour with official support.
• Unofficial Strikes: Withdrawal of labour at the orders of shop stewards, without official support of the union. These are also known as wildcat strikes.
• Selective Strikes: Calling out only some members of the union instead of the whole membership.
• Demarcation: The limits set by unions to the kinds of work that their members are allowed to do.
• Productivity Deals: Agreements between management and unions under which the workers obtain some benefit, such as increased pay, in return for greater efficiency or productivity.
• Wage Freeze: A government-imposed limit on pay rises for a specified period. It may be voluntary or compulsory by law.
• Work to Rule: Obeying every official rule so that work is slowed down.
• Conciliation: Talking to both sides in an industrial dispute and trying to bring them together before attitudes have had time to harden, so that a strike or lock out, where employers lock the employees out of work premises until they agree to their terms can be avoided.
• Arbitration: voluntary settlements of a dispute by an independent person, the arbitrator, whose decision all parties have agreed to accept.
• Union Recognition: The recognition of unions by employers for negotiation and bargaining purposes.

The Task

Your task is to write a newspaper article, relevant to employment in the market economy, about a true, real life example involving at least one of the bodies listed above.

You should also include at least 2 of the key terms somewhere in your article. Credit will be given for use of these. Your article/report should reference further sources of information.

Credit will be given for good use of resources, good use of terms and live links to sources of information.

Example Article Structure

Example article

The aim of this article is to encourage critical thinking and boost communication skills. The polemical views expressed on the Mersey dockers are, therefore, to be critiqued.

The article was adapted from http://fletcher.iww.org/~iw/feb/stories/british.html, but the original article is currently unavailable.

Adapted from:- http://fletcher.iww.org/~iw/feb/stories/british.html - original article currently unavailable.

The Mersey Docks Dispute: An Activist's View

Since late September, all 506 dockers at the port of Liverpool have been locked out, and are now on unofficial strike.

The dispute was provoked by management in an attempt to break the union, shrink the workforce and introduce casual labor. Liverpool is the last British port to work with registered dockers. For more information look at http://www.gn.apc.org/issues/labour/index.html

It all began when four workers refused to work overtime for a reduced rate of pay. They were all sacked, and the manager even sacked a fifth docker who happened to be having a cup of tea with them! The rest of the workforce came out in solidarity.

As the men had not gone through the lengthy procedure of organizing a postal ballot, the strike is illegal. So their union (TGWU) is not giving them official backing, since this would lead to their funds being sequestrated. The strike can only be won, therefore, if the dockers get financial support from ordinary workers. Support groups have been set up throughout Britain..

At present there are about 40 scabs working the port, mainly outsiders brought in by a company called Drake International Ltd., who are well known as professional strike-breakers. Actions are being planned against their offices in Liverpool and other parts of Britain..

The General Situation:

Since the introduction of anti-strike laws in the '80s. the official union structures have increasingly been by-passed by British workers when they need to take on their bosses. Despite certain bureaucrats claiming that they would defy the law ("even if that means we have to run the union from a phone box" in one case), they have always given in as soon as they were threatened with the law. There is no chance of these laws being repealed, even if the Labour Party does get elected, so the future of class struggle in Britain may well come to resemble the struggles which took place at the start of the century, when bitter unofficial strikes and sabotage were the only options available to our side in the class struggle. This could eventually be a positive development, if it led to unions being run by part-time officials whose interests were the same as the workers they represented , rather than full-time bureaucrats whose first priority is always to protect the union funds which pay their salaries.

Teachers Notes

Aim; To introduce the element, key bodies involved and key terms needed to complete the element through actively researching and producing a newspaper article.

Depending upon the time available and quality and number of students it is recommended that you allocate groups accordingly.

If IT skills, software and equipment are present in the group, these can be used to produce the article/report.

You are encouraged to develop a marking scheme, which credits good use of research tools especially the WWW. For individuals or teams that use more key terms, credit should/will be given.

Students could be encouraged to find out more about the dispute by using their chosen search engine to search under 'mersey docks dispute'.

To continue this project, an ongoing report, which covers a live or past issue, may be compiled, followed by a presentation to the rest of the group.

Points to consider when seting the task might include; bias, relevance, newsworthiness, balanced opinion, aims of article, proven facts.

Using the thought provoking article should lead to an interest in a deeper understanding of the current situation, but the tone of this article should be discussed rather than being presented as a definitive summary on this topic!

Good articles will include references to all sides of the argument. The included article should help lead to further investigation.